The Midnight Sky Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

4. The Thin Characterisation

Lofthouse is by far the film's most developed character, while the rest of the cast sadly aren't blessed with nearly the same dramatic attention.

This is especially true of the space mission's peripheral crew members, particularly Sanchez (Demián Bichir) and Maya (Tiffany Boone), who spend most of the movie as flat ciphers until Clooney finally decides to devote a delineated scene of character development to each.

Crewmate Mitchell (Kyle Chandler) similarly feels short-handed by the script, which relies excessively on melodramatic tropes to make the audience sympathise with the ship's inhabitants.

Yet their various sob stories do little to make them feel like fleshed-out human beings worth remembering, and even the dynamic between Jones and Oyelowo's married, expecting couple is basically ripped from a subplot assembly line.

This only furthers the feeling that Lofthouse was plenty of character for one movie, and by trying to divide its time between so many figures, the script spread itself too thin.