User Reviews

So, this movie isn't perfect. Some things I liked and others bothered me. Like how the movie abruptly begins with absolutely no preamble. Normally I don't require hand-holding when movies start like this, but I seriously had to check 5 minutes in to make sure Netflix didn't start me halfway through the movie. Very annoying. Also, the fact that humans can detect planets in solar systems thousands of light years away, but we've never noticed a habitable moon around Jupiter?? Kinda dumb. I know, it's just a movie.. Also, why does the ship have rolling office chairs and IKEA shelving? Your hurtling through space a god knows how many kilometers a seconds and you can't secure things properly? The second the anti-gravity ring stops someone's getting that space helmet blown through the back of their head. And why TF did those dudes leave the ship? You family's gone, bud! By leaving your crew mates behind your decreasing their chances of survival. Just selfish. GC was good to watch, as always, and the cinematography was a treat for the eyes. This is a good movie for when your too tired to sleep and want something to enjoy a half-asleep half-awake state on the couch. Oh, and there's absolutely no rabid space monkeys in this movie, which is another good thing.

This definitely could've worked as a series. Netflix could've done their usual. Great/popular first season then cancel it immediately and create 10 low budget foreign movies and tv shows in its place.

What the hell is happening in this movie? Basically the crew of an expedition to a fictional moon of Jupiter called K-23 is returning to earth and George Clooney, in the Arctic circle, is trying to warn them about the uninhabitable conditions on the surface due to some unknown apocalypse.

Let me save you the immense frustration you'll inevitably feel after watching this...

What happened to earth? Apocalypse...Never explained. What happened to the crew of the ship? Turned around and went back to k23...no other information. Are there survivors on earth underground? Never explained. Little girl? Doesn't exist..obvious in first 10 mins. What happened to the pilot who returned to earth to find his family? Never explained Does the crew have the resources to create a colony on k23? Never explained Why does the crew seem to have such a nonchalant attitude towards the destruction of their home and families? Never explained Why did I watch this movie? No sufficient explanation.

Personally i read the reviews by others AFTER watching the film, and it seems like all people wanted to do was compare it to X space movie or X catastrophe movie.

Sadly those people, 98% of them apparently missed the point

Its seems strange to say this, given the small amount of dialogue by him (and its not a wordy film by any means), but i probably enjoyed Clooney in this more than most of his films. He perfectly inhabits the character and his characters situation, and his pared back performance (from what you expect from yuor preconceptions of M Clooney), really is at the core of what makes the films atmosphere pervade your own senses for the entire film.

I really enjoyed it...just to go against the prevailing tide, who honestly probably would have picked at anything Mr Clooney did

Could there have been improvements?,maybe... but well, it's easy for armchair warriors who didnt even get it as far as it got to be critics....

Don't understand any of the positive reviews.

How does he survive plunging into arctic water? Hypothermia would have killed him. How are birds dying and wolves aren't? What was the point of the airplane scene? So many points/laws of science and physics ignored. If a spaceship is that advanced 30 years from now, how is communication that prehistoric? How did they get no recorded message from earth saying not to come back/that there was a catastrophe.

And the part that bothers me the most, that I haven't seen anyone else point out and the reason I'm bothering to leave a review on this mess, how does humanity live on? We never find out what happened to the colony ship that was supposed to take off. We never find out if there are other people on k-23. So humanity ends with the astronauts' baby? How the hell is she supposed to continue the human race? With her father?? And then what???

Absolute waste of time.

Most of the reviews I have read here, and which have rated the movie badly, start with the premise for the need of a "point". It is true that the movie doesn't develop all the "big events" happening within the story line. We never learn the "why's" of the base story line, this being what happens to earth, why is it destroyed. We never know what happens to Sully and Adewole on their way back to the new planet. We don't know what Sanchez and Mitchell find on their way back to earth. We don't know a lot, because the main story is not about the earth being destroyed, or the new moon K-23 being discovered suitable for human life. The main story is about a man whose personal relationships were bad to say the least. Why? We don't the whole story for that either. The character is left with some mystery onto why he made those choices, and we only get glimpses of him through very short flashbacks and the opinion of what others have of him. He seems to be respected and admired because of his scientific work, but he is a flawed man who seems to have put science above everything else.

There are many storylines exposed in this movie, and none of the obvious ones will be developed beyond their need, they are left to interpretation. The only storyline which comes to fruition is the personal journey of Augustine in his last moments alive. Yes, this story goes nowhere if one chooses to see it that way, because the point of this story relies on a moment in a man's life where he made an important choice, the wrong one, one that will give a full circle to that story line in the movie.

It is well said that "expectations lead to disappointment" and in the case of a movie like this that point falls on heavily when expecting that every story line is fully well rounded when the point of the movie relies on the subtlety of one's mistake(s) throughout life.

One could go in detail into what could the movie have done to please more every person that thought it was a sci-fi movie, or the people who were expecting more of the apocalyptic reality the movie could have offered with the thought of "people living underground, but that is only temporary". But this is not that kind of movie, this is simpler, try to come to it without expectations if you want to enjoy what it has to offer.

And no, this is not a breathtaking movie, nor great, but is not the horrible disaster the other reviews say it is.

For real who wrote this movie....

The whole plot was bad, the space ship and the crew was bad.

But what drives me nuts is the scene where the trailer sinks and he jumps in ice freezing water.

There 0% that anyone stranded, jumps in freezing water, acts normal in the water and would come out not dying from hypothermia.

The acting normal when jumping into the water is what gets me too, he would have an uncontrollable spasms at least 1-2min even making you breath while under water and taking in freezing water would kill you.

I found that throughout this movie there's a persistent need to know more. When starting, you're seeing people leaving in a hurry - Seemingly leaving the country, but as later shown - Leaving Earth.

It's throughout the movie you learn that Augustine was the pioneer for the human race going to K23, but never went himself - Too engrossed in trying to find out more on what's happening off planet due to the nature of Earth's current state? It's unsure.

The appearance of the little girl makes for an interesting take, but at least it's further explained at the end of the movie.

Overall, there's more that can be said throughout this film, but I find it's production very well done and still nice to see the work put in.

Seriously - think of $100m worth of vaccines or just food or aid distributed to the poor and needy. Instead someone thought this load of crap was more worth it. Let's give Clooney $100m - what could go wrong? And boy did he deliver. A turd in a league of its own.

Ok - here's the gist. In the near future, a possibly habitable moon of Jupiter is discovered. A crew is dispatched to investigate. While they're gone, for some reason they're completely incommunicado, and back on Earth, climate change suddenly ravages and blows up the Earth. The planet is evacuated, and everyone is put on helicopters to go somewhere, curl up and die. No Bill Pullman here inspiring humanity to do an end-run around destiny, to fight on. Nope. Just give up. The movie does not relish in details like where exactly they go, how, or what they'll do to survive, or for how long. Nor how so many helicopters could be built, even in the future, or whether they are spacecraft or whatever vehicles are required to completely empty the earth. In two years. It does not get into whether Eric Trump is President and whether climate denialism is still a thing and why half the people are not protesting the other half no matter what, as is wont in a post-truth society. All we know is something really bad happens to the air and the Earth somehow is totally evacuated in two years.

Clooney is cast as a terminally ill astronomer (again, why? What is the relevance? Everyone is doomed as it is) who discovers the said habitable planet, but inexplicably stays behind to man an arctic observatory. No explanation offered, none required. Somehow this one aging, sick man can run an entire site in the middle of the Arctic, singlehanded. I guess now we know why there is so much unemployment. Robots - first they dance, then they take our jobs. Anyways, upon the ship's return, the exploratory mission cannot find anyone to answer their phone calls. In an act of desperation, they even attempt to contact India and Australia. I guess that is when you know it is an emergency when the India call center won't take your calls. BTW Calling India - this is a decision reached with no small amount of deliberation by the crew, mind you. Why? Who knows.

Clooney, by the way, is bored stiff and while playing gin rummy wiling away the final hours, by accident suddenly realizes this ship is due back. Typical oh crap! Moment. And tries to raise the crew. Guess everyone forgot about the first manned mission to Jupiter? Clooney however finds out his high-tech setup isn't high tech enough to even send a text message to the intrepid explorers as they hurtle back from the unknown. Never mind that we have been communicating with remote spaceships like Voyager since the 70s, with much less powerful equipment.

Anyway, Clooney discovers he is not alone in his Arctic refuge. A lost child lurks within the site. And has been sleeping in some shelves somewhere, but apparently is not any worse for wear as she somehow also has found plenty of food, despite not knowing where the kitchen is. Again, let's not get into the plot-holes.

Clooney locates ANOTHER billion-dollar mega-tech site, a short hop away by snowmobile. Why you would put two large expensive antenna sites side-by-side, in the Arctic, who knows. But, with aid of this child, or despite her, he climbs aboard a snowmobile to trek to this other high tech station to have a chat with the returning ship to let them know to not come back because of how royally we screwed things up in the two years they were gone (yes folks, climate change only takes that long to wreak havoc).

Along the way, he faces some inexplicable but ridiculous adventures, nearly drowns, shoots someone, and is stalked by wolves. The point? Probably some symbolism and metaphors missed by simpletons like this reviewer. Finally, after reaching the station, he can talk to the ship. At first, they are in disbelief. But really guys? Two years? And there has been no communication? Were they on the Santa Maria? And it couldn't have been that much of a surprise - hell, scientists are hoarse from bleating these warnings.. today!

Anyway, to the movie. Being stoic professionals, they thoughtfully analyze the situation, given the heavy implications of any action and the fact that the future of humanity is hanging in the balance. As expected, logic is promptly chucked out the nearest space hatch and sentimentality wins out. Despite the certain death that awaits them, two of the crew summon their samurai courage and choose to return to Earth anyway to face the music, and thus provide a more intimate setting for the remaining male captain and female subordinate (dim the lights & cue Marvin Gaye - "Let's get it on").

These last two plan to return to the Jovian moon from whence they came, to populate it in their new roles as Adam and Eve to restart humanity. Interestingly, the woman subordinate is ALREADY pregnant - workplace harassment? It's also interesting that it is acceptable for future professional astronauts to get pregnant on missions... on a ship designed for scientific discovery...in outer space ...is a gynecologist on board? A pediatrician? Surgeon? Not sure if the ship has a maternity ward or facilities for daycare or childbirth (actually we are - nope!) ... what if mommy and daddy want to go on parental leave after they are done dodging asteroids for the week? Let's leave all those questions floating in space, please. I guess abstinence, birth control, professional mission discipline doesn't exist in the future, at least one envisioned by Clooney, who also directs what passes for a film.

And that is pretty much it. Two survivors of humanity. With limited provisions. Going back to an alien moon to, presumably, screw away until the end of days, content they are doing it for the greater good. Not a bad way to go if you ask me. No thought though to the size of the gene pool? How are two people by themselves supposed to restart the human race? Heavy use of CRISPR? The departing suicidal crew members do not even have the courtesy to leave behind their reproductive DNA (at least not on camera). What about Earth's accumulated knowledge base: technological know-how, the arts, the humanities & other ark-like collectibles that may be required to start a colony that is man's last gasp for survival. You know, if you're back near Earth, you might wanna pick some of these things up? Even electronically? Before the planet disappears for good? Not even some Viagra guys? How about milk and groceries? Maybe even some livestock? Not even medicines?

There are more plot holes in this movie than craters on the moon. The biggest one: why this movie was ever greenlit. But in the end, the movie is not meant to be a disaster epic. It just exists to guilt you into realizing we're really messing up the planet. You are left to connect the dots from there to the burning of the Amazon (the forest, not the company). I'm guessing a run on Fox was never planned.

Probably the best thing about this movie was the cute kid, probably because she says and does nothing. Because she turns out to be a hallucination (a Sixth Sense style ghost?), a reminder that Clooney was a really bad father but one who created an awesome daughter who now pilots the aforementioned spaceship, which he had forgot about but serendipitously remembered in the knick of time to redeem himself, thanks to a game of solitaire. A hallucination she is, just like we end up hoping the movie turns out to be, because it is impossible to fathom how such a god-awful movie could be real.

With the high-profile releases of Tenet and now this abomination, maybe it is about time we recognize the editors, producers, writers & directors who take advantage of us forcibly transmogrified into couch potatoes during the Covid crisis, who think we will gullibly swallow anything their not so creative minds can barf up. They feel we shall simply marvel at how clever, witty & deep the plot & acting are, simply because they are incomprehensible & utterly impenetrable, & how thought-provoking their ideas & themes relating to humanity are dealt with through metaphors that in actuality are just pot-inspired time-fillers.

In short, they have gift wrapped their ill-thought-out and foul-smelling turds with fancy bows, made a fuss of the presentation & placed them under our plastic Christmas trees. Perhaps realizing that in the present zeitgeist, people can't even agree on basic tenets of reality (pun intended), they figured why then should we bother with critiquing mediocre fiction? It certainly seems to be a plausible thought process behind Midnight Sky and Tenet (to which Sky plays the dumber, poorer brother) - but both are equally absurd and nonsensical in their own right, yet filled to the brim with melancholic, illogical, non-sensical self-importance.

But to the Hollywood elites who want to foist their garbage onto us, the hoi polloi, let me say, dammit, some of us do give a damn! Really, we do! We will not settle for turds disguised in Rolex boxes, no matter how pretty, or how expensive they look. We will not give in. We will put up a fight. We will not go gently into the night! We will not let utter trash assail our senses and sight! We demand movies with some substance. We demand quality. We demand a plot for chrissakes! A new Zen-processor or cutting edge Nvidia graphics at the editors' desk does NOT mean you can leave the story completely by the wayside.

Net of it is that Midnight Sky is nothing but a Clooney sized dump... not the soft plop plop of gently laid turds followed by a long flush... this is instead the full-on firehose fury of an exceptionally muscular rectum pressurized by prescription-strength laxative suppositories, unleashed in an unholy mess. Goes to show that no amount of special effects or star-power can save an epically bad story.