The Midnight Sky review: George Clooney’s space drama is beautiful but generic

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Get our The Life Cinematic email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Now, the weight falls on George Clooney, who directs and stars in Netflix’s The Midnight Sky – his first film since 2017’s lacklustre satire Suburbicon, and his first onscreen appearance since 2016’s Money Monster. So does the little girl who Clooney’s Augustine Lofthouse finds hiding out in the Arctic Circle’s Barbeau Observatory, sleeping in storage lockers and stealing scraps from the canteen. Mark L Smith’s script, which adapts Lily Brooks-Dalton’s 2016 novel Good Morning, Midnight, unnecessarily disrupts the quiet with a series of flashbacks, where Augustine is played by Ethan Peck. A woman stands behind him and, with saintly tears, declares: “Your own life is just slipping away.” He never turns around or tears his eyes away from his work – it’s a maudlin parody of the neglectful, career-obsessed boyfriend.