George Clooney and Caoilinn Springall in a scene from “The Midnight Sky.” (Philippe Antonello/Netflix )
“I can’t help you. You understand? I’m the wrong person. I’m the wrong person.” – George Clooney’s Augustine to a fellow traveler in “The Midnight Sky”
As rough as it’s been in the real world this year, the planet is in even worse shape in a number of recent movies.
In “Greenland,” stadium-sized chunks of an asteroid are wiping out entire cities and killing millions.
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In “Wonder Woman 1984,” the world has been thrown into chaos, and we’re on the brink of nuclear war.
Updated: 9:38 AM EST December 10, 2020
ST. LOUIS Augustine (George Clooney) has the look of a man who has failed at life. Weary dialed up to 12 and carrying an additional dose of weathered guilt, this isolated scientist in the Arctic seems to lock away all his shortcomings in his long gray and white bushy beard, like a roadblock between the brain and heart.
The year is 2049 and Earth is being suddenly evacuated. Due to a catastrophic event according to Augustine, it involved a mistake our planet is becoming inhabitable at a rapid rate. The ground is sinking, extreme weather is running rampant, and the air is toxic. Even worse: there s a crew of astronauts (led by Felicity Jones Sully and David Oyelowo s Adewale) returning to Earth shortly with zero clue of its destination s deadly spiral.
Wed Dec 23, 2020 at 10:02am ET
George Clooney and Caoilinn Springall in Midnight Sky. Pic credit: Netflix
It has been four years since George Clooney made a movie, and when he returned, it was with a Netflix original that painted the picture of the end of the world.
The Midnight Sky is not an apocalyptic action movie but is instead a dark and brooding Netflix drama, more the speed of 2001: A Space Odyssey than anything. It even makes end-of-the-world dramas like Children of Men and The Road look action-packed in comparison.
However, there is a lot to like about The Midnight Sky.
Review: Clooney s The Midnight Sky a cold, alienating experience
George Clooney directs and stars in this story about a post-apocalyptic Earth
Adam Graham
It s lonely out there in space, on Earth after a global disaster and in The Midnight Sky, a solemn, snail-paced sci-fi drama from director-star George Clooney. Gravity it s not. That heart-racing action epic (also starring Clooney) explored similar themes of isolation and finding the will to live in the face of surefire death. The Midnight Sky is a much more dour, downturned film, and while it may fancy itself headier or more cerebral, in reality it s an emotionally obtuse and disconnected experience.
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