Movie Reviews: The Titan, Midnight Sun
MIDNIGHT SUN (PG)
Rating: 1.5/5
Bella Thorne plays Katie, a teenage girl who suffers from xeroderma pigmentosum in this Hollywood remake of the 2006 Japanese romance Song To The Sun.
Even the slightest amount of sunlight could cause life-threatening damage to her health, so she can leave her home only at night.
Her life changes when she meets her long-time crush Charlie (Patrick Schwarzenegger) while playing the guitar at a train station and the two begin a whirlwind romance.
Sadly, the relationship is not very believable, as the stars' lack of chemistry show up in the forced and unnatural acting.
The love story is also dumbed down to a pre-teen target audience level and makes their relationship come across as superficial.
Midnight Sun fails to portray the rare genetic disorder in a realistic manner, as the severe sunburnthat afflicts real sufferers when exposed to sunlight is not shown. A touch of realism would have been nice but probably as feasible as the movie title. - ETHAN LEUNG
THE TITAN (NC16)
Rating: 1.5/5
It says a lot when your supporting cast member out-acts you - and he is almost 30 years younger.
Sam Worthington has to be one of the most boring actors around.
The Aussie has not left much of an impression despite starring in several high-profile blockbusters such as Avatar, Clash Of The Titans and Terminator Salvation.
In this bland sci-fi actioner that feels more like a TV movie, he is easily outshone by his 13-year-old co-star Noah Jupe (Suburbicon, Wonder, A Quiet Place). And even though Worthington receives top billing, it is supporting actress Taylor Schilling who is the real star. Even Tom Wilkinson is gripping in a thinly written role.
The year is 2048 and Earth is almost uninhabitable.
Worthington is Lieutenant Rick Janssen, and together with wife Abi (Schilling) and son Lucas (Jupe), the military family volunteers for a genetic experiment that turns humans into "supermen" so that they can live on Saturn's moon, Titan.
The Janssens soon find out that the mission, headed by Wilkinson's mad scientist, is more dangerous than what they signed up for.
Soon, Rick starts mutating into an amphibian-like alien who looks like he could be an extra on Avatar. - JOANNE SOH
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