Directed by: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Jamie Michie
What a missed chance!
So much potential, such a good lead-in to the movie and then such a predictable and ordinary ending. Too bad. The possibility for an extraordinary thriller is reduced down to just conformism inside the genre.
From a cinematography point of view, the movie is poor. The filming is just naive. The photography is good in moments but just if you like video postcards of Scotland. Nothing good and helpful for the movie itself. Except the exterior “postcards” shots, all indoor scenes are unnecessarily dark.
In this type of movie, visuals are not that important so you will forgive some imperfections on that end if the action goes as it should. But, when the plot is breaking down, then you really do not have anything else left to make you like the movie. That’s exactly the case with “My Son.”
When a 7 year old boy goes missing from camp there is a huge investigation. The separated parents (played by McAvoy and Foy) are devastated. There are no clues where the kid is, is he alive? The police are saying it is most likely a kidnapping. The father of the missing boy is an international contractor in the oil business sector and does a lot of work in the Middle East. Right after the kidnapping, the office of the company where he’s working is thrashed by unknown intruders looking for some data and hard drives. In the meantime, local police get a strict order from higher ups and intelligence agents in London to drop the case. This is actually the most exciting part of the film. The stage is set for some grand finale, you would think. But no. After all that, the movie just loses all of its suspense. The boy’s father is doing his own investigation because the police are no help. He eliminates some of the bad guys and he saves his son but he’ll probably go to jail anyhow. They are supposed to reward you when you get rid of the bad guys, not put you in jail, right?
The movie’s climax is cut short. There is no real acknowledgement for the reasons behind the kidnapping. No word on how and why this was all connected with intelligence or international ties with the middle east (if any).
Some very bad director decisions in the end. This is especially usual when you know that the director Christian Carion is also in the writing role for this movie. Maybe splitting the roles will produce a better product. Just maybe.
James Mcavoy is one hell of an actor. Even here he is doing all the best that you can expect from a leading actor. But, even this cannot save the movie from its level: ordinary, everyday… Somewhat good, but far from what it could be.
Go and watch the movie if all of this is not a big enough spoiler for you.
