Kate Morro

The premise is dark and depressing in the middle of a global pandemic as the earth is not only destroyed, but the protagonist Clooney is a dying astronomer who’s the left alone in the Arctic Circle. A spooky little girl appears to force him to put in one last effort at life. Meanwhile a mission to a planet that he discovered is hurtling back to Earth, unaware that some undefined radiation accident has rendered the planet uninhabitable. If the science in the sciFi had been the least little bit accurate and believable, this movie could have worked. BUT there are so many pieces that stretch credulity, it just annoys you. The five crew members in the spacecraft don’t act like scientists and are much too languid and casual about things like returning post haste from an unsuccessful space walk or being clear and succinct when they finally make voice contact with someone on Earth. Also, how does Clooney survive a spill into the Arctic Ocean without ever drying all his clothes, then walk miles in the harshest darkest bleakest environment with wet clothes, get lost in a blizzard and suddenly end up at their destination? Why does the ice suddenly crack? We have to work too hard to suspend disbelief. Overall, the spectacle of space and the harshness of the environment are well conceived and the production design is quite impressive. The last 10 minutes pulls it together somewhat and brings the mystery of the little girl into clearer focus. But something is missing from the character development and the back story we have of Clooney and the Felicia Jones character. The script is unfocused, vague and jumpy. We needed more than the name to connect them and believe there is an emotional bond. The characters are all doomed and we learn we are all alone, some of us sacrifice for love but in the end it’s all sort of pointless because everyone’s going to die anyway.