Welcome to a special Oscar worthy/very British edition of "I've heard of these people, why I haven't I heard of this movie?". Let's look at the impressive roster on this one: Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan, Oscar nominee Keira Knightley, new Spider-Man Andrew Garfield, frequent collaborator of Oscar-winning Director Danny Boyle Alex Garland, the author of Remains of the Day, and a respected music video (who did the unforgettable video for Nine Inch Nails' "Closer"). Never Let Me Go has "award bait" written all over it, so what went wrong? (Interestingly, the film won "Overlooked Film of the Year" from the Phoenix Film Critics Society. Is that a real category? That's so weird that it's sort of cool.)

Never Let Me Go takes place in an alternate reality where medical science has perfected longevity through the use of organ transplants. The story opens in the 70s in a boarding school called Hailsham. There, we meet Kathy (Isobel Meikle-Small), Ruth (Ella Purnell), and Tommy (Charlie Rowe), three of many children who live in the school. They go to class and play, but they also dress in drab, gray clothes, and have few nice things. A particularly rebellious teacher (Sally Hawkins) tells the children that they have been bred to be organ donors to people who live outside of the school and that this is their sole purpose in life. Once they are teenagers, Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield), and Ruth (Keira Knightley) move to a housing community with other "donors". As they wait for their donation time to come, they try to adjust to living in the world outside of the school. Despite their impending deaths (which they refer to as "completing"), they form relationships and attempt to decide what to do with the time that they have.

I grew up watching Siskel & Ebert (going back to their PBS days!) and if you're like me, you preferred one over the other. I liked Siskel less because he always tended to review a movie based on what it wasn't rather than what it was, and this annoyed me. Well, I'm afraid that I've got to get all Siskel on Never Let Me Go, as the movie must be judged on what it is, what it isn't and how these factors affect the film.

First of all, I'm sure that the plot may sound familiar to some of you. The concept is quite similar to the 1979 low-budget movie Parts: The Clonus Horror and the 2005 Michael Bay actioner The Island. (And, in case you didn't know, the makers of Parts sued the makers of The Island, and the case was settled out of court, so we can assume that they won.) As with those two movies, Never Let Me Go deals with a group of secluded young people who have been created so that their organs can be harvested. The major difference is that the kids in Never Let Me Go are told about their purpose, while those in Parts: The Clonus Horror and The Island believe that they are living in Utopia and eventually discover the truth. One interesting note here, when the clones in Parts are taken away to have their organs harvested, they are told that they are "going to America". When Miss Lucy tells the children the truth in Never Let Me Go, she states, "None of you will go to America." Interesting.

But, although Never Let Me Go has a science fiction premise, this is not a science fiction movie. This is where the Siskel-stuff comes in. I'm sure that many would say that what I'm about to state isn't important, but it is to me. As someone who is an aspiring screenwriter, I work to insert details so that the story will be cohesive, but Never Let Me Go isn't worried about this at all. As I remember, the word "clone" is never uttered in the movie, although the children refer to their "originals", so we can assume that they are. But, before they learned about being donors, did they think that they were simply orphans? We see that the characters have to check in with a security system, but once they get older, why don't they try to escape? Why aren't there suicides if they know they are going to die? Who are the organs going to? Are they for the rich, as we saw in the movies with a similar story, or are they for everyone? The story focuses almost solely on the kids and their lives, so we never see what life is like in the outside world.

Because the movie isn't concerned with the science fiction details, the story relies on the characters, and this simply doesn't work. Not unlike movies which suffer because the characters are unlikable, everyone in Never Let Me Go is simply pitiful and its difficult to relate with them or get behind them. Throughout the film, we watch the three main characters engage in various activities, but we rarely have much insight into why they are doing them, despite Kathy's voice-over narration. Like cattle, Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth seem to have accepted their fate. It's not until the third act that any of them consider looking for a way out, and this becomes predictable. So, we simply watch these people lead very depressing lives while the movie gives us very little information. There aren't really any twists in the story, but there are two clever moments, and this was the only time that I felt that the movie had any life.

So, who's to blame here? The acting is good for the most part, with Knightley being the most impressive as Ruth is the one character who goes through overt emotional changes. Mulligan is good, but rather flat. The movie has a great look, and it's interesting that everything looks ten years earlier than the time-frame in which it is happening (to the point that I've read comments on-line where people didn't understand that the first act is taking place in the 70s.) Ultimately, it's the script which trips up Never Let Me Go. You can tell me ad nauseam, that this movie is different from Parts and The Island, and I won't disagree, but how many times are we going to see this story? The bleak, desolate feel of the film makes it very difficult to get emotionally involved, and while it's depressing, it's never engrossing. One the surface, this looks like another British winner, but it's a rare misfire.

Never Let Me Go offers the most depressing toy selection ever on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc offers an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 30 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing only slight grain and no defects from the source material. As noted above, the clothing is drab and gray, so this makes greens and reds really stand out. The image is never overly dark or bright. The level of detail is very good, as we can make out textures on objects. The depth is notably good as well. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.5 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. This is a quiet, moody film, so we aren't treated to a great deal of dynamic effects here. A game with the children and a trip to the beach produce some notable stereo and surround effects, as do a few street scenes. The dialogue is always audible and intelligible.

The Never Let Me Go Blu-ray Disc contains only a few extras. "The Secrets of Never Let Me Go" (30 minutes) is a very deep piece which examines how the novel was brought to the screen. We get interviews with everyone involved, from the actors to the producers to the director to the novelist. There is a nice amount of on-set footage here, and an emphasis placed on the actors. The production design and locations are also examined. We then have three still galleries, "Mark Romanek's On-Set Photography" (3 minutes), "Tommy's Art" (3 minutes), and "National Donor Programme & Hailsham Campaign Graphics" (2 minutes). The final extra is the THEATRICAL TRAILER for the film.