The Son of No One: movie review
Muddled cop thriller 鈥淭he Son of No One鈥� has a top-drawer cast and a bottom-drawer script. Channing Tatum plays Jonathan "Milk" White, a rookie policeman with a past: As a young boy in 1986 (played by Jake Cherry), he more or less accidentally killed two junkies while living in the projects in Queens, New York. His late father鈥檚 cop partner, played by Al Pacino, covered up the killings and no one was ever charged. Now, in 2002, an anonymous letter writer to a local Queens paper threatens to heat up the cold case.聽
Writer-director Dito Montiel is big on lower-depths melodrama and scenes of people yelling until they鈥檙e blue in the face. Chief yeller is Milk鈥檚 boss, played by Ray Liotta, but he has stiff competition from the rest of the squad, not to mention a dogged newspaper reporter played, inexplicably, by Juliette Binoche. (She appears to be the only employee at the paper. Is Montiel making a social statement or did he just lack the funds for extras?) Pacino is 鈥� for him 鈥� relatively restrained in his supporting role. He鈥檚 mellowing or maybe he鈥檚 saving his lung power for something worth yelling about. Grade:聽C- (Rated R for violence, pervasive language, and brief disturbing sexual content.)
