The kids mother was a scumbag

Agreed--and that whole thing doesn't even make a lot of sense considering that she is the one who put/forced them back together after all that time. And what did she tell his dad in the meantime? I mean he MUST have had communication with her and wondered why the kid never responded.



"It wasn't me who was murdered, was it?"

I was under the impression that the grandfather must have hid them, but he did seem to find them when going through his mother's stuff... so I don't know. Maybe she just had a change of heart on her death bed??? Didn't make sense, becuase Hawk said he was continually in contact with the mom, and seemed on good terms with her. I don't get it.

There's definitely a lot of plot holes in the movie. Stallone wrote the mother for years yet never asked why his son wasn't writing back

This film would have been better if it had a scene with Lincoln and Christina. For example, at the beginning of after he delivers that tractor he was transporting, they could have shown him driving to meet her and talk about her coming heart surgery. This film requires the audience to fill in too many blanks about their relationship. They were amicable, and calling each other Honey. What kind of arrangement did they have? They did stay in love at long distance because they kept contact through letters? It would have been nice to hear Lincoln's reasons for leaving, and why they are still loving towards each other, in spite of his departure. It was a mistake to leave his family, regardless of the his reasons, but I think Lincoln realized that Christina wouldn't be a struggling single mom, and left to spare the three of them the grandfather's meddling.

For what is worth, I have come up with a scenario to explain the strange marital arrangement and the letters.


Christina meets Lincoln while he is on brake from one of his transport jobs. They have a summer romance that ends with her pregnant. They get married, in spite of his limited means, and decide to make a family. The grandfather won't have any of it because of Lincoln's poor background. Lincoln travels a lot, and still struggles to support his new family, and his father-in--law won't let him forget his background. He leaves because he is not doing much his family, but promises to stay in touch with his wife and son and try to make a better life their sake. He writes to Christina and Michael, separately. Christina reads his letters and sends him photos and other updates on Michael's life. She never gives Michael Lincoln's letters because she doesn't want him to for a fatherly figure that is not there. Lincoln never hears back from his son, and thinks he probably doesn't want to know about the man that left them, but he keeps writing anyway. The grandfather, aware of the correspondence, sends Michael to the military academy. Christina finds the letters, confronts her father and hides them in her room.

All that confusion would have been avoided if Michael would have found the letters in his grandfather's study, attic, anywhere, but the mom's room.