I saw this film at Emagine Theatres the first time, and the second time at the AMC cinema on the west coast. Just bought my DVD with special features and I seriously loved this film. I am a huge fan of NBC's Crowded, so I wanted to see what Mia Serafino starred in before this. Sam Logan Khaleghi (Batman V Superman) and Mia Serafino (Crowded) are the lightning of excellent acting in this film. Stoic, accentuated and pinpointed. A brilliant process of what happens when actors taught in English conservatories are in American films. Approaching Midnight is about an Army veteran Wesley Kent who returns to his small town home to fight the threat of political corruption in the form of Mayor Malverne, who is the father of Aspen Malverne (Jana Kramer) who happens to be Wesley Kent's girlfriend. Lots of drama here and great unfolding of events lead to an overall great move that touches on modern day small town politics beside a grand international chain of events. Jana Kramer (Teen Choice Award winner and Platinum recording artist) is currently on tour with her latest country music album so catching her in this film is your best bet at seeing her return to acting.

This film was so awesome on so many levels, I don't know where to begin. Luckily, the film is being re-released in select art house theaters this weekend, and I will make sure to watch the film at the Uptown Film Festival. The DVD is a good watch, but nothing beats watching movies like this on the big screen. After a flashback scene which sets up the character development between Jana Kramer's lead role and Sam Logan Khaleghi's lead part, The movie opens up in the best way with an action scene that is like "Saving Private Ryan" in the middle nowhere middle/far east. Upon these two scenes there is considerably to the strategic writing of this script than meets the eye. There is the perfect truthful chat between soldier to soldier. This is an intricately engineered "art movie" with "commercial" appeal and scenes like when Brandon T. Jackson and Sam Logan Khaleghi have a dialogue moment between fight sequences is a sublime way of allowing the audience to care about the characters. Although the true fight is Kent's as he is a solitary character who must find out the truth behind the death of his girlfriend due to a car accident.The antagonist in the movie is depicted with such threat who is Mayor Steven Malverne, that the hero of the story Staff Sergeant Kent comes full tilt in a ferocious and earth shattering perfect character driven performance. The film's action sequences get inside of you and shakes your nerves like in such anticipation that you can't wait for the next scenes to come.

It was difficult to watch this movie. The script concept was weak and not very original. This same plot has been done before going all the way back to the 1970's with returning vets discovering corruption back home. The dialog is trite and uncomfortable, often without any attempt at an authentic southern accent on the part of the actors. The camera work shows no creativity or careful thought. at times it looked as if they just set it up anywhere and just shot. But by far the editing is the worst of the lot. The scenes often hold on something unimportant (like a door) as if something else will happen, and then nothing does. Cuts within scenes often make little sense and we are left confused by the choices. When you put this all together you end up with a story you know could have been told better, characters that you don't really care about, and in the end you realize the whole thing was a complete waste of time.

This film was truly superior in it's cinematography, acting and "007" like editing effects. The romance between Staff Sergeant Wesley Kent (Sam Logan Khaleghi), Aspen Malverne (Jana Kramer- TV's "One Tree Hill") was flirtatiously awesome and adding the character of Natalie Church (Michelle Balser) into the mix created an awesome "post-potential" love triangle. If you are a fan of the shaky camera thing (which is in all the Bourne movies) then you may not like this, because thankfully, some indie films like this one have returned to the smooth style of peaceful and horizontal cinematography and camera work, which is accredited to Carl Ballou (the movie's DP, who has done such provoking work as music videos for Eminem and the upcoming Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) Brick Mansion's'. I really thought this was a great movie, There seems to be a reviewer who keeps adding negative spam here, obsessed with the location of the film (the location of the movie is set in a fictional 'All America' village) ... but frankly speaking, I am from Michigan and I support movie's that are made in Michigan, it's a hard task to make a film let alone so many veterans who participated in the making of this picture. Aside from that fact, the film is genuinely good, in every way. The acting is natural and legit, the action sequences are demonstrated and all around positive story. Yes the film is rated MPAA PG, so I agree, families can enjoy without worrying about the action and gunplay being too much for young audiences.