film reviews

Some novels just seem translate to the screen better the others and Nicholas Sparks seems to write quite a few of them. With movies like The Notebook and Message in the Bottle already made, we are now treated to one of his latest, Dear John. It tells the story of a boy and a girl and the love they have for each other. John Tyree (Channing Tatum) is a soldier enjoying leave in his hometown of Wilmington N.C when he meets Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried). They meet after John jumps in the ocean to retrieve Savannah’s purse. To show her thanks, she invites John to a beach party, and wanting to get to know her better, he agrees. While at the party, Savannah introduces him to a few of her friends, including Tim (Henry Thomas) and his son Allen, who has Autism. John and Savannah hit it off right away and start spending all their time together. John even takes Savannah to meet his father, in which after she does, comments that she thinks John’s father has Aspergers. John does not think that is true and gets angry at Savannah and only before he leaves for deployment again do they apologize to each other. Upon leaving, both John and Savannah profess their love for each other and agree to marry once Johns’ commitment is up to the army in twelve months. The two of them trade letters to each other, keeping each other informed of each others lives while they are apart. The beginning of the story takes place in 2000, so not long after John leaves, 9/11 happens. After those events John feels complied to fight for his country and extend his service to the army. Savannah gets angry after he does this, angry because he made the decision with out asking her what she wanted him to do. While John is gone, Savannah spends time with John’s father, Mr. Tyree (Richard Jenkins) and learns about his huge coin collection. As time passes and they are apart, Savannah sends a letter to John that changes both of their worlds. The first part of the story feels like the making of a great love story. Jamie Linden does a good job in adapting Nicholas Spark’s novel for the screen, and it seems with little effort. The story flows well, until it just seems to wrap everything up to quickly. For seventy minutes this is a good film, if it had only been able to keep it going for thirty five minutes more. Lasse Hallstom does a good job of pacing the film and letting the story unfold, but even he couldn’t save the film in the end. You can’t blame the studio though; they know these movies always seem to do well, so why make something great, when you can settle for mediocre. I didn’t have high expectations when this movie begin and what was a glimpse of something great, turned into just another average love story.

Brian Taylor