The Midnight Sky (2020) Review

This film came to Netflix late last year but I have now had a chance to watch The Midnight Sky and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees a a scientist in the arctic attempt to stop a crew of astronauts returning to Earth. 

Main Character

George Clooney plays the lead role and is the director of the film and he deserves credit for that and he does an alright job in the film. It isn't the charming and charismatic performance you usually see but Clooney does give a decent physical performance and he is a pretty harrowing character when more is revealed about him. Felicity Jones plays the head astronaut and she is good here, I wasn't expecting to see so much of her but was pleasantly surprised as she is a good character and I thought she was a good contrast to Clooney's stuff happening back on Earth. 

Supporting Characters

David Oyelowo plays another astronaut and is also good, the chemistry between him and Jones is solid and it seemed that they were having a good time in playing their roles. The rest of the astronauts are good too and I thought they were a nice group together and I liked there bond and thought it was well presented here. The other few members of the cast are solid too including a good performance from a little girl who has to do more work then you would expect. 

Story  

This is where the film falls down though, it's story is really bad and doesn't do enough to keep you interested at all. It is like somebody wanted to make a survivor movie and somebody wanted to make a sci-fi movie and they couldn't make both so they put them together and created this hot pot of a messy story. It doesn't help that the end of the film is super anticlimactic and it kind of feels I wasted 2 hours with a story that went nowhere. 

Script 

The script actually surprised me, I thought the film was going to be really dramatic and it is at times but I was surprised by the quick and funny dialogue between the astronauts that saw them bantering a plenty and it made them a fun group to watch. But that drama does fall flat towards the end of the film where it doesn't make you care about anybody and again as I said it leaves you questioning why you bothered. 

Style

The film looks good, the space scenes stand up when needed and the winter scenes on Earth do the job very well too and it is just a nice film to look at. But there is an issue with pacing here, it doesn't help that the contrasting tones of the two plot lines clash, the film is also really slow in the first 30 mins and it took quite a bit to get me back somewhat on board and plenty of people will have checked out by that point. 

Overall

Overall, I heard this film was terrible but I actually found it above average and a fine watch. It has some decent performances and good look that is an okay watch, I wouldn't rush to watch it but I thought the film was okay. 

Rating - 6/10