George Clooney returns to the director’s chair in Netflix’s newest science fiction drama, The Midnight Sky.
The film follows an ambitious scientist (George Clooney) cooped up in the Arctic Circle with a young girl, who desperately try to contact a crew of astronauts before they return to Earth to face a mysterious catastrophe that has decimated most of the planet.
The Midnight Sky is a gorgeous production. It is full of stunning visual effects and sweeping cinematography, despite its cold and resolute settings. However, this dazzling craftsmanship doesn’t save the film from its snail-like slow pacing and dull, uneven storytelling.
The narrative is melodramatic, cliché, and rather bland, feeling at times like a weird combination between Gravity, Interstellar, and The Martian. It’s like Clooney took every successful trope from recent science fiction films and shoved it into one film, only to really do nothing with it.
You can tell that somewhere in the film is heart and strong messages about grief, however, not even a charismatic Clooney can save this frustrating film from taking off.
Sorry to keep this review short but this is certainly one mission, I would skip.
Final Thoughts: The Midnight Sky reaches for the stars but ultimately misfires.
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