Wandered Drama

Rating: 4/10 (4 September 2014)

If I Stay has a strong premise, it might as well be compared to Ghost, but this one gives the main character an opportunity either to live even without her family or to die leaving the rest of her loved ones. It gives a vast emotional tone whenever she explores her past and trying to choose between her fate, but it doesn't let the conflict be as stirring as it meant to be. The plot is so burdened with the flashbacks that feels more like one big exposition leading to the tragedy they are facing right now, as for the plot itself it doesn't bring enough intrigue to its actual situation. I know that the film wishes to build more of the drama than the high concept, but it also feels like a huge hindrance from something that is actually interesting to the story. Those big chunks of memory didn't help the story to bloom enough either, and that is how it sadly fail.
One of its conspicuous problems is its lack of exploring through its supernatural side. The situation of the character does sound risky, but the film doesn't make the cope feel like it's right there. Definitely, the story has to rely on the backstory of Mia. Those flashbacks do not have much of a big conflict, they're basically just simple problems that are already too familiar in many romantic films you've ever seen. Adding it with their affections to music is its only, but small distinction. What the movie tends to bring isn't really hard to figure out. It obviously tries to make the audience connect with the characters so when the story hits to where the movie started, it would make the life and death decision look a lot challenging. But there isn't really much happening to Mia's ghostly journey. It only consists few actions, which is either finding out what happened to her family or just watching her mourning loved ones. And the nurse who somehow knows about this weird spirit zone seems to only exist for exposition to a world that doesn't even try to make sense.
It does have a fine job of building how their lifestyle works. All of these scenes are quite pleasant to watch, and the characters are pretty charming adding a shade of life, but we mostly cannot reckon what else is big or interesting going to happen next, other than the accident. Much of their personal issues are just stale to keep the attention on, and yet it gets more of the focus than its most crucial moments, which leads the entire film momentum free as possible. The acting however helps to make it tolerable. Chloe Grace Moretz has outweighed her own character, she gives more of the soul than what it is written for Mia. Jamie Blackley is fine, even though he didn't leave any mark to the character other than being a cool boyfriend. And the adult cast, although with only few scenes, perfectly delivers the needed gravitas the movie is cut out for.
If I Stay may set its tone right and have a better ambition to flesh out its love story, but in the end it's just a rather dull surface. The main plot rarely goes anywhere, until the final act at least when the genuine drama is starting to show, but it is going to take a lot of time to get there. And even with that normal runtime, the film almost feels unending, precisely because it doesn't earn enough growth with its own storyline. But my real complain here is its lack of consideration to its much interesting themes: the grounded romance isn't really that fresh (even if they're musicians, it doesn't change a whole lot) and the fantasy elements are terribly underutilized, which doesn't give the full compelling effect it wanted to show.