Dear John (2010)
Director - Lasse Hollstrom
Starring - Channing Tatum & Amanda Seyfried
3 stars
In its essence, Dear John is almost a war story about a young man's relationship with his father disguised as a soppy, romantic chick flick. As far as I was concerned, it was a must see, and don't act surprised because this had MJ written all over it!
It is based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks (author of The Notebook and A Walk To Remember) who is really making his mark in the cinema world due to his heartbreaking love stories. His work is now on such high demand that his latest movie, The Last Song, was an uncompleted novel from years ago that he forced to dust off because the studio just wanted something from him.
It's not hard to recognise Dear John as something that has come from Sparks. Young love, against all kinds of different circumstances, combined with a violent, bad boy past and some interesting relationships with other characters. It's all there for you to see. What is nice about the way his stories develop is the fact that sometimes these insurmountable odds they must fight against are simply that: insurmountable.
This particular movie is about the story between John Tyree (Channing Tatum) and Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) when they meet by chance on the beach. John has two weeks left back home until he is being shipped out again to fight for the US Army. Savannah is on her spring break type thing and has to return to school/college at around about the some time. Luckily for the couple, this is all the time they need to fall in love.
John's a quiet, yet proud young man who has had a violent past. Savannah just seems to get him for who he is and when she meets his autistic father for the first time and makes a great impression, John knows he has got himself a keeper. The problem now is how the pair can overcome the massive obstacles of going such a large stretch of time without seeing one another, and with the September 11 bombings just around the corner, John doesn't know how much longer he will be away from the girl he loves. To counter act this, they vow to keep in contact by writing letters to one another telling their better half everything. As the title so romantically suggests, Savannah begins each of her letters with, "Dear John".
There is a lot more to this film then just a long distance relationship that is put to the test. As I said earlier, a lot of this story, for me, was about John's relationship with his father. Although it is clear that John has always loved him, there is no doubt he is somewhat embarrassed and frustrated by many aspects of him. It is the inclusion of Savannah that makes John change the way he see's him and this acts as probably the most pivotal and emotional avenue for character development that highlights the film.
My major qualm with Dear John was its inability to connect with the audience on a more sentimental level. It was chock full of big emotional scenes that were supposed to draw in the viewer and tug tightly on their heart strings. For me, I just couldn't quite feel it. Being a lover of a decent chick flick and a massive fan of the romance genre I was all prepared to jump straight in and be captured by the passion but on more than one occasion it failed to deliver. Not one tear was shed from my eye when the potential for a downfall was never far away.
Channing Tatum was good, and I am quite a fan of his work. He has been criticised in the past for being stale and wooden but I think he is quite often type cast to play those sort of roles. I firmly believe that John was by far the most complicated character throughout the film and I think Tatum captured that brilliantly in his body language and facial expressions because it was hard for him to portray through dialogue. Job well done.
All in all, it's a nice film. The story is solid, the relationships are pivotal, the romance is evident and the acting is acceptable. There probably could have been more done in order to capture to emotion more but they then have to walk the tightrope of corniness. If you're a fan of these types of films then you won't be disappointed, just don't expect anything groundbreaking.
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