George Clooney has some of the most expressive eyes in movies -- and I've missed seeing him and them in films for the past four years. They are put to great use in his new downer of a sci-fi film, The Midnight Sky, but unfortunately the film never matches his intensity.
It's got a smart sci-fi premise. It's nearly 30 years in the future and the majority of Earth has been destroyed, presumably due to the climate crisis. A gaunt and grizzled Clooney plays a terminally ill scientist who has chosen to live his final days in Arctic but suddenly finds purpose when he discovers a space craft (populated by the likes of David Oyelowo, a totally wasted Kyle Chandler and a pregnant Felicity Jones, all giving indistinct, lowkey performances) that is headed for Earth AND a mysterious, young stowaway, whom he forms a special bond with.
Clooney has to traverse a perilous tundra in order to send a signal to the craft that Earth is no longer inhabitable, before it's too late. So far, so solid. But the movie can't decide whether it wants to be a emotional tearjerker or a thriller. The space station crew, while populated by likable actors, isn't particularly engaging, so it's hard to get too emotional about their fate.
Meanwhile, there's some real intrigue in the Clooney-mystery girl subplot (although I saw the twist in that one coming), but he cuts away every time things start to get more interesting. I love Clooney is suave movie star mode (think the Ocean's films) but he's also demonstrated that he can be a powerful serious actor too, but as a director he has deprived himself of an opportunity to fully take center stage here.
His directorial career has unfortunately been far less satisfying than his acting oeuvre. I thought Leatherheads was cute and The Monuments Men was watchable, but in my opinion he has only made two truly good movies Good Night and Good Luck and 2011's underrated The Ides of March.
The Midnight Sky is his most effects-laden film (it looks great) and his most spectacle-y, even it's a dour, quiet film for much of it's running time. If nothing else, he demonstrates that he can make something on a bigger canvas (his previous more successful directorial efforts were decidedly insular) but the film feels derivative of better space epics like The Martian, Interstellar, Ad Astra and Clooney's own Gravity.
Even a particularly hokey scene -- where the character's sing along to Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" while floating through space, recalls his Gravity character's affinity for country & western music.
It's unclear to me if he was trying to recapture the success of the film here. Space has been good to Clooney, although it did no business, he was excellent in Steven Soderbergh's 2002 remake of Solaris. I'd hate for the poor critical reception this new film has received to deter him from directing more and certainly acting more in the future.
He's been such a Hollywood Golden Boy for so long and so unabashedly proud of his liberalism, that when he stumbles like this there are far too many gleeful detractors, but I have always admired that he takes chances instead of just making films when he plays a new variation of Danny Ocean, where he can cash in. I'm also all for heady sci-fi, it's just this film's head isn't screwed on entirely straight.
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