The Son of No One - 2011

Millennium Films, Nu Image Films, Hannibal Pictures

Directed by Dito Montiel

Cast:

• Officer Jonathon White – Channing Tatum
• Kerry White – Katie Holmes
• Captain Charles Stanford – Al Pacino
• Captain Marion Mathers – Ray Liotta
• Loren Bridges – Juliette Binoche
• Officer Thomas Prudenti – James Ransone

Story: Jonathon White, the son of a police officer killed in the line of duty is raised in the Queensboro projects by his grandmother. His life is unbelievable hell, living in the midst of addicts and dealers and child molesters, and he is constantly in fear. In self defense, he kills a junkie who is stealing his grandmother's welfare checks, and when the dealer starts to kick his dog, he pushes him down the stairs and the dealer breaks his neck. Detective Stanford knows the truth, but also knows the circumstances and closes the cases as unsolved. Sixteen years later, he has chosen to join the police force and is assigned to the same precinct as he lived in when he grew up. Captain Mathers is just about to take over from now Captain Stanford, when letters begin to appear in a local paper accusing Stanford of concealing two murders in the projects. Pressure is brought to bear on White, who Mathers' suspects of writing the letters, but to further cover up the crime, Mathers and Stanford plot to kill a childhood friend of White's and frame him for the murders.

Review: When I watched this film, I was impressed with the acting, the plot, and the characters. What I was not impressed with was the film itself. The story is an impressive, courageous look at life in the projects, a place where we house the welfare cheats, drug dealers, and other scum of society in the hopes they will remain in the confines of their own jungle. Channing Tatum's character is a nice white boy growing up in a not-so-nice environment with little hope of surviving from day to day. Al Pacino is the cop who understands what kind of life the child lives, and when he sees the desperation of his existence, he covers the murders to protect the child. Ray Liotta is the personified vision of what most people believe NYPD is all about, a warden in the asylum, worried about nothing more than keeping his cops and his reputation alive. If the story had been told from front to back instead of jerking us back and forth in time, I think it would have merited a release to the big screen here in the US. As it is, the distributor was right in releasing this film in the overseas market and bringing it to the states in DVD release. With the exception of Katie Holmes, whose performance lacks the depth of emotion a police wife should have, the cast does an admirable job, and this film is worth a look. Rated R for violence, language, and a disturbing sex scene, this film is not collectible, and is certainly a second tier rental.