When I was first given this Blu-ray, my first thought without even reading the synopsis and just looking at the cover was that this movie is perfect for a teenager. Conveniently, my step daughter is 14 years old and just entered high school, so we watched it together. With no “A” list actors, I knew right away this is classified as a “B” list movie. There is nothing wrong with “B” list movies; they are the movies that tend to not reach the movie theatres.
When you read the title “To Save a Life” what first comes to mind? Someone is going to be a hero. In this movie, the hero (Jake) is of course the popular kid in high school who fights with typical high school issues: popularity, social life, peer pressure, family issues, and drinking, sex and drugs.
Film 
The movie begins with a funeral of Jake’s past friend (Roger). Jake reminisces of old times with Roger and how Roger saved Jake’s life. When Jake and Roger enter freshman year, Jake becomes popular, he gains a girlfriend (Amy), who’s only into herself, and loses a friend (Roger). Roger becomes a loner, tries to get help then ends up committing suicide at school, and that’s when Jake feels responsible for Roger’s death and starts becoming aware of other “loners” at school.
This movie displays typical high school: selfish rich teenagers, drinking at parties, drugs, and making fun of “nerds”. Jake starts fighting between being with the popular crowd vs. feeling sorry for the “loners”.
Then the movie evolves into an after school special. Jake decides to go to church, ends up a Christian, and starts questioning God. Jake takes it upon himself to invite Jony Garcia (a loner at school) to join him for lunch. Jake continues to fight between his “cool” friends vs. his youth group friends.
Jony ends up getting blamed for a bomb threat, until Jake “saves his life”. In the end, Jake writes on Roger’s internet blog and tells those they aren’t alone and should get help to avoid committing suicide.
Video 
This video is featured in 1080p High Definition / 2.35:1, although it was a movie that didn’t need high definition as I stated before, it’s like an after school special. A movie like this doesn’t have too much spectacular scenery or details. There were the typical rich houses where all the kids lived and where the parties took place. One scene with Jake and Amy had a gorgeous sun set in the background as they were having a picnic by the beach. Though I did find a few times there was quick change/splicing to scenes that felt pretty abrupt and could have been a lot smoother.
Audio 
The audio is featured in English Stereo 5.1 DTS-HD MA. Most of the music fit really well with whichever scene was taken place. The movie started off with this dramatic depressing symphonic music as they displayed the funeral scene. More dramatic music returned in the movie when it was at the part when Roger committed suicide. In the house parties and high school scenes there was the classic loud dance/rap music. However, when it was a quieter scene with no music, the dialogue got really quiet and felt like it was cutting in and out. There were certain parts of the movie when Jake would have discussions with the pastor (Chris) that had cheesy “after school special” music. That’s when the movie was trying to sneak in the valuable lessons of the movie.
Special Features 
Since this movie has no crazy adventure, special graphics or effects, it didn’t make me want to watch any special features about the movie. It did have the following special features: In-depth behind-the-scenes look at making the film, deleted scenes, music videos and a gag reel. I wouldn’t waste your time watching the behind the scenes making of the film or the gag reel. Behind the scenes had the Producer and Film Director explaining the film and how they both go to the same church, so these people are very religious, as what the movie is. The gag reel was SUPER CHEESY with a capital CHEESE. It seemed to be fake gags; nothing just seemed to happen while recording the movie. The music videos were of the songs “Bounce” by J-Rus and “Sunset Cliffs” by Paul Wright. I found the music videos more interesting than the movie.
Final Thoughts
My step daughter liked the movie, though we both thought that 120 minutes for this type of movie is a little long as we both were getting a little bored in the end. There were definitely some good valuable lessons and some good after school special moments. It did explore religion, and for those who are not too big on religion you might find it too much.
