The Midnight Sky Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

Downs...

5. The Frustrating Narrative Structure

If you were sold on this movie largely on the premise of a bearded George Clooney eking out a dreary existence at an Arctic research base, you'll probably be disappointed to learn that this is only one part of the film.

Though the first act largely focuses on Clooney's Lofthouse as he discovers a young girl, Iris (Caoilinn Springall), stowed away on the base with him, soon thereafter his role is de-emphasised as a wider focus is trained on the spaceship heading back to Earth.

And so, the second half of the movie involves numerous lengthy sections where Clooney is entirely absent, which is problematic due to how comparatively uninteresting the B-plot with the spaceship's crew actually is.

Throw in some stilted flashbacks to Lofthouse's past - in which Gregory Peck's grandson Ethan plays an uncannily spot-on younger Lofthouse - and you've got a structural mess that ultimately pushes its most interesting elements to the periphery far too often.