American Son
was an excellent movie. Nick Cannon
was exceptional in his role as Mike
Holland and a cast of some excellent
actors back him up in spades. A
story of a soldier that just got out
of training and is about to get sent
off to Iraq is both heartwarming and
gut wrenching.
Mike is from
Bakersfield. Not a great place, not
a terrible place, a pretty normal
place. He’s got a normal life that
lots of people can relate to. His
brother is a mess and a meth addict,
his mother and father got divorced
and he sees his father in spots. He
has a step-dad that he doesn’t
particularly care for, a little
sister he loves, and some friends
that everybody has. Maybe they’re
not great influences but they’re
still good guys at heart. That’s
Mike’s life in a nutshell. He’s got
real problems just like everybody
else but his biggest problem is that
he ships off to Iraq in 96 hours.
The story
revolves around what Mike does with
his 96 hours. Balancing time between
friends and family and a girl he met
that he is extremely interested in.
It’s moving to see Mike in some of
these situations and you always feel
for him and what he’s going through.
Part of this is due to director Neil
Abrhamson's camera work and the
other part is to Nick Cannon’s
acting. Cannon wasn’t that great in
the beginning of the film but in the
middle and towards the end he really
gets into character and turns out to
be a great actor. Just as good as
him is his romantic interest in the
film Cristina, played by Melanie
Diaz. Her and Cannon had great
chemistry on screen together. The
guy that stole the show though, was
Jay Hernandez who played a wounded
vet back from Iraq. That’s an actor.
American Son
couldn’t have been a better movie.
Cannon was excellent, the story was
better and it hit hard on a subject
that really isn’t touched on a lot
these days. More than that though,
it was a ‘real’ movie. Everybody has
friends like Mike’s friends and
family like Mike’s family and lots
of people know soldiers like Mike
who tough out their own butterflies
and unreal circumstances and fight
for our freedom. American Son is
something everybody should watch. A
great movie about a subject that
isn’t touched on nearly enough.
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