Nicholas Sparks has brought lovebirds everywhere another new
novel-turned-film entitled The Lucky One.
This time the film stars High School
Musical’s Zac Efron and up-and-coming actress Taylor Schilling in a tale
about a young Marine who believes that finding a picture of a beautiful girl,
in the middle of a war zone, was what saved his life. Logan (Efron) serves
three tours in Iraq
and after finally being sent home, he is unsure as to where he truly belongs.
He is mentally and emotionally confused and lost. He decides to set his sights
on the ‘angel’ in the picture and thank her for bringing him home to safety.
But, when he finally reaches Beth (Schilling) events don’t go as planned, and
what seemed simple turns into a complicated situation.
Nicholas Sparks creates characters that give people that
watch his stories on screen, hope. That hope that people such as Noah and Allie
from The Notebook are real or the
hope that there are men out there such as Landon Carter who would die to do
anything for Jamie Sullivan in A Walk to
Remember. Or the hope that John and Savannah ’s
love will survive any war in Dear John
so it’s only natural to have hope that a character such as Logan in The
Lucky One is not only real, but actually out there somewhere. Zac Efron
delivered a great performance as the epitome of what some girls might think as
the ‘perfect guy’. Logan
is respectful, mature, strong, courageous and passionate. He has a need to try
and take care of situations and of people. He sees the good in people that can’t
even see the good in themselves. To believe a twenty five year old with his
knowledge, strength and romance is wishful thinking. Taylor Schilling portrayed
Beth as an independent woman who needs to do what is best for her and her
family. She comes off strong on the outside but on the inside she is an
emotional mess. Schilling did a really great job, showing the audience the
strengths and weaknesses of Beth. Seeing the previews for the film, the
audience may think that her character is a lot older than Efron’s but she is
actually supposed to play the same age, which would be a little confusing. Schilling
is older than Efron in real life but only by four years, but she appears a lot
older, the audience may have wanted a younger looking woman for it be looked at
as more believable. But, she delivered a fine performance. Blythe Danner
portrays Ellie, Beth’s grandmother and she is sweet and loveable as the wise
and funny nana.
The Lucky One is
of course a beautiful love story, filled with passion, romance and maturity.
The characters in the film were forced to grow up at a young age. Beth got
pregnant in high school, which forced her to be a mother and be independent
from the age of seventeen. Logan , just barely
survived the war in Iraq ,
which would naturally make anyone grow up and mature through force. Seeing what
he must have seen, and doing what he had to do for himself, his friends,
family, and his country made him fearless and admirable.
Director Scott Hicks did a wonderful job, getting the
beautiful sunset shots and romantic lighting. He conveyed his characters
accurately and timely and never took the audience’s attention off screen.
The Lucky One is
highly recommended to anyone who enjoys other Nicholas Sparks romance movies,
films that have great character development and films that leave the audience
believing in hope. Believing in the chance of getting to love or be loved in a
fateful way, and to hoping it will last a lifetime.
This movie was total crap because it tried so hard to make us care for these characters and their love, that it just ended up being irritating as hell. Efron and Schilling do try but come on, there is only so much one person can do with a Nicholas Sparks adaptation! Good review Dorothy.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dan! I love your honesty. This film is clearly not for everyone, I really wish they picked someone other than Schilling because she just came off too old and so did her ex.I do think Efron has come a long way.
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