Friday, September 5, 2014

I Didn't Come Here to Die (2010)

A group of college age kids doing volunteer work head into the woods for a two month assignment.  They'll be making trails, building fire pits, and getting the land ready to be made into a summer camp for under privileged children.  There's no cell reception in the woods and they'll have no contact with the outside world other than when someone runs into town to get supplies.

The group is made up of six people, half of which volunteered for selfish reasons.  On the plus side, we have group leader Sophia,  Stephen who is a recent high school graduate and in love with his girlfriend, and Danny who recently lost a friend.  They're all willing to work hard and hopefully make a difference in the world.

Then there are the other three. Troublemaker Chris whose friend told him joining was a good way to get laid, hipster Julie who has a bad attitude, and Miranda, a self serving tattletale who tries to boss everyone around and is there because it will look good on her resume when she goes into politics.

Although drinking is against the rules, any time college kids go into the woods, you just know they're going to party.  Later that night there is an accident, and Sophia needs to bring someone to the hospital. She says she'll be back in a few days, but the other four should keep working on the camp project.  This proves to be a huge mistake since within a day there is a death, no way to get help, and a growing fear that due to the circumstances, those left alive will be charged with murder.

This started off slow and I wasn't impressed.  There was nothing that interesting about the situation or characters, plus the the film was post processed to look like this:

Often this is a sign that the filmmakers are relying more on the look of the film than the substance, or that they just got some new software and isn't it neat to make the movie look retro.  Thankfully the movie picks up once there is an accident.  It takes awhile for that to happen, but then the movie starts getting on it's way.

While this has dark comedy overtones, it's not a funny movie, except for the last scene which made me laugh out loud.  By the end it had won me over and I enjoyed it.  Also the DVD cover above is misleading. I much prefer the original poster below, which is what I first saw.  If I'd seen the newer cover above, I might not have been that interested in it.  I'm sure others would have a different reaction, but I find the one below far more interesting.




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