Damn if the title The Life Before Her Eyes doesn't give away director Vadel Perelman's entire conceit!

The Life Before Her Eyes cowers in the shadow of Gus Van Sant's more austere and impactful Elephant. Here, Vadim Perelman appears as concerned with bloated aesthetic and thematic symbolism, creating neither a thought-provoking essay on the school shootings phenomenon nor a meditation on guilt and loss that isn't philosophically full of itself. What it does have going for it are the good performances, chiefly from Evan Rachel Wood.

This isn't extremely bad, but it's not good. Its main problems dwell from the bland, stereotyped casting, & clumsy, predictable way in which the movies twists are presented. I can't fault the performances too much, and the script is adquate at best, but this movie lacks any presence or style, & its attempts to shock & misdirect are ill-conceived & poorly directed. It has a couple of stand out moments, but mainly this feels a missed oppitunity to make a good thriller about a dark subject.

Probably one of the worst films I've ever seen that poses as a good film. A mildly good idea that is just turned to shit. Stale characters. Absolutely horridly choppy editing. Some of the cinematography slow-motion cinematography is quite beautiful, and yet its use is so unmotivated and awkward that it is more off-putting than pleasing. This was all coupled with the biggest cop-out of an ending I've seen in a while. Perhaps the only worthwhile part is Evan Rachel Wood's absolute gorgeousness.

The Life Before Her Eyes is a decent attempt at telling an engaging story, although it falls flat for a lot of the time because it doesn't do anything special. Still, the ending helps add a much needed layer of depth which will either leave you confused or appreciative -- maybe both. It does feel like a very padded movie, and if you have symbolic shots of things that are seemingly unrelated to anything going on in the film, you might want to watch something else, like Stay, a similar film.

This movie has good performances but the ending is a let down. It also gets annoying after awhile when they keep showing parts of one scene repeatedly. This movie is full of potential but the plot disappoints.

It's not often I am able to predict an ending of a movie like this in the first 5 minutes.

For a film that centers around a school shooting, the characters and story are awfully dull. Instead of developing those elements, it relies heavily on its "twist"; but lacks the subtlety (and depth) needed to pull it off. The themes of guilt, conscience, friendship and loss are mentioned constantly but never actually explored; and the attempt at a pro-life message is painfully clumsy. Nothing to see here - except for a movie that is nowhere near as clever or important as it thinks it is.

Good movie, would have been really good, maybe. But I have no idea what happened in the movie.

A Boring Movie Before My Eyes.

A twist that could make even M Night Shyamalan blush! But this is the type of twist that turns the entire movie into a confusing, meaningless mess instead of a revelation. Other than that failed gimmick it was mediocre.

Disappointing. It starts well, but nothing happens and has an end so slow.

A good movie (which may have been slightly overusing the visual metaphors in a grab for more 'respectability'), this has an interesting - if predictable - twist and offers some nice moral questions, but fails to add depth in the way the questions are asked. What we're left with is a movie which handles heavy-handed themes with respect, but for no real apparant reason. A missed opportunity.

Each actor gets their chance to shine in this beautifully shot but overlay stuffed film filled with heavy handed metaphors and a horribly manipulative execution to the point where it feels like a huge cheat in the end. For some reason though, it's a film that has stuck with me and I believe warrants at least a single viewing.

Morally repugnant, painfully boring.

boring as hell.

not often I get surprised by the ending of a movie that so flat out makes me think I know how it ends.