Midnight Sun (2018) – Film Review
I really wanted to like this movie… Relatable? Yea, at times, but I was expecting a cryer.
The first thing I’ve seen Bella Thorne in since—hell, since she was on Shake It Up on Disney Channel as a teen (that said, I do plan on reviewing Netflix’s The Babysitter sometime soon)—and the very first feature I remember Patrick Schwarzenegger ever being in…although, according to IMDb, he was “Jock Kid” in The Benchwarmers. A classic.
It’s an Open Road show, and those never last long at my theatre (Max Steel (2016) and The Promise being two prime examples), no matter how much they promote them. Maybe it was just that I went so late at night, or because I was the only one in the theatre—go figure—but I was…quite bored. There’s an expo-dump in the beginning, which sounds like Thorne’s Katie reciting a report for a school project on this admittedly-forgettable and unpronounceable disease she has. Immediately lost a mark for that; it’s lengthy, hand-holdy, and contains nothing we couldn’t, ourselves, figure out or have been shown in the set-up for the movie.
There are some great visual moments in here—and one close to the end with some astounding visual parallels that really blew me away (good job, cinematographer)—but little things like that are singular, if more of them even exist. At the time of writing, I can’t recall any, let alone much more of the movie, outside what I disliked.
Actually, the best (least cardboard) performance comes, surprisingly, from comedian Rob Riggle (21 Jump Street (2012)). One scene, in particular, after a close-call Katie has with the breaking dawn, he gets very emotional and I actually forgot the man was acting. Apparently, he’s versatile—want to see him in more serious stuff, seeing as he can pull it off and make me forget I’m watching an actor. Initiate slow clap. Otherwise, everyone else was really phoned-in, when it came to deliveries. Quinn Shepard (Blame, Unaccompanied Minors) was tolerable; funnily enough, the side-story of the developing relationship between her and this geeky side-character would’ve been preferable to the main story, for me, halfway-through.
It instantly becomes a whole different movie once Katie brings boyfriend, Charlie (Schwarzenegger), up-to-speed on her condition. It’s like different writers were brought on at different levels of script development; the movie didn’t know if it wanted to be a “day in the life” picture, a teen drama, a love story, or an introspective about death and living every moment while one’s able. Kept switching between tones and speeds and sub-plots so many times that I had to keep recalling things that happened prior. Luckily, it wasn’t a long movie, but I still felt a flow-chart was needed. That, on top of it ending, like, three different times, and I felt justified in my wanting to just call it quits and head home to bed. I know which ending I would’ve left off on, and maybe that would’ve made it a better movie—at least tacked on another star—but I wasn’t the one in the chair…
“Walk With Me”, sung by Bella Thorne in the film, is a heart-wrencher. Tear ducts were still dry, though, as the credits rolled—when a movie can’t even make the concept of death sad for me… Got the song on my playlist, but that’s probably all of the movie I’ll end up retaining, within a week.
Awkward dialogue, run-around, and a lot of dead horse-beating humor that doesn’t land, Midnight Sun gets a **/*** final ‘Risk Assessment. Unless you have some kind of capital investment here, save your money. Alternatively, go support Love, Simon.
Next review: Ready Player One (Mar. 29th)
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