Movie Review - The Midnight Sky

George Clooney is one of only three people to be nominated in six, different categories at the Academy Awards. The other two is Walt Disney and Alfonso Cuarón. Interestingly, Cuarón achieved this distinction by working with Clooney on the film Gravity (2013). That 2013 Oscar-winning blockbuster wasn't Clooney's first time doing an outer space film. Clooney famously starred in the Steven Soderbergh remake, Solaris (2002). After those two, this would be the third space film that Clooney has done. Unfortunately, it's the least among them. This is the seventh feature that Clooney himself has directed. Thankfully, it's not the least among those, but it doesn't rank highly. The problem here though might be the source material and not necessarily Clooney's direction. It's an adaptation of the first novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton. I'm sure the book was probably well written in terms of its prose and descriptions, but I simply wasn't engaged by the story it's trying to tell.

The film is trying to tell two concurrent narratives. One is about a crew of five people aboard a spaceship that's headed back from Jupiter, which is ironic because Netflix released this film on December 23, the same week Jupiter was in the news, appearing in the sky as part of the "Great Conjunction." The other narrative is about a solitary man who basically lives at the North Pole. He even has a beard. Again, with Netflix releasing this film on the same week as the Christmas holiday, this man could for all intents and purposes be named Santa Claus. Unfortunately, that solitary man is just that, a solitary man whose story is rather pointless, beyond just being dull.

 

Clooney himself stars as Augustine Lofthouse, a scientist, probably an astronomer, who's currently stationed at a weather station in the Arctic Circle. He's the solitary man who could be nicknamed Santa Claus. Yes, he has a beard and lives in a snowy environment. He's not overweight or jolly, but he does have a vehicle that's reminiscent of a sleigh. He's a sad and lonely Santa Claus. He's sad and lonely because everybody at this station has left, leaving him alone. He wasn't abandoned. As everyone was leaving, Augustine chose to stay behind by himself.

The reason he stays behind is because Augustine apparently has a terminal illness and I suppose he's chosen this place as the place where he will die. However, the bigger issue is why everybody at the station is leaving. The reason is because some kind of apocalypse is ravaging the Earth making the air unable to breathe. Some kind of pollution is turning the atmosphere brown and uninhabitable. Most people are fleeing to underground bunkers. It's not exactly clear why Augustine wouldn't go with them. Flashbacks where Augustine is played by Ethan Peck (Star Trek: Discovery and Eden) indicate that he was more concerned with his work than with people. Yet, he was interested enough in one person, a woman with whom he had a child. Yet, at this apocalyptic time, he doesn't care to contact or see that woman or his child at all. Therefore, we're just meant to watch him live out the rest of his days alone. It's dull and pointless.

Felicity Jones (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Theory of Everything) co-stars as Sully, an astronaut onboard the spaceship called Aether. The ship is on a mission to Jupiter in order to investigate one of its moons, dubbed K-23. This moon is believed to be able to sustain human life. She's pregnant. She's been on this mission for several years. She's only recently gotten pregnant and isn't even showing yet, so obviously she got pregnant by one of the other astronauts on the ship. Because the film keeps cutting back to Augustine as he does nothing but wait to die, the film doesn't take the time to develop Sully's relationship with her baby's father. Did their relationship start before or after the launch? Who made the first move? Why did they hook up? What was the attraction? We never even see her kiss her baby's father, so I'm not sure I even get the passion between them that would result in her being pregnant.

David Oyelowo (The Cloverfield Paradox and Selma) also co-stars as Gordon, the aforementioned father to Sully's baby. He's also the commanding officer on the ship, which is odd because he's not the oldest. Besides being good at math but bad at playing cards, we don't learn much about him. We don't learn much about his life or family on Earth, or much of anything to him prior to this space mission. It's almost as if the film is anticipating the fact that the apocalypse on Earth will make Gordon's return to it pointless, so why bother even acknowledging his life there? It's a logical thing to exclude from a storytelling standpoint but from an emotional standpoint, it rings hollow and false. The same is true for Sully's character. We don't learn much about her life and family on Earth, prior to this space mission.

Not knowing anything about these characters' back stories would be fine, if the film did more to develop them or their relationships, while on this ship. Giving them a problem, which they all have to work together to solve and that puts them in danger, is a good way to do that. This film does exactly that, resulting in an action set-piece. It was thrilling and engaging to watch. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Amazing actors like Kyle Chandler (Godzilla: King of the Monsters and First Man) and Demián Bichir (Alien: Covenant and The Hateful Eight) help to give weight to this thing, but even they are short-changed, as we don't even learn their ultimate fates. It's just a depressing ending and for what?

Clooney worked famously with fellow Oscar-winner, Brad Pitt. Clooney and Pitt also share the distinction of being the only two actors to win the Oscar for Best Picture and the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, which Pitt achieved last year for his role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). However, Pitt was also in another film last year, a space film called Ad Astra (2019). It was overlooked in various ways, but I would recommend Ad Astra over this film.

Rated PG-13 for some bloody images and brief language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 58 mins.

Available on Netflix.