Jake Taylor (Randy Wayne) and Roger Dawson (Robert Bailey Jr.) were once best friends, but unfortunately high school politics have separated their ways. One is a basketball jockey, Jake, and the other is a lonely outcast, Roger. Roger is a troubled young man whose loneliness has completely taken over him leading him to commit suicide during school hours in front of his supposed best friend. Jake, who witnessed his friend’s suicide, is now left questioning his actions and his purpose in life, wondering if he could have done something different in order to help his friend. Jake meets Chris, another person who feels some responsibility over Roger’s death and he too turned his back on him, and he invites Jake to church to see the light and change his ways in order to help others. This of course brings Jake to decide on the life he has now or take a new path and walk away from what he is expected to do by others.
Obviously, To Save a Life is a Christian film and it is known during the first portion of the film. This fact is never hidden to the viewer, but of course the excellent writing of the film allows filmmaker to not blatantly throw it in your face. Instead the film focuses on various topics, that while are edgy; remain well told for a younger audience. However, the filmmakers did not hold back on any subject, but keeping everything relatively PG-13. The film takes a rather sad route during portions of the moment and the filmmakers are able to capture the pain in which each character is going through. The ability to capture these moments and fully display them on the screen leaving the viewers thinking about the uncertainty the characters are going through is well done by the filmmakers. Their intentions to fully grab the viewers and throw them into an emotional roller coaster are well done.
To Save a Life is truly a great movie, seriously, even when the religious overtones are everywhere to be found. The message and principles resonate well after the credits begin to roll. To Save a Life attempts to spread a message to everyone about the importance to care for others. It attempts to tell you that if you look beyond what you think it’s right you might just find that something else that will separate you from the others and do some good where you never thought you could. The message is deep and all within the film, Jason Britts and company have done an amazing job telling a story that perhaps under different scenarios it does happen. The cast has done an excellent job with each character, portraying every emotion as if it’s their own. The story is fascinating and never feels disingenuous, even under tear-jerking scenes, the story is very well developed from start to finish and never do touchy scenes feel forced. The cast and crew deserve a round applause for providing such excellent material.
To Save a Life arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG4-AVC encoded framed at 2.35:1. For a low budget film, Sony went outdid themselves once again. To Save a Life looks exceptional on Blu-ray. Colors are vibrant in every scene, black levels are deep and inky, and details are incredibly outstanding. The image is clean and sharp at all times. Skin tones look natural and lifelike. There is some debris on the image in a few sequences, but other than that there’s really nothing to complain about this transfer. Nearly flawless video transfer that will leave you very satisfied. Kudos Sony!
To Save a Life arrives on Blu-ray with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio lossless track. For a drama Sony sure spent a good amount of time taking good care of this title. Being a dialogue driven film you would expect the narration to be flawless and indeed the track handles all the dialogue without a single problem. The bass is used from time to time giving a more pleasant punch when necessary. The rears aren’t used much except for a few scenes. If you go in waiting to have your home theater put to work you are watching the wrong movie. Sony did an outstanding job providing a track did justice to this film.
To Save a Life features decent amount of extras that should keep fans entertained. There aren’t many extras, but anything is better than nothing. Check below for a breakdown of each supplement.
Audio Commentary – Featuring Director Brian Baugh, Producers Nicole Franco and Steve Foster, and Writer Jim Britts. This is a fairly good track and very informative. The speakers cover various topics of the film including the theme, scenes, the shooting of the movie, and more.
To Save a Life: Behind the Scenes – This supplement features the cast and crew talking about the film and various other topics including the actors, the director, and more. This piece features some behind the scenes footage.
Deleted Scenes – This title includes 8 scenes
Music Videos – featuring “Sunset Cliffs” by Paul Wright and “Bounce” by J-Rus.
Trailers – Movie trailers for The Karate Kid, Fireproof, and Facing the Giants.
Gag Reel
BD-Live Functionality
To Save a Life was a low budget film, but it never truly feels that way. Sure, there are no high status movie stars present, but that does not mean the film isn’t good. Quite on contrary, To Save a Life exceeded expectations and delivered an incredible production that’s both emotional and profound. The Blu-ray looks and sounds excellent that we really can’t complain. There’s a good amount of extras that will further add value to this release. Don’t allow the Christian label stop you from getting this title. I highly recommend it.
