Dear John (A very Good Movie)

Dear John is a 2010 American romantic drama-war film starring Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum. It was released theatrically in North America on February 5, 2010. The film was directed by Lasse Hallström, and it is an adaptation of Nicholas Sparks's novel of the same name. It follows the life of a soldier (Channing Tatum) after he falls in love with a young woman (Amanda Seyfried). They decide to exchange letters to each other after he is deployed to the war. The movie was filmed in 2009 in Charleston, South Carolina.

John Tyree (Channing Tatum), a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army Special Forces is lying on the ground in combat gear with multiple gunshot wounds to his body. Coins begin to fall over him as, in a voiceover, he recalls a childhood trip to the U.S. Mint. He compares himself to a coin in the United States Military, and states that the last thing he thought about before he blacked out was "you".
The story then flashes back to a beach, where John is on leave in Wilmington, North Carolina, and he meets Savannah Lynn Curtis (Amanda Seyfried), a college student on spring break. Over the course of two weeks, Savannah and John fall in love. John meets Savannah's family, her neighbor, Tim Wheddon (Henry Thomas), and Tim's son Alan (Luke Benward) who has autism.

Channing tatum & Amanda Seyfried

Savannah meets John's father (Richard Jenkins), a reclusive man who seems to be obsessed with his coin collection (specifically mules), but his genuine interest draws her, to John's surprise. Savannah mentions to John that his father, like Alan, may have autism. This upsets John, who gets into a fight with Savannah's neighbor, Randy (Scott Porter) and, in the process, accidentally punches Tim. John apologizes to Tim, leaves Savannah a note, and then they spend one last day together, parting with, "I'll see you soon, then," rather than goodbye.
John and Savannah continue their relationship through letters, expecting to build a life together when he leaves the army. But the September 11 attacks make him reconsider, and he ultimately chooses to re-enlist. Over the next two years, the romance goes on, through their letters. After a time, John finds himself anxiously awaiting the next letter, but when it arrives it is a Dear John letter, informing him that she has become engaged to someone else. John is so deeply depressed by the news that he burns all of Savannah's letters.

Despite being wounded and encouraged to return home, John re-enlists. After four more years and many missions, while waiting to receive orders on his unit's next deployment, John is informed that his father had a stroke. When John arrives at the hospital he learns that his father is still alive but in grave condition. Feeling guilty, he asks the doctor if the outcome would have been different if he had been there earlier but the doctor says no. John writes a letter to his father, which he reads to him at the hospital; John's voiceover at the beginning of the film was from this letter, in which he told his father that the first thing to cross his mind after he was shot was coins, and the last thing to cross his mind before he lost consciousness was his dad, ultimately the most important person in his life. Shortly thereafter, his father dies.
John goes to visit Savannah and is shocked to find that she has married Tim and is living with him and his son, Alan. He learns that she had to abandon her dream of a riding camp for kids with autism because of Tim's fight against lymphoma, and John goes with her to visit him in the hospital. Tim tells John that Savannah still loves him. That night, John asks Savannah why she did not even call him and she says it was because just hearing his voice would make her change her mind. She asks John to say "I'll see you soon" like they always do, but instead, he just says goodbye. He makes a decision to sell all of his father's coin collection except the mule that John found, to raise money which could help Tim in his treatment. Months later John receives a letter from Savannah telling him that Tim died after two months and "I'll see you soon, then." The film then skips forward to show John as a civilian with facial hair, carrying his bike, as he sees Savannah in a coffee shop. They make eye-contact and the last scene ends with the both of them hugging.