Dear John

On Friday night, my first night home after moving back temporarily from Salford for a few weeks, I settled down with an Indian takeaway, glass of wine and my mum to watch Dear John. I'm aware this review probably isn't very relevant as it's been ages since this film was on at the cinemas, but I'll go on anyway.
Dear John tells the story of John, a soldier home on leave, and Savannah, with whom he falls in love with. Savannah is disgustingly innocent. She doesn't drink, she doesn't smoke, she never swears and she has never slept with a boy. John, on the other hand, has had problems in his past, which are never fully revealed, but we, as the audience, gather that he has been involved with a lot of violence as many of the locals seem scared and wary of him.

However, their differences don't stop them from falling in love, and the pair spend the best two weeks of their lives together before John has to return to his duties for 12 months, during which time the couple keep in touch by letter. However, once his 12 months are up, John can't bear to leave his army life, and decides that, rather than give it up to spend time with Savannah, he'd rather continue to fight and make a difference in people's lives, and so, eventually, Savannah writes to him saying that life is too hard without him and so she wants to end the relationship, saying she has met somebody else and gotten engaged.

Dear John not only has themes of romance and heartbreak, but mental illness. John's dad suffers from autism, which is very well portrayed in this film. He is misunderstood and seen as an inconvenience and embarrassment by John, who gets frustrated by his awkwardness and obsession with collecting coins, but eventually, partly due to Savannah's interest in helping people with autism and partly due to his own experiences maturing on the front line, John and his dad eventually make peace. Although only a side story, the theme of autism is handled beautifully and sensitively, and I challenge anybody to see this film and not take pity on John's father, who has a good heart and tries to do what is expected of him, despite how difficult his illness makes that.

It's not the best film in the world, but it does make a change from the same old predictable love stories that Hollywood bangs out every months or so. It does not go the way the people watching it want it to go, and in fact goes entirely the opposite way much of the time. Neither John nor Savannah find completeness in love throughout the majority of the film, and the story is filled with setbacks and disappointments, but this just serves to make the audience even more engrossed in the plot.

One thing that I would fault in the film, though it is nothing major, is the time span. This film is meant to take place over a period of many years, but the characters never look a day over 21 and so at times it makes it confusing as ten years has lapsed without anything seeming to change about the characters, both in their appearances and the way they act. However, Channing Tatum gives a stunning performance as a damaged character who, despite his flaws, is a good person who is capable of love, and it makes a refreshing change from other films, in which the male lead is a flawless beauty with no personality. Like I said, it's not the greatest film you'll ever see, but it's a nice one. I'd definitely recommend it for a rainy day or a sleepover, and it isn't overly girlie in that all American, Mean Girls kind of way. It's not quite The Notebook but it's definitely better than A Walk To Remember.