Saturday, January 13, 2018

Blast From the Past #13: The Last Song (2010)

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     When a troubled teenage girl is sent (along with her brother) to her father, to spend her summer at his beach house, an unexpected story of reconnection, self-discovery and love occurs, in this Southern United beach house.
     Nicholas Sparks adapted movies are all about Romance; therefore, for those who are not into these kinds of movie will probably not appreciate it as much. Released in the midst of the booming that occurred with 'teenage-romance' movies, 'The Last Song' could be placed in the middle in terms of originality and entertainment. Being the first feature film of director Julie Anne Robinson, the movie actually takes advantage of the aesthetics of the place being filmed in; however, the dark-ish tone used does become a bit of a downer while watching. The direction taken was similar to previous movies, which is obvious yet could have benefited from a bit of distinction.
      The major problem the movie faces is the screenplay. Personally, there are pretty great moments/scenes that occur in the movie, yet the connection between these scenes is where many faced problems. The edit of this movies felt a bit clumsy at points, and the natural movement from one scene to another was problematic. The score of the movie, done by Aaron Zighman (The Notebook and Sex and the City), really captured the essence of the movie. And the use of various songs and soundtrack felt appropriate to the scene to capture the moment. The usage of the score elevated the emotional resonance that was intended, which is always a plus in my book.
      Her first movie after the massive success of 'Hannah Montana', Miley Cyrus came to prove herself. Though she could hold her own, it took time for her to settle into her character. That hindered a bit the emotional growth, which was intended for her character, to be fully portrayed. Liam Hemsworth took advantage of of his breakout role, and his chemistry with Miley Cyrus caused envy to spread. Greg Kinnear was perfectly casted as the father and got the best character arc of them all.
Bobby Coleman was a scene stealer as the little brother, who got the best comedic lines of all. Kelly Preston was unfortunately under used as the mother, who could have used more of a development.
      Certainly not the best Nicholas Sparks movie, yet  The Last Song manages to lead itself to the shore amongst many other similar movies.