The Midnight Sky – Netflix Review (3/5)

THE MIDNIGHT SKY is a new Netflix sci-fi drama starring George Clooney who also directs this post-apocalyptic visual stunner. The planet has become entirely inhabitable and with no hope for a future there. Based on the book by Lily Brooks-Dalton. Read our full The Midnight Sky movie review here!

THE MIDNIGHT SKY is a new Netflix sci-fi drama about a post-apocalyptic Earth. We’ve managed to make the planet entirely inhabitable and now a spaceship, returning from a mission to find a new planet to call home, cannot reach anyone on Earth.

George Clooney plays the terminally ill Augustine, who is still on Earth and tries to contact the spaceship to make sure they do not attempt to land on our broken planet. I do feel that this movie feels too long but it is still definitely worth watching. You should just know that you’re bound for a slow-burn sci-fi drama with elements of fantasy and thriller. 

Continue reading our The Midnight Sky movie review below.

A post-apocalyptic visual stunner

This new Netflix sci-fi drama is as much fantasy and sci-fi thriller as it is a drama. Especially the visuals of this movie left me breathless at times. From the beautiful shots of our Earth from the perspective of Augustine (George Clooney) to the terrifying shots of Earth as seen from space from the mission returning.

What’s even more terrifying is the fact that the latter shot reminded me of the forest fires in Australia at the beginning of 2020. Only this time they were all over the planet. Exactly what has happened to Earth is never explicitly talked about, but both the word “virus” and the air being so polluted that birds drop from the sky are shown.

The story plays out in 2049 and it’s clear that the evolution (or rather, the downfall) of Planet Earth has happened much faster than anyone anticipated. Since the mission of sending a crew to find an alternative Earth was sent off two years earlier, everything has simply broken down in all kinds of ways.

In The Midnight Sky, we’re talking catastrophic events of biblical proportions!

A small but wonderful cast

The cast of The Midnight Sky is rather small with George Clooney and the young talent Caoilinn Springall being the only two back on Earth. Very little dialogue is spoken on Earth in general, where the actions and visuals speak volumes instead. And yes, the girl portrayed by Caoilinn Springall is truly mesmerizing.

Up in the spaceship returning to Earth and fighting to communicate with someone, anyone, on Earth, there is a crew of five people.

David Oyelowo (The Cloverfield Paradox) is the commander, Kyle Chandler (Godzilla 2 and Bloodline on Netflix) is the brilliant pilot, and Felicity Jones (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) is in charge of communications. Finally, we have Tiffany Boone (Roxy Jones on Amazon Prime’s Hunters) and Demián Bichir (The Nun) as both tech wizards and medical aids.

A tight-knit crew of people, who have clearly come to regard one another as family.

For me, this is also the first time I’ve really enjoyed watching Demián Bichir on-screen. He’s had so many roles where I did not care for his character – including The Nun and The Grudge and this time, I really like him. He’s a lot more laidback and it suits him so well. I did also like him better in Alien: Covenant, but not nearly as much as this time around.

Also, I should mention that Ethan Peck (Spock on Star Trek: Discovery) does an excellent job as a young Augustine. So there’s no de-aging of George Clooney for these scenes. In other small – but vital – roles, we see Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders) as the young love of Augustine and Miriam Shor (Lost Girls) as the wife of Kyle Chandler’s character.

The ending of The Midnight Sky

No, this is not a The Midnight Sky ending explained. However, I have no doubt that many people will be searching for this. Especially if they haven’t been paying attention while watching this sci-fi drama. Many genre fans (or movie fans in general) will be guessing a major plot twist way ahead of them being revealed.

And that is fine. It’s not meant to be a huge twist in the style of Shyamalan proportions. Instead, the twist in the ending of The Midnight Sky is the story in many ways.

Also, I love how the actual ending of the movie is a continuation of the story as the end credits begin to appear. After all, stories never really end and I always enjoy when movies acknowledge this. The main story of the movie might end, but really, this is just one story. The stories of humanity and our future never really ends. At least, I hope not!

Watch The Midnight Sky on Netflix

The Midnight Sky is directed by George Clooney which makes this his seventh feature film. I wouldn’t call it his best film, but that does not mean that it isn’t a good film. In fact, I think The Midnight Sky is an amazing movie in many ways. It does have a good 5-10 minutes around that middle that I could have done without. It’s not bad, but it feels too much like fluff for this story.

The movie is based on the book “Good Morning, Midnight” by Lily Brooks-Dalton but the screenplay adaption was written by Mark L. Smith. He most recently co-wrote the screenplay for the action-horror movie Overlord (2018) and The Revenant (2015).

In terms of pace, we are definitely more in the latter category, which definitely isn’t a bad thing either. I do, however, believe that many viewers will expect something different which may hurt the experience of watching this movie. You should really expect more of a drama that has a lot of sci-fi and fantasy elements along with occasional thriller moments.

If you set your expectations accordingly, then I imagine you’ll have a wonderful experience watching this Netflix sci-fi movie.

The Midnight Sky is out on Netflix from December 23, 2020. Prior to this, it will also have some movie theater screenings worldwide from December 10, 2020.

Details

Director: George Clooney
Writers: Lily Brooks-Dalton (based on the book ‘Good Morning, Midnight’), Mark L. Smith (adaptation)
Stars: George Clooney, Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Kyle Chandler, Tiffany Boone, Demián Bichir, Caoilinn Springall, Ethan Peck, Sophie Rundle