One of my all time favorites.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A Masterpiece!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

There is an utter brilliance that thrusts this movie into a favorite of mine. I thought that this film had an intriguing story that reflected on positive messages with redemption. The fact that the filmmakers donated their theatrical proceeds to charity via the American Legion was really heartwarming. I discovered this film from the article on the The American Legion national website. I missed the premiere in Houston at the American Legion National Convention, but as someone who knows many veterans I can say that the details in the uniforms were great. The cinematography from Carl Ballou was enthralling and kept you very motivated with the characters as their stories progressed. I really enjoyed the relationship between Wesley Kent and his sister Jordan. The tension in his home front return sequence is just utter beauty in both structure, acting, and photography. I can really feel the domestic issues that were left undone and the time that passed between them when they first see each other again. The horse ranch is a wonderful backdrop in rural reality for this to unfold between the characters. It was almost like the Horseranch represents Wesley wanting to run wild and free, while also needing to take care of the rest of the herd. So many great images and great acting performances, from Sam Logan Khaleghi (Batman v Superman), Michelle Lynne Balser (Five Year Engagement), Dean Teaser (Ghost Town) and Jeff Stetson (Librarian Dialogues) as well as Carollette Phillips (It Follows) who's scenes as the grieving widow of a fallen soldier were handled with such care. The film magnified the heart of the everyday hero, and was a solid watch.

Approaching Midnight is captivating. I know there's been review's about the films' love stories but I think beyond the romance, the film was actually a splendid cat and mouse political thriller. Centered on a political game between a crooked mayor and an returning Army soldier who decides that he must protect his country from a local threat. The film to me was about a hero whose stakes are triggered by the events that lead up to each moment he comes across in previous scenes. From the passing of his friends to the expansion of new relationships, this film is just a brilliant film, moment to moment, it's Hitchcock like quiz with a military angle in it. I can't really review the DVD though, because I caught this film in a theater in Kentucky.

The film strikes a nice balance between action, suspense and drama. The amount of personal loss and tragedy endured by the main character created a lot of sympathy, but wasn't overly depressing to the point of distraction. The story focuses more on a specific mystery that needs to be solved vs. making a larger obvious statement about the nature of war, (although I suspect many veterans can identify with the film's protagonist) and it certainly pays respect to our men and women in uniform. Approaching Midnight should not be written off as a purely action driven "guy'" movie, but an intelligent drama that manages to infuse some romantic tension as well. Definitely enjoyed it. A unique spin on the genre.

Background on myself, I have been an IMDb user for over several years, I am from the midwest area, but I support all mid-west arts, film and creative types. I saw this film in Chicago at the historic Wilmette Theater, and I REALLY enjoyed both great movies from Monterey Media this year that were coincidentally films made in Michigan including "The Citizen" and "Approaching Midnight". I am admitting to being slightly biased as a mid-west film scene supporter but praise has to be given to intense work from such amazing MoTown Filmmakers. As for this one, I don't want to give away any twist endings that the trailer almost gives away, but the film is stellar! I also loved Cinematographer Carl Ballou's work on this movie, it's like "The Thin Red Line," very Emmanuel Lubezki like, kind of reminded me of "Tree of Life" too. The movies soundtrack was very omniscient, and I have been watching the very cool works of composer James Stonehouse or a long time who created a track on this film that was a borderline of Hanz Zimmer and John Ottman, who scored the Usual Suspects. Which is funny, because when I was watching the film at the theater in the suburban Chicago area, the theater had an awesome 5.1 setup that fantastically captured the elements of the soundtrack.