It was just the right movie for me a few nights ago.

It got mixed reviews, most critics felt it tried to do too much, but I think they're wrong. The story is about people whose life expectancy is hours. I know the feeling myself, there have been times I've been so sick, or in a bad accident, that I felt like I was about to die. It can be hard to live when you're in that mode, you're so paralyzed with fear. Yet the characters in the movie, in that mode, lived, loved, made new friendships, made enormous sacrifices, had tremendous meaning to their lives. That's all any of us are trying to do at any moment, even when it feels like we have infinite time in front of us (and if you're in good health, and not in a war zone, or in the middle of a natural disaster, no matter how you feel about mortality at a conscious level, at a subconscious level you feel just fine. You don't know real fear until your subconscious believes that the end is near.)

Had they removed any of the elements of the story, it would just be another war story, or a love story amid the ruins. Because it combined the themes, it was a very special story, and well-told.