Directed by George Clooney. Starring George Clooney, Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Demian Bechir, Kyle Chandler, Tiffany Boone and Caiolinn Springall. Streaming on Netflix. Running time:118 mins. Star Rating **

George Clooney would appear to have taken the slapping down of his dismissive, “there's not going to be a President Donald Trump," prediction to heart. Other than drowning his sorrows in Nespresso adverts, his only screen credit during the Trump administration was a TV adaptation of Catch 22.

Trump's gone and George's back: in an Arctic observatory with a beard, a terminal disease, the world ending and only a stray mute child for company.

His mission is to warn a returning spaceship to stay away. Its crew are so perky you want him to succeed just to wipe the smiles off their faces. Clooney speaks in a low growl throughout which doesn't seem an appropriate way to engage with a young girl or break the news of humanity's demise over an unstable radio connection to people hundreds of thousands of miles away.

Hackney Gazette: THE MIDNIGHT SKY (2020) George Clooney as Dr Augustine Lofthouse.THE MIDNIGHT SKY (2020) George Clooney as Dr Augustine Lofthouse. (Image: © 2020 NETFLIX, INC.)

The misery of the situation seems to have knocked all the energy out of the production. The special effects are competently done but perfunctory. It's a glum plod that makes you question your will to live – which is perhaps the most helpful thing an end-of-the-world story can do.