Early reviews for George Clooney's The Midnight Sky are in, and reactions are mixed, with praise for its ambition and others saying it failed to move. The movie is Clooney's first on Netflix, where it will stream from December 23. It's an adaptation of the dystopian sci-fi novel Good Morning, Goodnight. In addition to directing, Clooney plays the lead role, Augustine, a man trapped in the Arctic during an unnamed global catastrophe which has supposedly ended all life on earth.
The plot follows his efforts to save a young girl, Iris (Caoilinn Springall), who mysteriously appears at his base in the Arctic. He also attempts to contact a crew of astronauts in space led by Sully (Felicity Jones) to tell them not to return to earth. The Midnight Sky trailer teased a tense, emotional journey, with a heavily bearded Clooney looking to be on top form. Besides its Netflix release, the movie will have a limited run in theaters in areas where they can safely operate, and as a result, the first critics' reviews are coming in.
The early reactions are sharply divided, with some praising the movie's ambition and emotional tone, while others say that it failed to move them. Some critics have said it might contend for Oscars, though they admit that might be down to the talent involved rather than for the movie's overall quality. Meanwhile, the most serve criticism calls it a "Sad dad space movie," which doesn't deliver on its promise. Check out some of the critics' reactions below. For each reviewer's full thoughts, click the corresponding link:
Nick de Semlyen, Empire
The Midnight Sky is a sombre, urgent affair...Clooney has upped his directorial ambition and delivered a big-scale, big-hearted story, even if it struggles to match the films it riffs on.
Jesse Hassenger, A.V. Club
It’s almost a stranger movie than the filmmakers seem to realize, which gives it a bittersweet edge. In some other alternate timeline, maybe this lumpy, affecting film would be received as another movie-star triumph. Here and now, it’s even more of an anomaly than Clooney himself.
Leah Greenblatt, EW
The film often feels less like its own distinct narrative than a sort of greatest-hits amalgam of movies like The Martian, Gravity, Interstellar, Ad Astra, and all the others that came before; one more long-haul tale of lonely astronauts and contrails in the cosmos.
Eric Kohn, Indie Wire
Clooney directs and stars in this ambitious adaptation of Lily Brooks-Dalton’s 2016 novel, and there’s much to appreciate about his by-the-book approach: Despite the blockbuster budget, he’s crafted a wistful movie about the end of the world, laced together with mournful gazes at the icy tundra and the sad revolutions of spacecraft en route to its dying home.
David Rooney, THR
Sci-fi fanboys will no doubt find The Midnight Sky too solemn, and its echoes of movies like Interstellar, The Martian and Ad Astra don't always play in its favor. But others will respond to its contemplative maturity.
Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph
Even as someone liable to shed a tear over all Space Dad stories, up to and including Button Moon, I was left almost completely unmoved.
Adam Woodward, Little White Lies
The Midnight Sky is yet another entry into the Sad Dad Space Movie canon, a vague thematic composite of Ad Astra, High Life, Interstellar, Prometheus and the grandaddy of the genre, 2001: A Space Odyssey. On a basic script level, however, the film it has most in common with is Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, in that it too doesn’t quite land its lofty emotional payoff.
Owen Gleiberman, Variety
I watched it wondering, “Why did George Clooney want to make this movie?” His early films had dash and spirit and verve. Like Clooney himself, they were alive with personality. This one is sodden with self-importance.
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
The film floats sedately between these two situations, each distracting from the other’s sense of jeopardy. It glides up to a big, moony cosmic twist then swims placidly away.
Robert Daniels, Polygon
In hopes of averting another crisis, Augustine, while caring for the girl, races to warn the incoming crew of the planet’s dangers. The ticking clock makes The Midnight Sky a post-apocalyptic survivalist space film whose narrative is so overloaded that the emotional weight offers zero gravity.
The consensus seems that Clooney has crafted a movie that evokes some of the great sci-fi films of all time, but which fails to reach the heights of any of them. Sadly, then, this movie is unlikely to be an Oscar contender and seems to be a disappointing return to the spotlight for Clooney, who last starred in a film in 2016 and has also not released a directorial effort since 2017's poorly-received Suburbicon.
While The Midnight Sky does have its detractors, it's not tracking as poorly as that previous effort, with some saying it's a genuinely good film. Whether audiences respond or not is up for debate. With a release date just two days before Christmas, it's unlikely to make an immediate splash. Families gathering for the holidays are not going to be switching on an apocalyptic thriller, more inclined as they are to watch holiday classics, so it might be a while before the movie finds an audience, if it does at all.
Source: Various [see links above]
