The day is finally here! The release of The Lucky One on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download.
For the past several days I have been watching and reviewing every movie that was made based on a Nicholas Sparks book. They were all leading up to the release of The Lucky One, which was also based on one of his books.
The Lucky One stars Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling and Blythe Danner.
Zac Efron plays the part of Sgt. Logan Thibault, a young marine who is serving in the military overseas. He’s seen a lot of action including witnessing troops getting ambushed.
One morning after a series of ambushes and watching other Marines get killed, Logan happens to notice something shining in the sunlight. He walked over to the object and picked it up. It was a photo of a young woman with the words “Keep Safe X” written on the back of it.
As Logan turns around to return to where he was standing prior to spotting the photo a mortar hit killing around around it and injuring Logan.
After Logan was treated for his injuries he set out to find the owner of the photograph. He asked other military personnel but no one knew who the photo belonged to.
Instead of throwing the photo away Logan held on to it. He began to see it as his special lucky charm.
Shortly before finishing up his last tour of duty Logan and his friend were discussing the photograph. Logan referred to the woman in the photo as his guardian angel. No sooner did he say that the vehicle was hit and his friend was killed.
When Logan returned to the states he went to live with his sister who was watching over his dog Zeus while he was employed. Unable to get over his experiences in the war he leaves his sister’s house in Colorado, along with Zeus, and walks to Louisiana. He wanted to find the woman in the picture. He was able to locate the lighthouse in the background of the photo. The lighthouse is in Louisiana.
Once Logan arrives in the town where the lighthouse is located he shows everyone in town the photo in hopes that someone would recognize the woman. Finally one resident knew who she was. Her name is Beth and she lives outside of town where she helps her grandmother run a dog kennel.
Logan finds his way to the kennel and locates Beth (Taylor Schilling). Beth Clayton is a divorced woman with a young son who lives with her grandmother (Blythe Danner) and helps her run her dog kennel and dog training business.
Logan wants to tell Beth why he’s there but he cannot find the right words to say. Beth assumes he is there for a job but quickly becomes weary of the stranger after he tells her that he walked from Colorado to Louisiana because he loves to walk. Beth wants him to leave but her grandmother offers him the job.
Logan comes to work faithfully every day with his dog Zeus. He ends up being a lot of help for the woman. It takes a while but Beth slowly warms up to the handsome stranger.
One day Logan comes across Beth having a fit in the garden. When he rushes to her side he finds out that it was the anniversary of the death of her brother, Drake. Drake was also a Marine like Logan. He was killed during the war but no one was ever able to tell Beth how he died. She worried that her brother died in vain.
As time goes on Logan and Beth get closer and closer. Logan also gets close to her son, Ben. Ben’s father happens to be the sheriff. He is very suspicious of Logan and also resents that he is having a relationship with his ex-wife and son. Beth’s ex-husband (Ben’s father) is a big bully who is used to getting his own way, even threatening Beth that he will take Ben away from her forever.
Will Logan and Beth ever be able to find happiness together? Will Beth learn the truth about her brother Drake? Will Beth’s husband succeed in running Logan out of time, or taking Ben away from Beth forever? Will Beth ever learn the real reason why Logan came to Louisiana? To find out these answers you’ll have to pick up a copy of The Lucky One which is available where ever movies are sold. You can also purchase it from the WB Shop.
Here is the film’s trailer. If you are reading this via e-mail you can find the trailer here, http://bit.ly/Pqg4Uv.
The Lucky One is rated PG-13 and the films runs for approximately 90 minutes. It also contains some bonus features.
I really liked the movie. I wouldn’t say it was my favorite Nicholas Sparks film, but it’s certainly in the top 5. The scenery was beautiful and Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling have great chemistry. Their online chemistry is so special that they even developed a bonus featured based on it.
As with all Nicholas Sparks stories someone dies. My husband and I tried to figure out who was going to pass away during the film. We were actually very surprised by who ultimately lost their life.
Zac Efron has also come a long way since his High School Musical days.
To “beef up” for the part Zac went through a lot of physical training. He also spent a lot of time with Marines around his age in Camp Pendleton, CA so that he could get to know more about these brave men and women who serve in the US Military.
This is a beautiful love story that doesn’t make you feel depressed afterwards (unlike A Walk to Remember and The Notebook).
Although this is mostly a “chick flick” (Zac Efron is nice “eye candy”), men might enjoy the military aspects of the film.
Kimberly
*I received a free screener copy in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinion expressed is my own and is not influenced in any way.
About Kimberly
It’s a fantastic love story, but I think that the movie was a bit plain. I was expecting to see a bit of tears from the friends I went with, but nothing of the sort happened. I asked a few Dish coworkers how they felt about the movie, and since some have read the book, they felt it was a far cry from what it should have been. I did see it in theaters in April, and have added it to my Blockbuster @Home queue since I just finished the book. I want to see what I missed. Great review!