Midnight Sun | Blogmas Day 20

Happy Blogmas Day 20!

I can't even remember when this came out, but it's now on Amazon Prime, and as I remembered seeing the trailer on TV ages ago, I decided to include it in Blogmas!

Katie (Bella Thorne) has a rare condition that causes her to have to avoid sunlight at all costs. So she becomes nocturnal, staying home during the day, every day, and coming out at night, when she plays her guitar under the cover of darkness. But one night, she meets Charlie (Patrick Schwarzenegger), a boy that she has liked from afar for years. As they go on night dates and fall deeper for each other, Katie has to decide whether or not to reveal her secret. But how can she have a normal life, when she's stuck in the dark?

This movie wasn't what I thought it would be. When the trailer first came out on YouTube, a lot of people were comparing it to the film 'Everything, Everything', which does have a similar premise. But even with it's similar premise, these are two vastly different movies, and I really enjoyed both of them.

Something that the movie does really well is setting up the stakes right from the beginning. It makes it clear how serious Katie's condition is, and how much there is to lose. Because of this, you're pulled into the story and heavily invested almost immediately.

However, this meant that the plot/idea of the story was better than the way that it was actually carried out.

For a start, the story rests on the romance between Katie and Charlie. For me personally, I didn't really see a spark between them. When they were first seeing each other, it felt like a romance in a coming-of-age movie - the kind of thing that happens between two young teenagers and fizzles out as quickly as it started. You don't see enough of their relationship to fully believe them, just a few montages of them kissing before they become an 'official' couple, which isn't enough considering how important this romance is supposed to be.

Part of this might be because of the character of Katie herself. In my notes while I was watching the film, I described her as a 'distant' protagonist, in the sense that she is completely defined by her condition, the fact that she plays guitar, and that she likes Charlie. We don't know who she really is.

It isn't until at least 50 minutes into the film that you really start to connect with her. It isn't until she's broken that you see who she really is, and that makes you warm to her a lot more than the first half of the film.

Having said this, the film had a really unexpected, emotional ending. And for me, this ending made the film worth watching. It was really well done, and made me feel things in the last 10 minutes that the first hour and a half couldn't.

6/10

It's 5 days until Christmas!

Come back tomorrow for Blogmas day 21!