Brief Story Line
Set in the year 2049, the earth was exposed to radiation which would make it inhabitable. Dr. Augustine Lofthouse (George Clooney - Money Monster, Syriana etc) was one of the scientist working in the Arctic who refused to be evacuated due to his poor health condition. As he was looking at space missions, he noticed one was still active called Aether that was heading back to earth and tried to warn them not to return.
Meanwhile aboard Aether, the crew that consisted of the captain Adewole (David Oyelowo - Selma, The Butler etc), his partner Sully (Felicity Jones - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, A Monster Calls etc), Sanchez (Demián Bichir - Alien: Covenant, The Nun etc), Mitchell (Kyle Chandler - First Man, Bloodline TV series etc) and the youngest Maya (Tiffany Boone - Hunters TV series etc) were not aware of the earth situation. They were still on course to return to earth from their mission to research on possible planet to live in.
As the signal could not reach Aether, Augustine had to find another station that could broadcast his message which was located quite far from his place with danger of radiation. So what would happen to Augustine & Aether's crews. Find them all in this sci-fi drama movie.
End of Brief Story Line
This movie started out quite slow with a bit of depressing tone especially in the early part where it was mostly having only George Clooney. But when other cast were introduced, the story seemed to be livelier. Especially when the newcomer Caoilinn Springall appeared as a mysterious shy young girl. To be honest, I thought her dynamic with the other cast was one of the highlight of this movie.
However, the slow pace was still felt almost half way through and it made me felt this movie was more like drama than science fiction. Good thing though the pace picked up faster in the second half which gave me more excitement. The challenges Augustine had to face in order for him to warn Aether was great to see while the Aether's problem in space was also quite suspenseful.
Now what amazed me in this film was definitely the special effects. It was truly surprising to see such wonderful effects as I thought it would be just the standard effects that you would see on a TV movie. No wonder it has a $100 million budget (according to the internet) which would explain where the money went. It was no less than visually stunning. In addition to the beautiful effects, I also think the musical score was wonderful. It was done brilliantly with uplifting or emotional music that was strongly felt at the perfect times, enhancing the sense I felt during the movie.
From the opening credit, I noticed the film was based on a novel titled Good Morning, Midnight written by Lily Brooks-Dalton. The closing credits has got no mid or post end-credit scenes, although there was an interesting part at the very end. The duration of the movie was 118 minutes which for some probably would feel too long. But as a sci-fi drama movie, I was still able to enjoy this because the slow pace was not in the entire movie and definitely not as boring as another sci-fi drama movie starring a really famous actor that was released in 2019. Which is why I was surprised by the low rating and less than warm reception by the critics (comparing with other sci-fi movie). One more thing before I forgot, there was a major twist (or revelation) towards the end which was a total surprise for me.
Overall for me personally, this is a more than decent sci-fi drama movie. Yes it might not be full of suspense but the wonderful visual effects were well worth it. The drama and emotions were strong, helped by the awesome musical score. The performance of George Clooney was also a treat (amazing considering he also directed this movie). I also loved the ending which to me felt beautiful and peaceful at the same time, but yes if the pace was a bit faster in the early part, I would have loved it better. So if you are fans of sci-fi movie heavy on drama with some of the attributes I mentioned earlier, then you could give this a try and judge for yourselves.
Mike's movie moments rating 3.5 out of 5 stars
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