Review: The Midnight Sky (2020)

Meh. 

An A-List cast.  A reported $100 Million budget.  Global catastrophe/end of life on Earth stakes, AND humankind travelling the stars to find a new home.

And, all I can say about The Midnight Sky is, “Meh.”

Plot – The Midnight Sky

Set 29 years in the future, George Clooney stars as Dr. Augustine Lofthouse, a world famous scientist who discovers a planet-sized moon of Jupiter, capable of supporting life, and here-to-fore completely unseen and unknown, until now.

A global…  SOMETHING…  Radiation, Pandemic, non-specific MacGuffin of some kind, simply known as ‘The Event’; is threatening to end life on Earth.  Clooney’s Lofthouse leads a scientific expedition north of the Arctic Circle in a last ditch attempt to save the Earth; at least BEFORE the film starts.  The film opens with everyone giving up and going home to die, Lofthouse remaining behind fighting an un-named illness, with no one to go home to.

Rogue One’s Felicity Jones, Selma’s David Oyelowo, and Friday Night Lights’ Kyle Chandler round out a talented, All-Star cast, but who’s talent and presence is completely wasted.  Jones, Oyelowo, and Chandler are on the spaceship ‘Aether’, tasked with checking out the viability of K-23; Lofthouse’s newly discovered Moon.  Again, ALL of which happens BEFORE the movie starts.

Now on their way home, Lofthouse must contact them to tell them…  SOMETHING…

The Good – The Midnight Sky

The 7th Feature Film directed by George Clooney, The Midnight Sky features amazing cinematography, CGI worthy of Clooney’s OTHER space/drama ‘Gravity’, and a proven cast and plot that should engage any and all viewers.

Clooney gives a nuanced performance as Augustine, while also pulling double duty as Director.  Newcomer Caoilinn Springall holds her own with the Veteran Clooney.  Sophie Rundle, Tiffany Boone, Damian Bichir, and Star Trek Discovery’s Ethan Peck round out the talented, and well-acted cast.

The Bad – The Midnight Sky

However, this film has NO CLUE what it wants to be.  Science Fiction??!!  Drama??!!  Thriller??!!  Action??!!  Etheral Spiritual journey??!!  The Midnight Sky FEELS like the screenwriter strung together a bunch of random scenes from a pitch meeting; that have little through line with the main plot.

Also, all of the global, world ending stakes happen BEFORE the movie starts.  The exploration of K-23 happens, you guessed it, BEFORE the movie starts. All of the interesting ideas to explore in this movie are already done! There is NOTHING left to explore, no lives to save, KAPUT!

The film DOES do a good job of conveying the isolation and failure Augustine feels as he awaits his inevitable death.  This is where the plot and storytelling should take off.  Sadly, it never does.  There are action scenes leading to nothing.  There are plot complications leading to nothing.  There are character building scenes leading to, you guessed it, NOTHING.

This is the kind of film that FEELS like it had at least three different screenwriters, even though only one is credited, and FEELS like the studios just wanted to get one more movie out of the Gravity Graphics package before moving on to the next generation of CGI. 

This film FEELS like 17 different studio executives had 17 different meetings to discuss 17 different scenes, and decided to include ALL of them.

The Review – The Midnight Sky

The Midnight Sky has visually impressive Cinematography, high quality CGI, and great acting.

But, they never even bother answering the ‘Why’s of this film.  WHY should we be watching this film?  WHY are people dying?  Why are there mysterious complications along the journey for both Augustine AND the Aether?  There are many more spoilery ‘why’s, and none save one are answered.  Instead, we spend the bulk of the nearly two hour run time taking in the loosely structured film.

The one ‘Why’ I will answer is why should you watch this film??!!  You shouldn’t.  There are plenty of worse films to watch, but there are no real reasons to watch this one.  All of those happened before the film started.  When that film is released, watch that one instead!

Until then, SKIP IT.

Check out my video movie review for The Midnight Sky, as well!