The Titan (2018) - Through the Eyes of Cat

Number Rolled: N/A

Movie Name/Year: The Titan (2018)

Tagline: The end of Earth doesn't mean the end of us.

Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller

Length: 97 minutes

Rating: TV-MA

Production Companies: Netflix, 42, The Amel Company, Motion Picture Capital, Nostromo Pictures

Producers: Rory Aitken, Arash Amel, Fred Berger, Nicolas Chartier, Leon Clarance, Jonathan Deckter, Adrián Guerra, Joshua Horsfield, Max Hurwitz, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Jo Monk, Toni Novella, Ben Pugh, Michael Reuter, Olive Uniacke, Núria Valls, Laure Vaysse

Director: Lennart Ruff

Writers: Max Hurwitz, Arash Amel

Actors: Sam Worthington, Taylor Schilling, Tom Wilkinson, Agyness Deyn, Nathalie Emmanuel, Corey Johnson, Diego Boneta, Aleksandar Jovanovic, Aaron Heffernan

Stunts: Sean Adames, Luis Baez, Jason Beeston, Sara Gonzales Hernandez, Gonzalo Hernández, María Jesús Lucas, Francisco Javier Molina Medina, Louette Mignon, Craig Miller, Andrei Nazarenko, Jude Poyer, John Sharpe, Josep Sucarrats

Blurb from Netflix: He's the last hope to save the future of humanity. But he's becoming less and less human every day.

 I have to say that the concept for this movie was bold. I’m honestly on the fence about it. I wanted so much more, and yet what was delivered wasn’t bad per se. Unfortunately, we have a case here where the trailer does its job too well. It paints the picture of the story well enough to fire up your imagination; yet it simultaneously gives the core of the movie to its audience without having to watch the full 90-plus minute feature.

I guess we can start with the things that bugged me so that we can leave on a positive note.

Except for a brief period at the beginning of the movie, there’s no visual evidence of the world falling apart to the degree that is indicated in the story. If we’re at the point that Earth is so far gone that colonizing Titan via forced evolution, you’d think that there’d be more evidence in the backdrop of the film. I get that everyone’s on a top secret high-tech base and all; but it made everything too shiny and idyllic for the state of global crisis claimed.

I didn’t like the ending – at all. I’m afraid spoilers prevent me from explaining exactly why. But seriously – what the hell?! It seems like Netflix isn’t filtering their original content for quality over quantity thoroughly enough. My faith in the streaming mogul’s consistent production quality of their exclusive content is beginning to wane.

To be fair, this is Lennart Ruff’s (Life is Easy, Hope, Nocebo) feature length debut as the primary director. His other credits are comprised of shorts, assistant directorships, and the like. I do appreciate that Neflix is willing to go out on a limb for new talent in the industry. I guess this is one of those instances that the silly cake proverb about having it vs. eating it applies to – but I digress.

Even if it was rather predictable, there were still moments that had me jumping a little (albeit, I startle very easily) and I did connect with the characters. The little family trying to become space pioneers tugged at my heartstrings. Sam Worthington (Man on a Ledge, Everest, The Hunter's Prayer) might not have had many lines in this, yet another film where he becomes a blue alien, but this was primarily a physical role for him. There was a lot of emoting with his eyes going on.

I also liked the strong female role played by Taylor Schilling (Argo, The Overnight, Orange Is the New Black).  Likewise, I was pleasantly surprised by Nathalie Emmanuel (Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, Furious 7, Game of Thrones). There’s some subtle depth to her character that you have to read between the lines for.

All told, the movie feels a bit like an incomplete thought that meandered a bit before realizing it needed to rush to conclusion. It’s not a horrible presentation but there are far better Sci-Fi offerings out there. I wouldn’t actively steer anyone away from this movie, all the same.

Languages

Speech Available: English, English (Audio Description), Brazilian Portuguese, French, Italian, Spanish

Subtitles Available: English [CC], Brazilian Portuguese, French, Italian, Spanish

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 18%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 17%

Metascore – 33%

Metacritic User Score – 2.6/10

IMDB Score – 4.9/10

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 2.5/5

Movie Trailer: