Following the last four days of Mike Holland (Nick Cannon - The Killing Room) in his urban hometown, we get a glimpse of the trials and self-struggles that a soldier may face on the eve of being shipped oversees to a war zone. During these last days, Mike's story revolves around friends, family, and a new love interest (Melonie Diaz - Be Kind Rewind).
The lead character deals with finding time to spend with his family, while juggling time with his friends and pursuing a girl that he just met. In American Son, some issues are brought up as well, including a subtle focus on race (the soldier happens to be African American and his girlfriend Hispanic). Mike also has to break ties with his delinquent friend (Matt O'Leary - Domestic Disturbance), whom he finds has a grudge that Mike went away without this friend. Mike also has to deal with telling his mother and girl the truth about being deployed directly to Iraq when he knows that it will worry his loved ones greatly.
While American Son may show a different perspective on warfare by focusing on the emotional drama that happens before a soldier even steps foot on the battlefield, I found the overall story not all that compelling. My attention just wasn't held while watching this movie, partly because the general mood felt quite slow. That said, there were some interesting interactions between the characters, but overall I was a bit bored watching American Son. For those looking for something a bit different, this film may be worth a rental, but that is about it. While the concept of showing the pre-battle wars within a soldier's heart when on the verge of deployment is certainly a good concept, I feel that American Son fell short of my expectations.
