Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried star in a tender romantic story of a soldier on leave in South Carolina and a college student who have one of those once in a lifetime romantic affairs and who want to make it permanent. Tatum in fact is ready to leave the army once his enlistment is up, but the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon interrupt that. He and the rest of America go into a permanent state of war which sad to say we'll be in for the foreseeable future.

Her main support in this world is Henry Thomas and his autistic son R. Braden Reed who ages into Luke Benward. One day while out with his unit on some unknown battlefield in the war on terror, Tatum gets that dreaded Dear John letter.

Neither party though deeply in love is exactly truthful to the other. Tatum is not your average GI, he's in fact with Special Forces, otherwise known as a Green Beret. Patriotism is not something trotted out on the Fourth of July or other occasions. He may make the army a permanent profession.

As for Seyfried her reasons for breaking off with Tatum border on the noble and self sacrificing. For that you see Dear John for, but I know in real life of a similar situation that Seyfried faces here.

Also in the cast is Richard Jenkins who is Tatum's mildly autistic and eccentric father. His is a touching performance, the bond between him and Tatum runs very deep.

Tatum and Seyfried are as romantic a couple as I've ever seen in the new century. If your taste in film runs to wartime romance this is definitely the film for you.

John Tyree (Channing Tatum) is Army Special Forces on leave back home. Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) is a sweet popular girl. She falls for him right away after he dove off the pier to retrieve her purse.

They're reusing the same formula again. Take two lovely young leads, and combine it with a Nicholas Sparks novel. There's even a rain soaked kissing scene in an unfinished house. There is basically nothing here other than the two likable leads. Richard Jenkins puts in a limited performance as John's autistic father. Their big fight seems manufactured. Too much of the movie has the two leads mostly communicating through letters. It's not a terribly dramatic movie. Even adding 9/11 doesn't make it any more compelling.

I will start by saying I have never read the book so I'm basing my review solely on the film.

I actually found the film very hard to watch and cried most of the way through. It is a very beautiful film but I think what is unfortunately overlooked my many is that the strongest relationship in the film is that between John and his father and it is this relationship that made the film very emotional for me. In particular scene following his fathers stroke where John was reading the letter was beautifully done and very well acted and was the scene I found most upsetting.

I think the film explores a number of important aspects in particular having an autistic parent which I could only imagine would be exceptionally difficult for any child, particularly when said parent is their only carer. As seen with the characters of both Aaron and Johns father relationships are often quite difficult for those with some types of autism, routine is important and going against a routine can cause a lot of angst and distress. Its unfortunate that a number of people continue to see autism as an excuse for peoples bad behaviour and I think this film brings and important note to an often misunderstood illness. It also points out the issue of autism in parents which is another issue often overlooked.

The relationship between John and Savannah is only secondary to that of John and his father and I think its well acted by Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried. To me both actors seemed to really feel and understand their characters and the hurt between them and I did like how the ending between them was really left open to interpretation.

In all a very well done film which explores some important social issues but no review will ever truly do this film justice. I for one could not watch it again because it made me so upset but this just goes to show how emotive the film is. Its a film that needs to be watched, even if it is only once.