Scott Speer
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Dirty Dancing (1987)
Directed by Emile Ardolino
influenced Step Up Revolution (2012)
Plot Visuals Themes
With a nod to “Dirty Dancing,” Sean meets Emily (Kathryn McCormick) at a bar on the beach that is off-limits for the hotel staff.
Shamelessly derivative throughout, Step Up Revolution throws in a sensual dance rehearsal in the water à la Dirty Dancing, and an opening sequence of souped-up race cars in Fast and Furious mode - only this time there are dancers break-dancing on top of the cars!
Meanwhile, the way Sean helps Emily train by waterside for her performance at the dance company, and later consummates his feelings for her as they dance together in front of her disapproving father, helping to melt his heart along the way, there are definite hints of 1987's "Dirty Dancing" in its foundation.
The four “Step Up” films couldn’t exist without “ You Got Served ,” “ Dirty Dancing, ” “ Footloose ” (the original and its remake), “ Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo ,” “ Flashdance ,” “ Saturday Night Fever ” and, yes, even “ West Side Story .”
The original film, a Dirty Dancing/Strictly Ballroom hybrid, boasted more romancin' than kickin’ dance moves, but it was at least good enough to get Step Up 2 The Streets into production.
The film borrows elements from Twilight and Love Story and every other teen romance and terminal illness melodrama that springs to mind.
Mandy Moore had A Walk to Remember, Shailene Woodley had The Fault in Our Stars, and never forget the patient zero of these movies: the ’70s cancer tearjerker Love Story.
The 12-year-old girls who are the film’s target audience probably won’t realize what it’s derivative of: a little bit of John Hughes and a lot of “ Love Story .”
In the U.S., however, this tacky make-a-wish fantasy is merely the latest addition to that odd subgenre of terminal-teen romance — from “Love Story” to “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble” — in which a case of puppy love between a pair of preternaturally beautiful young people is rudely interrupted by the Grim Reaper.
Mandy Moore had A Walk to Remember, Shailene Woodley had The Fault in Our Stars, and never forget the patient zero of these movies: the ’70s cancer tearjerker Love Story.
The other type is the A Walk to Remember variety where the afflicted youth ultimately succumbs to their disease but before doing so, makes the decision to truly live, which usually means “date a boy.”
You may know what to expect, if you’ve seen “A Walk to Remember” or “Everything, Everything” or even “The Fault in Our Stars.”
Familiar films such as A Walk to Remember, The Fault in Our Stars, The Vow and gender-reversing Me Before You weren’t groundbreaking Oscar winners; they just knew how to tug at your heart strings with panache.
The problem, and it’s a big one, is what happens when Midnight Sun decides to follow the trail of previous attempts, like A Walk to Remember, The Fault in Our Stars, and Everything, Everything.
Both movies are just adolescent variants of 1940s weepies like “Dark Victory,” and neither is likely to have much of an impact on anybody besides the most susceptible teenage girls.
The Dark Side of the Sun (1988)
Directed by Božidar 'Bota' Nikolić
influenced Midnight Sun (2018)
Plot
Life with XP was also depicted by Brad Pitt in a 1988 film, The Dark Side of the Sun, which shares some significant story overlaps with Midnight Sun (mostly sun exposure for love).
Leave any “Commando” remakes to Jason Momoa.
Mandy Moore had A Walk to Remember, Shailene Woodley had The Fault in Our Stars, and never forget the patient zero of these movies: the ’70s cancer tearjerker Love Story.
You may know what to expect, if you’ve seen “A Walk to Remember” or “Everything, Everything” or even “The Fault in Our Stars.”
My God! It’s like Everything, Everything (love story about the girl who couldn’t leave her house) meets The Fault In Our Stars (tragic cancer girl’s last dance) with a dash of Twilight (overwrought love story where one person is extremely sensitive to sunlight) and a musical twist.
Familiar films such as A Walk to Remember, The Fault in Our Stars, The Vow and gender-reversing Me Before You weren’t groundbreaking Oscar winners; they just knew how to tug at your heart strings with panache.
The problem, and it’s a big one, is what happens when Midnight Sun decides to follow the trail of previous attempts, like A Walk to Remember, The Fault in Our Stars, and Everything, Everything.
The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976)
Directed by Randal Kleiser
influenced Midnight Sun (2018)
Themes
In the U.S., however, this tacky make-a-wish fantasy is merely the latest addition to that odd subgenre of terminal-teen romance — from “Love Story” to “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble” — in which a case of puppy love between a pair of preternaturally beautiful young people is rudely interrupted by the Grim Reaper.
Having said that, one must point out that Midnight Sun sadly has none of the charm of Meghie’s film, nor do Thorne and Schwarzenegger match up to Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games) and Nick Robinson’s (Love, Simon) beautifully nuanced performances as the teenager lovers kept apart by a similar life threatening illness.
Based on a 2006 Japanese movie, Midnight Sun starts with Katie living a cloistered life, as her disease (shortened to “XP,” so that it always sounds like she’s afflicted with a computer operating system) makes her so sensitive to ultraviolet rays that she can never be exposed to sunlight.
If it sounds a little familiar, technically “Midnight Sun” is a remake of a 2006 Japanese film, but you’re more likely thinking of last year’s “Everything, Everything,” about a different teenage shut-in who couldn’t go outside … yet finds love.
The cast is perfectly charming, but when it isn’t predictably predictable and predictably sappy, Midnight Sun — based on a 2006 Japanese film of the same name — doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
But actually, Midnight Sun is an adaptation of a 2006 Japanese film of the same name (note: XP is six times more common in Japan, where the sufferers are known as “moon children”), directed by Step Up: Revolution and Step Up: All In director Scott Speer.
Midnight Sun is a remake of a 2006 Japanese film of the same name.
First you’ve got your Bubble Boy riffs in which the tragically ill teenager finds out that their single parent has been lying to them and they were never sick after all.
Even the male lead being a more famous actor’s son is classic Sparks adaptation stuff (see also: Scott Eastwood in The Longest Ride).
The mercenaries also inadvertently kidnap Diego, as well as their classmates Sammy (Madeleine Madden, Picnic at Hanging Rock ) and Randy (Nicholas Coombe, Midnight Sun ).
There’s no getting around the fact that Claire is kind of a moron; the high-school English teacher defends studying literature because it helped J.K. Rowling become a billionaire and coos over the “first edition” of Homer’s “The Iliad” that her 19-year-old hardbody neighbor Noah ( Ryan Guzman , “Step Up Revolution”) brings her.
DID YOU KNOW: “The Boy Next Door” star Ryan Guzman was a professional fighter who studied martial arts before his screen debut in 2012’s “Step Up Revolution.”
At one point, before things go psychotically bad, studly Noah (Ryan Guzman, who you may recall, or not, from his roles in "Step Up Revolution" and "Step Up All In") gifts her with a "first edition" of "The Iliad," whatever that means.
Noah Sandborn (Ryan Guzman, “Step Up Revolution” and “Step Up All In”) moves in next door to help care for an elderly relative who looks for all the world like Johnny Knoxville in his “Bad Grandpa” makeup.
In "Everything, Everything," Amandla Stenberg's character was confined to her house because of a mysterious ailment, and in "Midnight Sun," Bella Thorne's character suffered from a rare disorder which wouldn't allow her to go into the sunlight.