I wish I could un-see this movie and get back an hour of my life, to be honest.
What it's about
Based on real events, Sight tells the story of how Dr. Ming Wang (Terry Chen) made important strides in eye surgery despite his difficult past as a survivor of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
The take
Sight is based on the extraordinary life of Dr. Ming Wang, a Chinese immigrant who fled Communist China and revolutionized his field of ophthalmology in the West. Because of his hardships, he’s sympathetic to the needy and often takes pro-bono cases. In the movie, he even helps partially restore a little girl’s sight, which was cruelly taken from her by an abusive stepmom. Obviously, Wang’s story is rife with intrigue, inspiration, and drama, but this film by Director Andrew Hyatt does him no justice. There is no conflict nor tension to be found here, no exciting twists or turns—just a perfectly bland story whose ending anyone could guess. The performances could’ve elevated it, but Terry Chen, who plays Wang, never compels. To be fair, he doesn’t seem to have a lot to work with; he’s just an all-around good guy who doesn’t find the need to grow past anything. But even in the simplest scenes, his delivery seems wooden, almost like he, too, is unconvinced by the strength of his lines. Looking equally bored is a squandered Greg Kinnear, whose presence makes me wonder whether he has some debts he needs to settle. But even if Chen and Kinnear gave it their all, it’s hard to imagine Sight as anything more than a lazy attempt to retell an inspiring true story.
What stands out
Someone get my guy Kinnear out of his Z-movie slump.