The Midnight Sky on Netflix

[jvmacross]

2020 did not provide enough misery to get you depressed?....try this before 2020 is gone forever! 

Good movie, but wow, I generally want my movies to provide some level of escapism from the real world! 

 

 

 

[Kanedas Bike]

Very much agree. 

It very much felt like The Road, but probably more bleak once you factor everything in. Both good movies, but they are not "feel good" stories nor do they provide any escapism.

-b.

[jvmacross]

In the end, there cannot be a "happily ever after".....

Spoiler

....even if they possibly make it back to Jupiter's moon that was ID'd as a suitable colonization exo-world....what happens eventually?  It is just the couple who will soon have their kid...and then what will eventually happen 20-50 years down the road?  They will both die and leave their child to contemplate the extinction of the human race all by herself to the end of her days....seriously?  And that is assuming they all don't perish sooner or kill each other after succumbing to madness....what a depressing dark movie.....

I had initially thought that the 2 crew members that opted to return to Earth to face quick death were being selfish in not wanting to just go back to Jupiter and do what they can to keep mankind going...but then I just thought...what's the point?  ..

Really deep stuff that this film makes you ponder.....not that I needed any more f*cked up things to ponder as 2020 comes to a close... 

 

 

[technoblue]

I enjoyed the film, although I was more impressed with the character study that was given more so than the sci-fi aspects.

Spoiler

I thought Augustine's character was written well, and Georgy Clooney did a fantastic job showing the progression of this character's terminal illness. When we first see the girl, she was something of a surprise. I was actually tricked into thinking she was real—someone who was accidentally left behind (which would seem ridiculous for a highly regarded research base). The reality was much more depressing, though, and was confirmed later on. For me, the reveal was even more emotional and poignant. It also turned Augustine into a bit of an unreliable narrator. I wonder how much of what happens from his perspective can be taken at face value?

So, moving to the astronauts...everything that happens with them on their home journey could probably be contained to its own movie. I do have a few nitpicks from this part. For instance, maybe I missed it but what happened to the contingencies to keep lines of communication open with the crew or get that colony ship off Earth on schedule? Did the event really mess up everything to the point of stopping the normal flow of activity, especially that activity which could potentially save the human race? Did people just drop what they were doing and run to the underground shelters? That wasn't explained very well.

On the space ship, I felt that Maya's accident and death was a little excessive. I'm not sure it was really necessary given the whole of humanity was already on the brink. I also agree with @jvmacross about being confused when both of the "buddie" astronauts decided to leave the ship. Maybe the question isn't: What's the point but What would you do? When the credits began to roll, I felt this story was more a study of character in a not far off setting showing how levels of crisis can affect people in different ways. The show even addresses Augustine's own crisis of family. Is one way better than the other? I guess that's up to the viewer to decide.

 

[jvmacross]

25 minutes ago, technoblue said:

I enjoyed the film, although I was more impressed with the character study that was given more so than the sci-fi aspects.

  Hide contents

I thought Augustine's character was written well, and Georgy Clooney did a fantastic job showing the progression of this character's terminal illness. When we first see the girl, she was something of a surprise. I was actually tricked into thinking she was real—someone who was accidentally left behind (which would seem ridiculous for a highly regarded research base). The reality was much more depressing, though, and was confirmed later on. For me, the reveal was even more emotional and poignant. It also turned Augustine into a bit of an unreliable narrator. I wonder how much of what happens from his perspective can be taken at face value?

So, moving to the astronauts...everything that happens with them on their home journey could probably be contained to its own movie. I do have a few nitpicks from this part. For instance, maybe I missed it but what happened to the contingencies to keep lines of communication open with the crew or get that colony ship off Earth on schedule? Did the event really mess up everything to the point of stopping the normal flow of activity, especially that activity which could potentially save the human race? Did people just drop what they were doing and run to the underground shelters? That wasn't explained very well.

On the space ship, I felt that Maya's accident and death was a little excessive. I'm not sure it was really necessary given the whole of humanity was already on the brink. I also agree with @jvmacross about being confused when both of the "buddie" astronauts decided to leave the ship. Maybe the question isn't: What's the point but What would you do? When the credits began to roll, I felt this story was more a study of character in a not far off setting showing how levels of crisis can affect people in different ways. The show even addresses Augustine's own crisis of family. Is one way better than the other? I guess that's up to the viewer to decide.

 

Spoiler

regarding the medical officer "accident"....it was just to appease the flow of the story......the reentry ships could only conveniently hold 2 crew members...but weren't there 5 total?  Additionally, if the second "female" would have survived.....then maybe one of those 2 male crew members would have had less of a reason to leave....I kind of got that impression from the "Hispanic" crew member that he was most upset with her loss....at least there would have been to pairs to populate the colony world in that scenario....but instead....they just opted to "fill the second" seat on the re-entry vehicle....

Also....it is going to take more than a year to arrive, no?  assuming that they are now starting at the Earth they should be able to chart the path that will give them a chance to at least arrive to their destination with a lower chance of any incidents.....the other thing I noticed is that they seem to have some sort of greenhouse on the ship...perhaps they can grow their own food?  Sadly, I think the "sequel" would be even more bleak...in terms of the outcome...but who knows....everyone has to die someday....it's how you live your life in between that matters.....still, to me that seems more like a selfish "want" that the unborn child's parents would desire....in the end they would not be the ones that truly die alone...and that is sort of what really bothered me the most....not the consequence...but being forced to make such a decision.....it's like the movie ignores this just to come full circle on the main character's life journey

 

Edited December 30, 2020 by jvmacross

[sqidd]

I refuse to watch anything with that insufferable twerp Clooney.

[Knight26]

It is an interesting movie for sure, and works as two separate storylines that eventually combine nicely.

The science in it isn't terrible but it hinges on a pretty weak premise, the discovery of a habitable moon of Jupiter.  That is a pretty unlikely scenario given how much we study our solar systems largest gas giant.  Then there is the "Event" which is never properly explained in even the most minimal detail.  When we get to see the devastated Earth, we are seeing something that is of doomsday asteroid level of destruction, but dialogue makes it sound like some "Accidental" nuclear exchange.  Also, as stated above, if the colony ship was to leave a week earlier, and the vent happened 3 weeks earlier, then the crew would already be in orbit aboard whatever space station was acting as the staging post.  The event would not have deterred their launch.  THe communications blackout is a pretty weak plot device to keep the crew out of the loop as there would be multiple backups in place to let the crew know what had happened, and the ship would have had multiple comm devices aboard.

Still, as a character study it was worth the watch.

[Thom]

Was interested...

Spoiler

...until I read that it was pretty much just a slow death march for the whole race... At the end of 2020 I want some goddamn uplifting movies!

 

[snakerbot]

Watched this last week with my parents. I thought the story was... ok. I had several huge issues with the science and the way some of the characters were presented that I just couldn't get over, though.

Spoiler

The idea of there being an undiscovered, large-enough-to-support life moon of Jupiter is preposterous. I would have seen that thing with my dinky 30 year old hobby level telescope when I looked at the conjunction last week.

While I'm on that topic, it's a damn moon! Stop calling it a planet, everyone in the film!

I forget the name of their ship, but it would be destroyed a dozen times over from those meteor impacts. Windows on the ISS have been chipped by flecks of paint. Rocks that size would go clean through it without even noticing.

What the hell was that orbit track they showed on the monitor during the trip? And how did they get off track in the first place? They should have just been coasting.

I don't know who selected and trained these astronauts, but they did a bad job. NASA won't put you on one of their vehicles if they don't have absolute confidence in you. Maya wouldn't have gotten nervous and vomited before her spacewalk, the team staying behind wouldn't have distracted the spacewalkers with music, and no one would have panicked when things started to go wrong. NASA astronauts are consummate professionals, and they are unflappable. Listen to the Apollo 13 audio for an idea of how astronauts sound when there's a problem.

...Space nerd rant over.

[Knight26]

58 minutes ago, snakerbot said:

Watched this last week with my parents. I thought the story was... ok. I had several huge issues with the science and the way some of the characters were presented that I just couldn't get over, though.

  Hide contents

The idea of there being an undiscovered, large-enough-to-support life moon of Jupiter is preposterous. I would have seen that thing with my dinky 30 year old hobby level telescope when I looked at the conjunction last week.

While I'm on that topic, it's a damn moon! Stop calling it a planet, everyone in the film!

I forget the name of their ship, but it would be destroyed a dozen times over from those meteor impacts. Windows on the ISS have been chipped by flecks of paint. Rocks that size would go clean through it without even noticing.

What the hell was that orbit track they showed on the monitor during the trip? And how did they get off track in the first place? They should have just been coasting.

I don't know who selected and trained these astronauts, but they did a bad job. NASA won't put you on one of their vehicles if they don't have absolute confidence in you. Maya wouldn't have gotten nervous and vomited before her spacewalk, the team staying behind wouldn't have distracted the spacewalkers with music, and no one would have panicked when things started to go wrong. NASA astronauts are consummate professionals, and they are unflappable. Listen to the Apollo 13 audio for an idea of how astronauts sound when there's a problem.

...Space nerd rant over.

I agree so much, I forgot about some of your points, also was distracted during some of that by my son.

 

[peter]

Just watched this last night.  So, it was a kick in the balls, and I thought it was over, but the kicks continued and got more intense.

No uplift at all, just all downhill, and after 2020, you may want to eat a gun after watching this film, lol!

[kalvasflam]

Darkness...  No Parents...  just saying they may as well have used the Batman song from the first LEGO movie for this one.  Would have been just as fitting.

[twich]

so, it may not be the focus or the point, but what was this great cataclysm that befell the planet earth that made the air poison and killed most of the populace?  Also, did those researchers/scientists make it to whatever destination they were heading towards that was safer than freaking the artic?  I know we saw the one plane crash, but were there more?  This movie left more unanswered questions then answers.  Just some points, those clear hexagonal parts that were part of the spaceship, they sure were tough to survive impacts from asteroids/space debris.  Other than that, did they really serve any purpose?......Like I said, more questions than answers.

Twich

[jvmacross]

6 hours ago, twich said:

Also, did those researchers/scientists make it to whatever destination they were heading towards that was safer than freaking the artic?  I know we saw the one plane crash, but were there more? 

I believe it was mentioned that they were all heading to some underground bunkers.....not sure if they made it, but I think it is implied that they did not as their was no answer when he was trying to reach them about the "kid" that was left behind.....

Guessing there were many plane crashes, but not depicted onscreen....

The movie did not care about any other details except those that carried the plot forward or made things even more depressing....

[technoblue]

That about sums it up. It was a couple throw away lines of dialogue. I recall Augustine letting it slip that "we screwed up" in his first communication with the astronauts. Later on he mentioned that the underground bunkers are temporary havens and would eventually fail or some such. Unfortunately, that's all we get. There's no explanation about what that screw up was, whether it was completely man-made in origin (although that seems to be implied), or how the screw up caused other plans to save humanity to stop in their tracks. This includes the research station's own work at the beginning of the movie. One would think more than one research scientist would stay until the bitter end.

I do think that the stuff we see from Augustine's perspective seems to have an intentional duality to it, especially since he is burdened with regret for most of the movie. And then there's the recurring themes of family—that whole struggle which is core to his character's psychology.

There is the novel, of course. Netflix likes using novels, comics, and such to source new fiction, but I'm not sure if I want to read it. I thought it was worth mentioning though since I hear a few of the characters in the novel are written differently, like Felicity Jones' character (as one example).

[peter]

Nuclear war? 

I don't know if that's what earth would look like from space if that's what it was, but I would imagine it would be just as terrifying.

 

[Knight26]

Apparently the book offers even less clues about what happened to the Earth.  Most of the reviews are glowing except for those looking for an actual Science Fiction novel as those reviews indicated that the science was virtually non-existent and was was there had the same, or worse, holes then the movie.