The Midnight Sky (2020)

Watchable Apocalyptic scifi - The Midnight Sky review by GI

This post apocalyptic science fiction tale is very watchable and quite moving. It's a film of two storylines and admittedly they don't make for a natural fit but director and star George Clooney has managed to pull it off and produce a tense and emotional film. It's set 30 years in the future and an unnamed cataclysmic event has left the Earth losing its breathable air. Clooney is an ageing and ill astronomer, Lofthouse, who has remained alone at an Arctic station when the rest of the crew headed off to try and find safety elsewhere. With time running out he is attempting to contact a spacecraft he knows is on its way home from exploring one of the moons of Jupiter. The crew of the spacecraft led by Adewole (David Oyelowo) and his four crew including his partner Sully (Felicity Jones) are unaware of what has happened on Earth. Lofthouse has further problems when he discovers a little girl, Iris (Caoilinn Springall) has been left behind with him. They have to make the perilous journey to another station to use the communications equipment to speak to the space crew who have their own problems. In essence the film is a survivalist narrative for the Arctic scenes and a relatively standard sci-fi story for the space one. Indeed the spacecraft story has all been done before and occasionally the film dwells a little too long with them when the more interesting events are with the man and little girl on Earth. Despite this though it is an enjoyable and well made film and it has an emotional twist that I didn't see coming. This is definitely worth checking out.

What are you doing, George? - The Midnight Sky review by SG

Why did George Clooney make this film?

He directed, produced and starred in this futuristic sci-fi which has not had the best reviews - the plot is as big a mystery as the reason why he made it. It doesn't really get going at all, the first 10 minutes and indeed the next half-hour don't really tell you much about what is going on - so it's hard to invest in the characters. He's lonely and something has happened on earth for him to be on his own, although this is only hinted at throughout the film. Some things in the film are just so obvious you have to wonder why they happened. I had to jump bits of the movie in the second half to get to the ending and see what happened because it was too slow to watch. I'm surprised such a high quality actor and director has released this movie, it just doesn't seem 'finished'.

If you want George Clooney in a tight thriller, look no further than 'Michael Clayton' which is excellent.

Overall 5/10 - very wide of the mark