Parents' Guide to

The Titan

By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Sci-fi thriller has peril and bloody violence.

Movie NR 2018 97 minutes
The Titan Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 15+

Based on 2 parent reviews

FallenMuse
FallenMuse Adult
November 19, 2020
age 15+

It was ok

Breakdown with as little spoilers as possible. Since this is a site for parents, I'll just write down the things I wish I would have known ahead of time. Sex: There are a couple of butt shots (male). Men and women shower together in a locker room type setting, but no nudity is shown. A woman is in a bikini while in a pool and does some grinding against her husband. The sensuality is there, but doesn't get too heavy. Alien-ish people "connect" with their hands and it seems to have a sensual vibe, which was honestly a little weird. Violence: Spousal abuse escalates over time as the experiment goes on, resulting in fairly disturbing scenes if you are triggered by that sort of thing. There is some blood/gore during medical procedures as well as fight scenes/deaths. Children are put in threatening/scary situations, but that's as far as it goes.
Lucast1934
Lucast1934 Adult
April 23, 2019
age 14+

Everything you need to know

This is a great movie. I’m surprised it gets little to no attention. Csm is wrong about two unarmed woman and a child being killed. They are only threatened. When it comes to violence, a woman is tossed out of a window in the dark, some soldiers are slashed with some blood shown but hard to see because of the dark. A man is cut in the throat with visible blood shown. Violence is2.5/5 for a rated Tv-ma movie. The main reason why it’s tv-ma I suppose is because of the language. F*ck is said about 5-6 times spread out throughout the film. So it’s said briefly. But not excessive at all. This movie does really touch you emotionally. Kind of sad. But gives a positive message about hope.
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What's the Story?

THE TITAN poses a problem: Human-made ills, including nuclear fallout, have polluted the planet to near uninhabitability. The solution? Change humans genetically so that they can inhabit a frigid moon of Saturn, the atmosphere of which is too nitrogenous for ordinary humans to breathe. Rick (Sam Worthington) is among numerous volunteers for a military/NATO/NASA medical program that trains people to survive on the cold, dark, oxygen-light moon. What Rick doesn't know is that, under the direction of mad scientist Dr. Collins (Tom Wilkinson), he's also being genetically and surgically modified to grow gills, wings, catlike eyesight, and superhero strength. The families of the specimens have been welcomed to live on the elaborate military campus, and some grow distraught as their loved ones change -- shed skin, hair, and good humor. One transitioner tosses his wife out a picture window. Soldiers are killed by means available only to alien humans, events that trigger all-out military responses, complete with hovering helicopters. Rick's wife, Abigail (Taylor Schilling), is a physician and understands more than most the genetics of the species-swapping plan. Once Rick completes the program, he has a violent episode, is captured, and caged. Abigail is asked to administer a memory-erasing agent so Rick will let go of attachments to her and her son and be willing to hop into the rocket to Titan. She refuses but ultimately whispers something into what was once Rick's ear, leading to the movie's end, in which he soars over Titan's dark mountains, above a city someone has apparently built below.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2):
Kids say (2):

This movie about a military family's role in a genetic experiment mostly falls flat. Rick is the supposed subject of The Titan, but his story is seen mostly through the skeptical view of his doctor wife, Abigail, and that plants skepticism in the viewer -- not only about his plight, but also about the movie itself. The first 45 minutes pose an interesting, reality-based premise that invites our curiosity, but when Rick transforms into an earless, mute, human-made alien with gills and bat genes (who looks a lot like the character Worthington played in Avatar), all bets are off. Now the movie is just a less emotionally arresting version of The Fly, in which a scientist turns himself into a giant house fly to the dismay of his lover. Thus The Titan careens off the rails, leaving a slack-jawed audience wondering: What just happened?

Politically -- and this movie IS political -- this movie is at odds with itself. The government is enlightened enough to recognize that nuclear fallout, climate change, and other human-made ills are making Earth uninhabitable. On the other hand, somehow the government is also corrupt and backstabbing. The movie's biggest cop-out occurs when Abigail seems to whisper a speech into what's left of her alien husband's offscreen ear. Evidently her argument is sharply persuasive enough to make the previously resistant being leave his beloved wife and son behind, get himself on a rocket, and populate a distant, nitrogen-heavy moon. Wonder what she said? It's a good bet that the writers would love to know, too.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what we can do to keep our planet safe. Do you think we need to find alternative fuels to those that produce air pollution and cause climate change? What else can be done?

  • What are some small things kids can do to preserve the environment? Do you recycle? Do you volunteer locally in cleanup projects?

  • What does The Titan want us to believe about the future of our planet?

Movie Details

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