Stunning visual effects and George Clooney's rugged good looks couldn't save this film's lack of emotional impact.

Post apocalyptic Sci Fi is a recipe near and dear to my heart. So I went into this movie with high hopes that this film, written and directed by George Clooney, would be a homerun. After all it's not to often "A" list actors give this genre a lot of love.

Set in 2049 the Earth has suffered an unexplored world ending event that left the Earth riddled with radiation. As the inhabitants of an Artic base are evacuated scientist Augustine Lofthouse (Clooney) stays behind due to his unexplained illness to make contact and warn the returning space crew of the Aether who are on their way back searching a moon of Jupiter to discover if it would be habitable for humans.

One of the things this movie does right is in what it omits. It doesn't get into what caused this catastrophe or what exactly is slowing killing our good scientist. Instead it wants you to have an emotional connection to it's characters on two fronts, Lofthouse and his little friend and the crew of the Aether. Both of which will have their own issues to overcome.

The set pieces for this movie look almost too good for a Netflix movie and much more appropriate for a big screen viewing. The artic scenes are fun visually and the space scenes look the part. Both display a feeling of loneliness, isolation, and even a bit of helplessness to the formula. The sound selection and attention to detail really put the nail in the coffin in driving this home.

Unfortunately it's just not enough. The movie hedges it's bet on what you will feel for these characters. The crew of the Aether are about as cookie cutter as you get and not nearly as interesting as the storyline between Lofthouse and his partner. Despite a few attempts nothing about their journey invokes enough emotional investment that you fear the outcome of the crew. Felicity Jones of Rogue One fame plays Dr. Iris Sullivan and turns in a uninspired performance which didn't help the cause.

On the ground I found Clooney's journey much more interesting. And he does a fantastic job playing the part of a dying scientist desperate to complete his mission. It's refreshing to see Clooney go outside his box and trying on something new. But the problem is in the writing. It's just way to obvious how this will shake out. I mean it took all but 5 minutes for me to know the hook and that took the steam out of it. It does a poor job hiding it's hand for the finale and knowing that ahead of time it really takes the stakes out of the journey to get there. Which is a shame because the relationship between Clooney and his young, but very often silent buddy, was a bond I felt I could really get my heartstrings behind.

This movie is about character development but they forgot to develop the character into anything interesting enough to invest me. If you like Sci Fi set pieces and slowly paced, not a bad thing, plots then maybe give it a shot but for me I have to turn in a Bust.