A downer of a movie, for no purpose than to kill time.
I don't really understand why anyone would green light this movie. There is not much point to it, not much plot, not well defined characters.
Because of some cataclysmic apocalypse over the entire Earth scientist up at the arctic circle evacuate their base to spend their last days with their families, while leaving Clooney who has no family, and a little mute girl who was accidentally left behind and is about as much comic relief as this movie has. Meanwhile up in space is a ship returning from investigating a newly found moon of Jupiter, which is laughable in itself, and is wondering why they cannot raise anyone on Earth.
Oh, and Clooney is suffering from cancer and undergoing chemotherapy which he now has to administer to himself. They can't raise Aether, the spaceship, so Clooney and the mute girl leave across treacherous polar bear laden terrain to another base with a more powerful antenna.
It really is slow-moving and uneventful, boring. Clooney sits around being glum, and the astronauts on the spaceship argue with each other. Finally at the end there is a twist that is supposed to make the whole movie worthwhile and break your heart. I confess, the movie does hit a certain somber emotional tone, but most of it makes so little sense it feels like it undercut the point of the movie.
Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 54% positive rating, so a 3/5 would not be unreasonable.