Review of Midnight Special (2016) by Eddie M — 04 Jul 2016

NO SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW:

Wow. That was amazing. Jeff Nicholas is a bad baddd man for this one. Midnight Special is incredibly original, masterfully written, genuine, charming, and every other positive adjective you can imagine. This film keeps you guessing throughout its entirety and leaves you with the perfect amount of ambiguity at the end. Meaning, you aren't left scratching your head, but there are definitely some themes/ideas left for the audience to interpret/decide. Michael Shannon absolutely kills it, as per usual. Kirsten Dunst was very solid in her supporting role. And the child actor (forgetting his name at the moment) did a nice job - I'd like to see him in more roles in the future.

The cinematography was beautiful - the lighting was perfect for the emotion of each scene and really aided in building tension and keeping the audience enthralled. I actually really enjoyed the set design, too. It was very subtle and minimal, which lead to a very authentic feel.

Can't say enough good things about this film. This is the best film I've seen in a while, and despite the fact that I have yet to see Refn's latest apparent masterpiece (seeing it on Monday), I can't see Midnight Special being beat this year, in my opinion. I know it's early, but I will be rooting for some serious award wins this season. I'd be surprised if it walks away empty handed.

I don't know how well this did in the box office, but if it did poorly I don't want to hear the "there are no more original films being released from studios" argument. This was it. This is why we have Pirates of the Caribbean 100, we ignore the gems like this.

This was an amazing, unique, and utterly original idea that was flawless in execution.

If there is one thing I think people might knock this film for, it's the ending. I can see some people being unhappy with where the ending went in terms of the story line - I loved it, but I can see some people not buying into it. It's a twist of sorts. Again, I loved the ending. But haters will always find a way lol.

ET Score : A10.

This is the first A10 I've given since fully buying into the ET rating system. If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend it.