Movie Review: The Lucky One

I was not sure what to expect with this movie. I had heard it was good, but had not heard or read any reviews on it, or anything.

This story begins in Iraq .  Sergeant Logan Thibault finds himself in a combat situation at a home of presumably suspicious people. His team runs into another American Marine unit. It seems that they just scared one another and a close call, but suddenly, they find themselves under attack by hostiles, and there are casualties. It is a nightmare, but we next see Thibault the next morning. He, like the other soldiers, is standing around outside, and he finds himself distracted by something on the ground, perhaps thirty or so feet ahead of him. He goes over to pick it up and examine it, and finds a picture of a beautiful young woman by a lighthouse. As he is contemplating the picture, there is a surprise explosion that strikes right where he had been standing just moments earlier, and he understands that the picture served as a distraction that got him away from where he otherwise surely would have died. He begins to view the woman in the picture as angelic, as his personal guardian angel. He hangs onto the picture, and is determined to find the woman. We watch one more instance, when he takes out the picture as he is discussing it with his buddy, just before his buddy gets killed.

When he returns home, we find him struggling to adjust to life here. The video games that children play, with their loud explosions, causes him alarm. When his cousins at the house he is temporarily living in sneak up on him while he is sleeping one morning, he automatically protects himself and throws himself on top of the child, not knowing or remembering that he is no longer in Iraq. It is clear that it is time for him to go.

So he does. Logan has found a match for the lighthouse on the internet, and walks all the way from where he is, in Colorado , to Louisiana- to the town where that woman in the picture had been. He asks around and, before long, finds out that her name is Beth, and ultimately, he finds her in town, at a dog training facility.

Logan goes to meet her, and it is awkward. He wants to tell her why he is there, but she does not understand, and he suddenly finds himself accepting a job with the dogs. Of course, the movie goes on from there.

Beth is skeptical at first, and really does not like him or want him around. But when he proves not only useful, but good with her son, she begins to take a liking to him. Of course, predictably, it begins to be a lot more than that. It is a movie, after all. So therefore, you also know that it is not going to be that easy. There is a jealous ex in the picture, and he is a respected and well-liked member of the local police force. He is also the father of Beth's son, and constantly threatens to take him away from her. Suddenly, Logan finds himself harassed, but he remains resilient, mostly just keeping to himself. But the tensions keep mounting, as the relationship grows more serious, until they finally reach a breaking point.

They have a lot of obstacles. The ex is just one obstacle, but Beth also has to come to terms with the loss of a loved one in Iraq , and Logan specifically reminds her of him. She has lost someone close to her under mysterious circumstances, and would do anything to find out the truth of how he actually died. When Logan begins to understand that he was there and can enlighten her, it causes a whole new wave of tension, and threatens to break them apart.

This is a good movie overall. A feel good movie, to be sure, and not one meant to be taken too seriously, or anything. It is a happy romance, and at times, a little too idyllic. But it nonetheless is a good and pleasing movie that explores enough outside elements to make it interesting on another level, as well.

All in all, The Lucky One is a decent quality movie, even if it, ultimately, is in fact a "chick flick".