The Midnight Sky Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

3. There Are Major Tonal Issues

The Midnight Sky George Clooney
Netflix

One gets the impression that Clooney didn't quite know how to seamlessly blend the source material's various elements into a coherent whole, because The Midnight Sky is a bit of a tonal mess.

At first it feels like Clooney is crafting a sci-fi version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road - a bleak survival tale as an ailing man tries to protect a young child.

Though levity is certainly welcome during the dramatic downtime, an early scene where Lofthouse and Iris flick peas at one another during dinner feels a little too cutesy for its own good, like it belongs in another film altogether.

Then there's the spaceship plot, which fleets between being a breezy Lost in Space-style adventure jaunt and a periodically horrifying survival thriller when accidents happen and the crew's numbers inevitably begin to dwindle.

It'd be a challenge for any filmmaker to reconcile these jostling moods, and despite Clooney's ambitious effort, Mark L. Smith's script feels largely to blame for not bridging them sufficiently.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.