''The Son of No One'' is a 2011 American crime
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
written by
Dito Montiel
Orlandito Montiel is an American author, filmmaker, and musician.
Early Career & Music
Born in New York City, Montiel was active in the early '80s New York hardcore punk scene when he was vocalist for Queens-based Major Conflict. Later, he wou ...
based on a book of the same name, written by Montiel. The film is Dito Montiel's third collaboration with actor
Channing Tatum
Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor. Tatum made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his breakthrough role in the 2006 dance film '' Step Up''. He gained wider attention for his leading rol ...
.
Plot
In 2002, a young cop, Jonathan White, is a rookie officer under Captain Marion Mathers in a
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
neighborhood in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, where he grew up. To provide for his wife Kerry and ailing young daughter, he works hard to keep his life on track, but this life is threatened when a dark secret bubbles to the surface. An anonymous source reveals new information about two unsolved murders from 1986, in the same neighborhood.
In 1986, 14-year-old Jonathan killed two men in self-defense. His friends Vinnie and Vicky helped him dispose of the bodies and keep their involvement a secret from the authorities. The detective on the case, Stanford, knew Jonathan was involved, but disposed of the evidence out of loyalty to Jonathan's late father, who had been his partner. The boyfriend of Vinnie's mother forced Vinnie to have sex with him. Vinnie and Jonathan decided to rob the man and escape, but their plan failed.
In the present, Jonathan meets with Vinnie, who has descended into mental illness, for the first time in years. He has been getting anonymous phone calls and letters threatening to expose what he did 16 years before. He contacts Loren Bridges, the reporter who is trying to create a newspaper story out of the source material that has been leaked. He tries to convince her not to publish the story, but she refuses and leaves. Once she leaves the restaurant, she is followed and murdered by an unseen assailant. When Kerry demands to know what is going on, Jonathan admits to her that he was responsible for the killings.
The next morning, Jonathan learns of Loren's death before he receives a call from Captain Mathers, who informs him that Jonathan's partner is waiting for him outside. He is taken to Mathers and Stanford, who is now the city's police commissioner and plans to hand the job to Mathers after he retires. Mathers shows pictures taken of Jonathan and Loren in the restaurant before her death. Mathers and Stanford tell him that they had Loren killed to prevent her from publishing the story and making the department look bad; they then threaten to frame him for her murder unless he cooperates.
Jonathan heads home, but soon turns around and drives to Vinnie's apartment, knowing that Mathers and Stanford are going to kill him. He arrives to find the men about to murder Vinnie on the roof. Jonathan tries to intervene, but his partner holds him back, and Mathers shoots and wounds him. Mathers hands a gun to Vinnie and orders him to kill Jonathan, but Vinnie decides instead to shoot Mathers. Stanford then shoots Vinnie, who falls off of the roof. Stanford tells Jonathan to leave and forget about everything that happened. Jonathan reluctantly leaves and goes to find a dying Vinnie, who tells him that he never told anyone what happened.
Mathers' death and the two murders in 1986 are blamed on Vinnie, who is portrayed as a mentally unstable murderer in the media. Jonathan tries to carry on a normal life. The movie closes with an older Vicky sending a letter to Jonathan, explaining this will be her last letter—thus identifying herself as the person sending the letters to the newspaper.
Cast
*
Channing Tatum
Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor. Tatum made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his breakthrough role in the 2006 dance film '' Step Up''. He gained wider attention for his leading rol ...
as Jonathan White
*
Tracy Morgan
Tracy Jamal Morgan (born November 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actor best known for his television work as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1996–2003) and for his role as Tracy Jordan in the sitcom ''30 Rock'' (2006 ...
as Vincent Carter ("Vinnie")
*
Katie Holmes as Kerry White
*
Ray Liotta
Raymond Allen Liotta (; December 18, 1954 – May 26, 2022) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Shoeless Joe Jackson in ''Field of Dreams'' (1989) and Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's ''Goodfellas'' (1990). He was a Primet ...
as Captain Marion Mathers
*
Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress and dancer.
She has appeared in more than sixty feature films and has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Silver Bear, ...
as Loren Bridges
*
Al Pacino as Detective Charles Stanford
*
James Ransone as Thomas Prudenti
Production
Filming took place from February 2010 to April in
Astoria, Queens
Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeast ...
, NY. Several scenes were shot in the
Queensbridge Houses
Queensbridge Houses, also known simply as Queensbridge, is a public housing development in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, New York City. Owned by the New York City Housing Authority, the development contains 29 buildings and 3,1 ...
in
Long Island City.
Release
The film was selected to close the 2011
Sundance Film Festival on January 30, 2011. After a poor reception, the film's ending was recut.
Anchor Bay secured distribution rights to the film and released it in ten theaters. It grossed $30,680 in the US and a total of $1.1 million worldwide.
[ It was released on DVD in the US on February 19, 2012.
]
Reception
''The Son of No One'' provoked strong reactions at Sundance. Although a private screening for distributors resulted in walkouts, the public showing was more positive. Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, a review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
, reports that 16% of 37 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 3.8/10. The consensus states: "Needless stylistic flourishes and wholly illogical storytelling make ''The Son of No One'' a grisly, repugnant journey." Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
rated it 36/100 based on 18 reviews. Rob Nelson of ''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' wrote, "Montiel's awkward appropriation of gritty crime-drama conventions results in a film that's contrived and implausible, at times absurdly so." John DeFore of ''The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
'' wrote that it "bounces nicely between two New York eras but is built around an unconvincing premise". Writing for the ''Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...
'', Roger Ebert rated it two out of four stars and said that the film "seems to be adding up, but its drama and urgency are without purpose." ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''s Stephen Holden wrote that the film features intense performances but a nonsensical plot.
Awards
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Son Of No One, The
2011 films
2011 action drama films
2011 thriller drama films
American action drama films
American thriller drama films
Films directed by Dito Montiel
Films scored by Jonathan Elias
Fictional portrayals of the New York City Police Department
Films about the New York City Police Department
Films based on the September 11 attacks
Films set in 1986
Films set in 2002
Films set in New York City
Films shot in New York City
2010s English-language films
2010s American films