by Conan Simmons – December 24, 2020 – 6:44 am
Many film critics seem to have had high expectations for this science-fiction meets survival adventure film because it stars and is directed by George Clooney and is receiving an awards slot release on Christmas week. I, on the other hand, came into the movie with low expectations after seeing the trailer and promo scenes that looked to be a dreary “woe is us” moral tale wrapped in sci-fi trappings. I was pleasantly surprised to find a solid effort that contains at least a couple of scenes of good action, a notable appearance of a rising star, and bits of humor to lighten up the expectedly bleak plot.
The film starts in the frozen north of the Arctic Circle at an observatory where one man (George Clooney) haunts the empty rooms three weeks after “the event”. A brief flashback reveals all the other occupants evacuating the compound in fear of “the event” that is sweeping the Earth. It is never said what “the event” is though it appears to be a nuclear holocaust of sorts as there are references to radiation and an interesting scene of radiated birds just outside the observatory. For the film’s purposes it doesn’t matter what “the event” is, only that it has brought an end to life as we know it.
George Clooney, playing a famous scientist as evidenced by flashbacks to his younger self, is allowed to stay behind as the others evacuate because of his clout and his suffering of terminal cancer. This early scene clearly shows ‘The Midnight Sky’ is going to be full of plot holes. For a movie that is obviously meant to get its audience thinking about the theme the multitude of glaring plot holes is a fatal flaw.
The movie then cuts to an astronaut scientist (Felicity Jones) on an alien planet collecting samples. We are soon introduced to her fellow astronauts, a likeable bunch of underdeveloped characters including the spaceship’s captain (David Oyelowo), the pilot (Kyle Chandler) and two more crew (Demian Birchir and Tiffany Boone). As they guide their spaceship home they keep themselves occupied with hologram videos of their families back on Earth. They also spend their time playfully suggesting names for the baby that the pregnant communications officer (Jones) and the captain are going to have.
Cutting back to Earth, Clooney discovers he’s not alone at the observatory. A young stowaway (Caoilinn Springall) is found after a fire breaks out in the kitchen. This young stowaway refuses to speak so Clooney urgently radios for someone to comeback and get her but to no avail, the world is already too far gone. Obviously this is another glaring plot hole that is easily predictable.
Stuck with the stowaway Clooney sticks to his self imposed mission to contact the returning spaceship and warn them against landing. A problem arises when Clooney discovers the deadly radiation is getting closer to the observatory than he predicted. Of course, there just happens to be a weather station further north with a large antennae that is capable of contacting the returning spaceship. And so, the movie leans heavily into man-vs.-nature territory as Clooney takes the young stowaway on the perilous trek. They encounter radiated humans, snowstorms, wolves and glacial melting in a good action scene that keeps the movie moving.
Meanwhile, back in space, the astronauts encounter their own dangers in the form of meteorites and a well directed space walk which leads to the most out of place moment in the film as the astronauts start singing a popular song.
George Clooney does a fine job directing ‘The Midnight Sky’ and the editing is well done keeping the film from slowing down too much preventing it from wallowing in somber moods. The actors are all sufficiently good with notable talent emanating from Tiffany Boone, heralding a star on the rise, as the younger of the astronauts and Demian Bichir doing the most with the little he’s given to do. Ethan Peck, the grandson of Gregory Peck, plays the George Clooney character in flashbacks detailing his love lost, played by Sophie Rundle.
The real standout in this film is the great music score by Alexandre Desplat. Clooney makes the wise decision to utilize Desplat’s score as much as possible. If ‘The Midnight Sky’ receives an Oscar nomination it will be for Music Score, adding yet another to the more than half dozen nominations Desplat has garnered over his career.
The special effects are nicely done and serve the story well. Clooney is clearly inspired by his previous film ‘Gravity’ and its director Alfonso Cuaron in the way he directs the spacewalk sequence. The spaceship itself is very reminiscent of the one in the similar themed ‘Silent Running’ from 1972 starring Bruce Dern.
It’s the plot hole filled story that prevents this from being anything more than a well meaning sci-fi film. ‘The Midnight Sky’ does nothing to move the genre of science fiction forward and as long as you don’t think about the story the movie is fairly entertaining. Sure, it’s often dreary but it has valiant attempts to offer the slightest bit of hope making ‘The Midnight Sky’ far superior than last years pessimistic ‘Ad Astra’.