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Lifetracker (Movie) Review

 
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At A Glance...
 

Genre: ,
 
Final Score
 
 
 
 
 
2/ 5


User Rating
no ratings yet

 

We liked?


Unique Story

Not so much?


Plenty of plot holes
Mediocre Acting


Final Fiendish Findings?

While the story was interesting and unique, Lifetracker had a hard time overcoming the mediocre acting, plot holes, and the whole found footage gimmick for me to truly enjoy it. It’s not a horrible film and it’s a reasonable way to dedicate time to if you get the opportunity, but there are probably better films to seek out if you want to kill an evening.

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Posted November 15, 2013 by

 
Full Fiendish Findings?
 
 

Lifetracker is a faux documentary and science fiction thriller combined that follows the story of Dillon, who is researching a news story about a company named Lifetracker. Lifetracker claims they could predict the future of a person using only their dna. Dillon is a underachieving slacker who decides to get his life on track by finally completing something, and decides to turn his research into a documentary film.

He decides to subject himself as well as his friends, Scott and Belle, to the program as a study for the documentary. While they wait for their results, they go around interviewing both random people and professionals to get their opinions on what the Lifetracker corporation claims. Things take a turn once they finally get their “Prints” (or future readings), which have determined that Belle and Dillon will have children. This creates tension between the group, since it is Scott and Belle who are currently in a relationship. Matters only get worse when Scott is told that the date of his death is only a couple of years away. They soon figure out that a significant percentage of the population share the same death date, pointing to an apocalyptic event (which explains a countdown that has been randomly appearing in the movie without explanation until that point). This news obviously affects the group (and the population at large) in a lot of different ways as they try to come to terms with this news, as well as determine if it is to be believed.

Like a lot of science fiction stories, Lifetracker is riddled with plot holes and questions on story elements – like how your dna could know about external factors that change things in your life like if/when you will break a bone. While I may be able to buy into hereditary disease predictions, the idea that your dna will know the path you will take that will result in you breaking your leg in a car crash would be possible is more than a little farfetched. In the middle of the story, there is a hypocritical news reporter who claims she doesn’t think it’s a good idea for people to get readings yet bases most of her activity based off what her own readings revealed. I did also find it ironic that Dillon was hell bent on completing the documentary when he thought that doomsday was approaching and no one would be around to see it – but he just gives up when there is evidence that it was a hoax. Odd, but maybe it wouldn’t be that unusual for a character with his history of bailing on projects.

Despite the holes, this thriller does a decent job of building anticipation and holds enough back to not know exactly how the story will go. It does suffer from a bit of a lull late in the movie, but it’s definitely enough to keep you invested until the end.

Lifetracker is an independent film with good production quality. It is a bit marred by some mediocre acting and a less than inspiring script. Neither of them are terrible, but they don’t do anything to help the cause.

Found footage films are becoming an overused gimmick in cinema. I can count only a handful of movies I think pulled this off well where it wasn’t a detriment to the film. Instead of an advantage, the story and dialog get to be saddled by the burden of having to explain time gaps or location changes in dialog that ends up feeling contrived and unnatural. While this isn’t the worst I’ve seen at all, it is something that plagues this film.

While the story was interesting and unique, Lifetracker had a hard time overcoming the mediocre acting, plot holes, and the whole found footage gimmick for me to truly enjoy it. It’s not a horrible film and it’s a reasonable way to dedicate time to if you get the opportunity, but there are probably better films to seek out if you want to kill an evening.


Anthony

 
I've been a game enthusiast since my 2600 enjoying RPG, platformer and adventure games. Also a film buff who enjoys quirky, indie films and a huge Hitchcock fan.


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