Product: State's Evidence (2006)
Rating: 1.0
Pretentious and an ending that falls apart.
Chronicling the 'final' two days in the lives of a group of teenagers who make a suicide pact, "State's Evidence" simply doesn't work. Considering it is a direct to dvd release, i was more then willing to make allowances for budget etc. but where the film truly fails, is in the actual script. The filmmakers want you to feel sympathy for these people...something which is next to impossible, considering their selfish and arrogant behavior throughout the movie. in the final act, we are supposed to simply forget that the ringleader of this group actually brought about the terrible events that happen ( in what i can only assume was supposed to be a big twist of an ending, but couldn't be more predictable), and actually feel sorry for this young man. Acting wise, it wasn't bad for the most part, though there were definitely moments of overacting. The last 10mins of the film seem thrown together as an afterthought, like the writers ran out of time to tell the story, so they shoved in as much as they could in the final few minutes. The main example of this, is the fact that one second you see one of the main characters counting out pills, struggling on whether or not to kill herself, and the next she is completely forgotten and never mentioned again. The filmmakers didn't even make a cohesive ending.A similar themed film, "Elephant", while i also did not enjoy that, succeeded in making you feel outraged, but also a sense of compassion for the main character. The characters portrayed here lack any redeeming values....being so incredibly self-absorbed as not to notice how much destruction they are leaving behind them until...of course...it is too late.