Midnight Special (2016)

Being a film review guy, people often ask me what my favourite film of all time is, and it's a difficult question to answer. I have a 'head' film list and a 'heart' film list, and depending on my mood the lists can shift. However, always near the top of the 'heart' list without fail is Spielberg's 1977 original cut of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" - a film that just blew me away at the cinema on first release. Here in "Midnight Special" we have the nearest thing I've seen to a loving tribute to that classic.

Our hero Roy (obviously!) played by Michael Shannon (Zod from the recent "Superman" reboots), and with help from childhood friend Lucas (Joel Edgerton), kidnap a strange light-sensitive child with strange powers from the Texan HQ of a doomsday-focused religious cult led by Calvin Meyer (Sam Shepard). The child - Alden - is played really well by 9 year-old Jaeden Lieberher.

Triggering a state and then nationwide manhunt, the trio meet friend and foe on their journey into an uncertain future.

While most strikingly resembling "Close Encounters", the film drops in - either knowingly or unintentionally - parallels to a host of other Sci- Fi films including "Cocoon", "ET", "Tomorrowland" and "Village of the Damned". You might conclude from this comment that this is just a Sci- Fi by numbers quilt: but - while there are probably few truly original Sci-Fi stories left to define - the writer/director Jeff Nichols does succeed in ploughing his own narrative furrow in this well worked field by throwing in a road-movie smattering of "The Sugarland Express" or "Thelma and Louise" into the pot.

What's refreshing in a Sci-fi movie (as was the case in the recent "10 Cloverfield Lane") is that Nichol's screnplay is intelligent enough to treat the audience with an IQ north of 100 by letting the story reveal itself. Some elements of the story (no spoilers) treat you as absurd: and then 30 minutes later there is an "Ah!" moment.

The key Performances by Jackson and Kirsten Dunst are good and very touching in places. Playing the "where have I seen him before" card is Sevier, the lead scientist (why didn't he have jangling keys on his belt though?). If you give up, the answer is that he's played by Adam Driver, Kylo Ren from "Star Wars". For me though Joel Egerton particularly stands out. I've been critical of some of his performances in the past, but here he really nails it with a quiet and unassuming supporting role.

David Wingo's score worked well in places, but - sorry Mr Wingo - I was hankering at some points for swelling John Williams strings!

I could also be mildly critical of the cinematography by Adam Stone. Although very atmospheric, it takes the "Midnight" from the title rather literally in places: something that I can see causing difficulties for TV viewers in working out what the hell is going on in places.

This is a slower paced film than many might like, but for me it perfectly balances character with mystery and action. As such it grabs at least a draft slot in my films of the year.

By the way, following on from my previous review, Midnight Special has a BvS-quotient of 7.2% .... that's the percentage of this movie's budget to the budget of Batman vs Superman!

Fmovies: First and foremost, Jeff Nichols is quickly becoming one of my favourite directors working today, and I honestly believe that his movies have increasingly become better.

Midnight Special starts off in the middle of the plot, and does not rely on exposition. This movie treats its audience with respect and allows them to piece together the reasons and events throughout the progression of the film. It gives just enough detail in order to understand but not too little to have no idea what is going on. We are put in the same position as the characters in this movie - where we know just as much as they do about the origin and extent of the child's powers. Although the ending is a twist that many probably do not understand, it feels deserved and does not feel out of place in the context of the movie; however, the characters probably think it is out of place, but that is because they do not have the outsider perspective that the audience does. In terms of the characters, Michael Shannon's character does feel like a father who would genuinely do this for his son (especially because he may feel as though he is making up for lost time) and the other characters are very enjoyable and feel necessary to the movie. The atmosphere and feel of the movie is amazing, and even though the plot itself sounds absurd - a father and son are on the run from religious extremists because the son possesses special powers - but it is much more than that and feels believable in its execution.

Midnight Special is a modern day science fiction film with a very old school feel running through its veins. Jeff Nichols has made it no secret that classic sci-fi films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind are inspirations for his film however, I find the fact that his relationship with his own son was used as an inspiration too, much more intriguing.

Alton (Jaeden Lieberher) is an eight-year-old boy who possesses otherworldly powers. When his father, Roy (Michael Shannon), takes his son and flees from a religious cult, they must travel across the country to an undisclosed location on a specific date, during which a celestial and possibly world-changing event may occur.

Mystery is a strong point for Midnight Special, the entire mystery surrounding Alton's powers, what will happen on that specific date and the reason a religious cult want him back, all playing a part in making the story such a captivating one. Then comes the film's climactic moment. We get answers, but they end up ruining some of the mystery that made what came before so good. Less is more definitely sprung to mind as it all unfolded.

The story, written by Jeff Nichols, is a very good one and at the heart of that story is a rather beautiful relationship between a father and son. It adds another layer to the film rather than it just being a standard story about people on the run, and as mentioned earlier, it really feels like a personal film from Nichols. Not saying that his son has special powers though, so don't think that.

In a rather short directorial career, Nichols has made quite a name for himself and Midnight Special should further his reputation. It's a very well made film but if there was one thing that stopped it from being great, it was the pacing. Unfortunately, this film dragged itself out through a few scenes and it really bugged me.

I cannot fault the film for its performances mind. Michael Shannon possesses such a magnetic screen presence, you just can't take your eyes off him and Joel Edgerton certainly makes his presence felt, even if his role remains a little unexplained. Kirsten Dunst and Adam Driver offer good support and Jaeden Lieberher is rather good as Alton.

It may be that, in time, I appreciate Midnight Special more however, my initial experience warrants me to say that it's not the special film I was hoping for.

Midnight Special fmovies. With Midnight Special, Jeff Nichols enters the pantheon of those nostalgic American filmmakers armed with their lens flares, Pandora's boxes and deeply sentimental reasons, driven by a protective father figure and a maternal relationship to the plot itself.

Lately, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar walked on the same path, and in many ways Midnight Special strangely looks like Interstellar. There's always the same contrast between gigantic and local stakes/issues that can already be found in Spielberg's filmography : on one side, humanity's fate is at stake, supervised by an omnipotent government, and on the other side it is (and perhaps only) a "family affair".

David Wingo's soundtrack is electrifying, the script is intelligent enough for not telling us the whole plot and characters' background in a few lines of dialogue, and despite a half-hearted performance by Michael Shannon, who still shines in its restraint, and some facilities in scriptwriting approaching the end of the film, Midnight Special is so perfectly controlled that it would be difficult to get out of the theater unscathed.

I didn't expect much from this movie, given it's odd title, but what a pleasant surprise. Well written, excellent acting performances all round. I couldn't fault the movie, it's well worth seeing and I hope it gets the plaudits it richly deserves. Jaeden Lieberher is going to be a star, judging by his excellent performance as Alton. I think the message is definitely about the power of parental love and the lengths we go to in order to protect our children, even in the face of insurmountable odds. This is a genre that not everyone likes, including myself, but I loved it. It definitely has a retro feel about it, whilst having an original twist. There are strong acting performances from the rest of the cast and I thoroughly recommend it.

This film really came out of nowhere for me, as a comment by a stranger I overheard in a bar drew me to this, and thank you nameless stranger with impeccable taste! This is one of those sci-fi flicks that comes along every once in a while that actually has something to say without overuse of CGI and genre tropes.

I knew almost nothing about Midnight Special going in other than said comment, and I highly recommend you try to do the same. Therefore I will be as brief as possible to avoid spoilers.

Roy (Michael Shannon) is on the run with his 8 year old son Alden (Jaeden Lieberher) from a religious cult that worships the boy as some sort of messiah. Also in pursuit are the FBI and NSA, who are investigating several strange phenomena connected with the child. Roy enlists childhood friend Lucas (Joel Edgerton) to help them get to a specific location on a specific date, the reasons for which are unclear but may involve some sort of otherworldly or cataclysmic event.

The comparisons with Starman (1984) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) are apt, but this is very definitely a different movie altogether.

The actors are uniformly excellent, especially Michael Shannon, who gives another intense and believable performance as a man who would do anything for his son.

A bit has been made out of how the movie ends, but personally I found it a powerful emotional pay-off that I could feel in my chest, possibly due to the nostalgic feeling this film evokes.

In conclusion, go see it. A thought provoking sci-fi drama with a story to tell. A good one at that.