Charlie St. Cloud

Charlie St. Cloud’s (Zac Efron) life is smooth sailing both in and out of the water. A sailing champion, he has been rewarded a scholarship to Stanford. Before leaving, Charlie promises his younger brother Sam (Charlie Tahan) that he’ll spend the entire summer helping him practice his baseball skills. Tragically, a violent car wreck kills Sam. While Charlie almost dies himself, he’s able to be resuscitated by a determined paramedic.

Though physically alive, Charlie’s spirit becomes profoundly broken, withdrawing itself from life’s merriments. He’s soon labeled the town’s eccentric recluse and spends his days working in his brother’s cemetery. He’s also bound to his commitment to the deceased Sam. Everyday at sunset for the past five years, Charlie rushes to their secret meeting place and plays catch with his dead brother. This routine is determinedly kept until Tess Carroll (Amanda Crew) saunters into Charlie’s life, forcing him to choose between moving on or to keep hold on what’s already lost.

Seemingly influenced by “The Sixth Sense” and “The Invisible,” the film spends a great amount of time, showing Charlie conversing with Sam about varying topics, while they play catch. Is Charlie simply hallucinating or does he really have the ability to see ghosts? While some references are insinuated both ways, a forthright answer is never provided. The film does provide beautiful landscapes and ocean viewsghosts, but the focus on characters and plot felt very shallow and almost as a simple skimming through. The shallowness makes it hard to connect with the characters; even the love interest between Tess and Charlie felt a bit rushed, not allowing itself to become deeply rooted.

With the entire plot given away in the theatrical trailers, the movie moves at a slow pace, focusing primarily on Sam and Charlie. The already thin plot is further marred by the poorly and vaguely written characters. The result is an unengaging piece of work, leaving ample time to prematurely guess the ending and analyze the film. And the concluded analysis is that Zac Efron’s entirely responsible for raising the film’s quality up a few notches. The young man can act rather well, and the film allowed him to exhibit a broader range.

The film has a slight religious reference to it. Ray Liotta has a brief cameo as Florio Ferrente, the devoted Catholic paramedic who never gave up on trying to bring Charlie back to life. Five years after the accident, a now cancer-stricken Florio runs into Charlie, and reminds the younger man that God had given him a second chance at life and that Charlie shouldn’t squander the gift he’s been given. This is true, since life is indeed a brief gift in which we are never promised tomorrow. In James 4:14. it says:

“why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while, and then vanishes.”

However, Florio later says he has no regrets, since he has lived a full life and has seen many miracles. And with that, he’ll be able to tell St. Peter this when he arrives at the pearly white gates. While people will often say that it’s important to live a full life, a definition of a successful one can often vary. Our true purpose is to wholeheartedly serve Christ. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was. He replied:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”

While there are some religious references, they are too mild to be counted, since Jesus Christ is never mentioned and, also, because the movie’s supernatural elements of ghosts, crossing over, and all the dead seeing the “light” dominate the film’s atmosphere. The combined religious and supernatural elements seem somewhat contradictory, making the movie’s true purpose or worldview ambiguous.

As for other objectionable content, there’s some profanity with two uses of the word d*ck, 2 sh*t, 1 as*, and 1 SOB. Sam also tells his brother “blow me.” There are some drinking scenes in the film and a few kissing scenes. There is an implied sexual encounter between Charlie and Tess. In the scene, they kiss while she takes off his shirt. In the subsequent shot, they are shown lying together without shirts. However, only the shoulders and above are shown. And lastly, there is a brief fight scene where Charlie pushes and punches one of his old rivals.

I don’t recommend “Charlie St. Cloud.” Personally, I found it rather boring, drawn out, and a bit too sappy. And with its theme shrouded within contradictions, it was hard to find a redeeming value to it. If you are still interested, I recommend waiting for the DVD release. However, I still look forward to future Zac Efron projects, since he’s steadily been able to show his growth as an actor.

Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Moderate / Sex/Nudity: Moderate to Heavy

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