The Midnight Sky (2020)

[Kel Varnsen]

Has anyone else watched this? Starring and directed by George Clooney. He basically plays the last man on earth living in an Arctic research station trying to stop a space ship from returning to an uninhabitable earth. It was pretty good but super depressing. Especially the ending where at best the survivors have a kid who is basically alone in the solar system. The space walk scene was super tense though.

The only thing that really bugged me was how much time Clooney spent outside in the arctic in a wind storm with his face exposed. I have spent some time in the arctic circle and unless it was the summer I don't see that happening.

[ribboninthesky1]

I watched it - definitely dystopian.  There was plenty to handwave, particularly a man with presumably late-stage cancer walking across the Arctic tundra in sub-freezing temps alone.  Oh, and surviving a fall through ice into frigid water.  I really rolled my eyes at the only surviving ship including his daughter.  I wondered how she was allowed on a mission while pregnant. 

Great production values, though.   

[Kel Varnsen]

1 hour ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

I watched it - definitely dystopian.  There was plenty to handwave, particularly a man with presumably late-stage cancer walking across the Arctic tundra in sub-freezing temps alone.  Oh, and surviving a fall through ice into frigid water.  I really rolled my eyes at the only surviving ship including his daughter.  I wondered how she was allowed on a mission while pregnant. 

Great production values, though.   

The stuff after the fall in the water I had to hand wave how in 2049 or whatever year it was arctic winter coats would be way better at warming people up. But the exposed faces really bugged me.

But yea the ending. Best case scenario the parents live normal but boring lives on the moon and then they die and thie child is all alone.

As for the pregnancy thing, it appeared to be a multi year mission and the commander was the father so she got pregnant on the space ship.

They really nailed what I would imagine the look of those stations would be. It looked like a futuristic version of places I have been.

The oh other minor issue I have is my wife and I have been rewatching ER over the last several months and the guy playing young Clooney didn't really look like young George Clooney.

 

Edited January 23, 2021 by Kel Varnsen

[topanga]

Great movie, but Jeez, we’re doomed. One thing I like about George Clooney is that his movies don’t always have a happy ending—at least not for him. 
 

One question: the evacuated people: where were they going?
 

And no one on the crew was a physician or other health care professional? I would have liked to see a scene of someone tying to save Maya rather than everyone standing around watching her die as her blood fill the air. There were no health emergency protocols?

[Kel Varnsen]

13 minutes ago, topanga said:

There were no health emergency protocols?

Well there protocols for doing a space walk and being secure were also pretty crappy with the way they jumped from one section to another. All it would take was a slight miss or bumping the ship the wrong way and you floating out into space.

But yea the no doctors thing is not good, especially for the future. All I could think of was best case scenario was that adult Iris and her partner become farmers on the moon they went to (which would be a hard life). Hopefully they don't get sick or injured (and she survives childbirth). They eventually die of natural causes and their (kid or kids)is left alone on Saturn's moon. Because it is not like you can build a society with just one family.

[Morrigan2575]

Watched it one thing that really confused me. Were the 2 left on the ship, the only 2.5 humans left? I think they were supposed to be an Adam/Eve allegory but, you can't save humanity with 1 couple. 

Some reviews mention the Adam/Even part. Some YouTube commentors say the other ships he tried to reach were already on the way to Mars but, Sully mentions she can't reach Earth or this other ship that was supposed to be on the way to Mars

Edited January 23, 2021 by Morrigan2575

[Kel Varnsen]

24 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Sully mentions she can't reach Earth or this other ship that was supposed to be on the way to Mars

I don't remember anything about a ship to Mars but I think there was a line about how they tried to communicate with a colony ship on its way to K-23 but couldn't get ahold of it. I took that to mean that the shop never took off because of the unnamed catastrophe.

[Morrigan2575]

1 hour ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I don't remember anything about a ship to Mars but I think there was a line about how they tried to communicate with a colony ship on its way to K-23 but couldn't get ahold of it. I took that to mean that the shop never took off because of the unnamed catastrophe.

Yeah, that's what I meant, forgot Clooney discovered a new planet.

I guess I just came away with those 2 being the only survivors which had me wondering why even bother

Edited January 23, 2021 by Morrigan2575

[Rickster]

21 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I don't remember anything about a ship to Mars but I think there was a line about how they tried to communicate with a colony ship on its way to K-23 but couldn't get ahold of it. I took that to mean that the shop never took off because of the unnamed catastrophe.

It was all very confusing. Since they couldn’t communicate with Earth, the K-23 colony ship must have been pre-planned (?) for them to know about it. If that didn’t take off, were there no other ships that took off on an emergency basis? Clooney mentioned people hiding underground, too.

Count me as another bothered by surviving falling into the icy water.

I only caught up with this movie last week, but really disliked it. A poor mash-up of Arctic survival movie and outer space peril movie with a healthy dose of dystopian future movie.

[Kel Varnsen]

8 hours ago, Rickster said:

It was all very confusing. Since they couldn’t communicate with Earth, the K-23 colony ship must have been pre-planned (?) for them to know about it. If that didn’t take off, were there no other ships that took off on an emergency basis? Clooney mentioned people hiding underground, too.

Yea there is a lot of annoying stuff like that and the more you think about the more you notice it. Like some how NASA made a point to evacuate the International Space Station but no one bothered to contact Sully's space ship to tell the crew about the disaster.

And there had to be some kind of communication set up since (at least in my head) they go to K-23 and check it out. Then they report back to earth that it is all good so the colony ship can leave. Since they were expecting to pass by that ship on the way home. Otherwise why would you send a colony if the first ship says the moon can't support life.

[methodwriter85]

Ethan Peck is so damn sexy.

[snickers]

I thought this movie was too depressing, I don’t see how humans can go on with only 2 people left. 
 

I consider the film so-so, the scenes with Jupiter in the sky was awesome, but there was not enough of them. 
 

I liked the twist though. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Golden Globe nomination!

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - Alexandre Desplat

[tres bien]

The only thing I liked about this movie was George Clooney. 

Given the utterly ridiculous story,  he was quite good.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics' Choice Award nominations!

Best Young Actor/Actress - Caoilinn Springall

Best Visual Effects

Best Score

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oscar nomination!

Best Visual Effects
“Love and Monsters”
“The Midnight Sky”
“Mulan”
“The One and Only Ivan”
“Tenet”