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Nicholas Sparks’
The
Notebook
translated into a
good movie. It made
sense to do another
Nicholas Sparks book
into a movie, it
didn’t make much
sense to use
Dear
John.
John Tyree is a
Special Forces
Sergeant in the U.S.
Army as the 2000’s
begin. He meets
Savannah Curtis on
leave visiting home
in South Carolina
and the two hit it
off right away
developing a very
heartfelt two week
romance before John
has to go back on
Special Forces duty.
The two write
letters back and
forth and go through
a variety of issues
in their lives
trying to keep their
romance alive.
The problem with
this movie isn’t
that Channing Tatum
rivals Vin Diesel
for screen prowess.
It’s that the story
itself isn’t great.
It’s not that it’s
not believable,
because the premise
of it is. It’s that
there’s either too
much going on or not
enough going on
throughout the
movie. 20 minutes of
this movie seems to
be music-montages
with John waiting
for a letter. After
the montage hits the
plot progresses too
fast until the end
of the movie and
then you’re left
unsatisfied. Lasse
Halstrom is capable
of making good
movies. She just
didn’t do it here.
As
for special
features, there are
plenty on the DVD,
some stuff is good
but most of it
isn’t. There’s even
an alternate ending
which is just as bad
as the normal one.
Dear
John
struggles to make a
connection with the
viewer. When a third
of your movie is
music montage
without anything
really happening you
know you’re in
trouble. It’s even
worse when the music
is uninspired Hotel
Café stuff. Stay
away from this one
if you’re girlfriend
allows you to.
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