SummaryIn this searing police thriller, Jonathan is a second-generation cop who gets in over his head when he's assigned to re-open a double homicide cold case in his Queens neighborhood. An anonymous source feeding new information on the long-unsolved murders to a local reporter leads to evidence suggesting a possible cover-up by the former lead detec... Read More
Directed By:Dito Montiel
Written By:Dito Montiel
The Son of No One
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
36
User score
Mixed or Average
4.6
My Score
Drag or tap to give a rating
Hover and click to give a rating
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
36
6% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
56% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
39% Negative
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
Oct 31, 2011
63
The Son of No One is driven by mood and atmosphere to the extent that the stakes-free story and interest-free characters seem almost incidental, and such is surely the movie's saving grace -- a perverse style that overshadows a severe lack of substance.
Nov 3, 2011
50
Even if there were a compelling narrative here to begin with, Montiel's excessive technique would throw you right out of it.
User score
Mixed or Average
4.6
17% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
59% Mixed
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
24% Negative
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
Jan 24, 2017
4
In 2006, Dito Montiel made a name for himself by writing/directing the story of his youth in Brooklyn, A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints. In that film and in several others that have since followed, Montiel has shown an amazing ability to take little known stories from his neighborhood, and in amazing detail, tells those stories from multiple angles, introducing the world to complex and amazing stories that to the world, were nothing but a blurbs in the newspaper decades ago. The Son of No One is one of such story, and while it is an amazing one, with an outstanding cast, it's Montiel's attention to detail that ultimately comes back to bite him. Jonathan White (Channing Tatum) has become a New York City Police Officer and he has done so at a somewhat older age than most other people do. There is a bit of a learning curve, but White seems to be catching on quickly, but his education comes to a quick halt when he and his family start receiving messages claiming to know that White killed two people in cold blood. The story here was terrific and unbelievably true, not to mention the cast was impeccable, so what's with the low rating? As I said, Motiel's films are always very detail oriented and focus on all the angles, The Son of No One is no different, however, in this case, they spend to much time on the back story in flashbacks. There isn't enough focus on the events taking place in present day, and when Channing Tatum is on screen, he's usually doing nothing that relates to the case, i.e. arguing with his wife, talking to his partner, learning to be a cop. By the time we get the end, it seems to jump out of nowhere, as if forty-five minutes of the film is just missing somehow. Not to mention the flashbacks are also out of order, further confusing the story. I understand artistic license, but this isn't Pulp Fiction and I was confused for much of this film. That being said, the cast is still terrific and Dito Montiel is one of the most underrated writer/directors in Hollywood. The Son of No One is a miss, but don't let that turn you off to the rest of amazing body of work.
Nov 20, 2011
4
Sure enough a screenplay which could turn a giant movie it became to a ordinary one, The Son Of No One is less than a passable film, Katie Holmes doesnâ
Nov 1, 2011
50
Performances are strong across the board, and the movie offers a solid sense of place. But the mysteries, once explained, don't make a lot of sense.
Nov 2, 2011
42
The more that secret comes out, the more incoherent (and ludicrous) the film gets.
Nov 3, 2011
38
This heavy-handed muddle of a cop thriller is just impossibly bad.
Nov 3, 2011
30
The Son of No One self-destructs in a ludicrous, ineptly directed anticlimactic rooftop showdown in which bodies pile up, and nothing makes a shred of sense.
Nov 1, 2011
20
By the time The Son of No One reaches its wanna-be-tragic finale, you'd like nothing more than to kick this bastard child to the curb.
Oct 12, 2012
3
What a waste **** cast... What starts as a auspicious thriller ends up as being, well, plain boring. Non of the scenes really add up, and the narrative is horrendous. Great mess...
Nov 6, 2011
2
The Son of No One tells that tale of a police officer (Channing Tatum) who did some terrible things when he was a boy and is now repenting but someone is telling a newspaper about the incidents and it threatens to expose him and ruin his new life with his wife (Katie Holmes) and daughter. That being said the best thing about Son of No One is the story and the ideas and questions it poses. It does actually leave you thinking at the end. However that being said the ending itself is so remarkably over the top and idiotic it stops you asking those questions for some time because you are too busy trying to unravel the stupidity you just endured. The acting is wooden at the best of times with the best performance coming from 30 Rock's Tracy Morgan as a mentally damaged man who is scarred from the events of his childhood. The script is passable and does a decent job of managing the multiple characters even though some of them are entirely redundant (Juliette Binoche). This could have been a decent little film with a rewrite of the end and a few tweaks to the pace. The main problem is the pacing of the film which is trying so hard for a dark tone that it slows down considerably making The Son of No One, one of the slowest movie experiences ever. Its just so painfully dull at times that a scene that should come off as shocking just makes you long for the end. Its a shame because it has a lot going for it but it was just let down by the actors, the ending and the unbearable slowness.
Nov 12, 2013
0
It's very muddled and cheesy. Dito Montiel returns with Channing Tatum and Ray Liotta in The Son Of No One. It's a waste **** cast. At least Al Pacino made the film. It's very corny, long and bad. Ignore at all costs, it's hatred for even the best actors in Hollywood history. What a shameless piece of crap.
Production Company:
- Millennium Films
- Hannibal Media
- SONO Production
- Son Of No One Production
Release Date:Nov 4, 2011
Duration:1 h 35 m
Rating:R
Tagline:Serve. Protect. Lie.
Awards
Young Artist Awards
• 1 Nomination
