To Save A Life (2009/Affirm Films/Sony Blu-ray)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: D Feature: D
Affirm Films have now made several formula dramas with a
would-be Christian slant that have all also been essentially the same film with
the same oversimple message, which is too easy to figure out, but if you have
their definition of said faith, everything in your life will be fine. Needless to say that is not suspenseful
storytelling, nor is it particularly believable, but they have tried to take a
step forward with the High School drama To
Save A Life (2009) and all they did was mix in more formula.
Boy gets girl, loses girl, loses control of life, find
faith, solves everything even when the worst happens, girl does not matter much? Randy Wayne is Jake, the main character and
he is really not that good an actor, but he is better than the majority of
non-emoters in this dull dud that features one of the phoniest high schools I
have seen in years and that is not without competition!
At a high self-indulgent two-hours, going to church could
never be this obnoxious and there are other issues. This is the whitest nearly-all-white cast
around and you would think this was a transplant of the 1950s in a bad time
warp from hell (no pun intended, I guess), but wow, this supposed positive tale
is really a very negative one in the end and when all is said and done, nothing
is really resolved and it has one of the dumbest pat endings I have seen in
quite a while. When this ended, the
hatred of the individual is stunning and absurd. I could not believe how outright ignorant
this ultimately conformist propaganda was.
The only thing we did not get was a phony Amen, but that would have
reminded us of that better TV series with Sherman Hemsley Sony also
handles. Easily one of the worst things
I have seen in a few years, skip this because the life you will save will be
your own.
The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot with
the RED One HD camera and this is one of the sloppiest jobs I have seen using
that or any other such camera to date, with bad color, bad definition, general
amateur work and the editing was poor too.
I expected this to look better than their DVDs, but that was false hope. The DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1
track is also underwhelming with limited soundfield and often sub-standard
location recording. Blu-ray only shows
its flaws, ones I wonder if DVD could cover up, but likely not. Extras include deleted scenes, gag reel,
behind-the-scenes featurette and a few other bits that are as boring as
anything.
- Nicholas Sheffo
