A look at the difficulties of high school life. The film takes place during a climatic last day of the school year and through ominous black and white flashbacks there are hints at the trouble that has been brewing.
Directed by the infamous Uwe Boll this is a surprisingly good film. While the acting is at times second rate and the hard rock soundtrack seems sorely misplaced during some moments, though not all, the film is pretty involving. Mainly through its flashback structure, the audience is placed hours away from a climatic event without knowledge of what will happen and bit by bit the past is revealed and we get an understanding of what is tragically imminent, kind of like in a Greek play.
There are also a few interesting shots - particularly the opening long take that ventures down a street including in and out of a house. The other major surprise is that Boll is at the helm. His crap video game adaptations are known for their brainlessness but this is significantly different and shows that he has (or at least had) some good film making ideas. The ending is also typical Boll - the film tries to outrun itself by turning into a big political statement and the catharsis seems underdeveloped for the characters and overly large for the film itself. And the kicker is that Boll uses - get this - narrated titles to make that statement. Though the presentation of media coverage was interesting and he should have stuck with just that as there is no need to state the obvious. It is that, and the few other annoyances, ultimately push this what could have been a good hard drama down to the "close but no cigar" category.
So Uwe Boll took a step in the right direction, but, since then, has somehow decided to take the road more traveled, crappy action movies, and that has made all the difference. 6/10
Rated R: violence, profanity, drug use, and a rape.
