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ABC Film Challenge – 2000s Movies – Z – Charlie St. Cloud (201) Movie Review

This is under Z because of Zac Efron.

Director: Burr Steers

Writer: Craig Pearce, Lewis Colick (Screenplay) Ben Sherwood (Novel)

Starring: Zac Efron, Kim Basinger, Charlie Tahan, Amanda Crew, Augustus Prew, Donal Logue, Ray Liotta, Dave Franco

Plot: After Charlie survives a car crash that kills his younger brother, he is given the gift of seeing the spirits of his brother and others who he has lost, and must use his powers to save the woman he loves from impending disaster.

Runtime: 1 Hour 39 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Charlie St Cloud starts as sailing prodigy Charlie St Cloud (Efron) sees his future scholarship shattered when he is involved in a car crash which sees his younger brother Sam (Tahan) killed. Blaming himself Charlie finds himself giving up his future to remain in the town looking after the graveyard, where he gets a daily visit from Sam and others from his past who are no longer with him.

When Charlie gets to meet his old rival on the water Tess Carroll (Crew) his passion for sailing comes back to him, as he starts to open up about life once again, until he needs to try and save her from a new disaster.

Thoughts on Charlie St Cloud

ThoughtsCharlie St Cloud is a fantasy romance that will show how a young man will find his life crippled by grief because of his involvement in his brother’s death, even though it wasn’t his fault, giving up everything he had in his future to continue to visit the spirit of his brother. When he gets a chance to save another life, he will risk everything for the woman he falls in love with. This does show us how emotions and failing to understand grief will stop lives until they are addressed. This story will play into the anything for love and needing to find a meaning in life after tragedy. When it comes to the performances Zac Efron is great in the leading role, with Amanda Crew being great in the love interest role. We do have a couple of bigger names that don’t get as much screen time as you think they might and newcomer Charlie Tahan shines in the supporting younger brother role. On the downside, we have one of what looks like it should be an important scene, feeling very cold and lifeless, which takes away the impact from that moment. This is a movie that wants to pull on the heart strings in different ways, getting everything it needs from this moments.

Final Thoughts Charlie St Cloud is everything that wants to pull of your heart strings.

By Darren Lucas

Big Film fan and general entertainment fan

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