Review of Midnight Special (2016) by Thomas L — 11 Apr 2016

Midnight Special owes a lot to John Carpenter's Starman, a film with equal amounts of heart and stirring imagination. An eight year old boy and his father run from the government and the church, make the connections where you will.

The key is in the subtleties, the quiet moments spent with the characters, rather than in bombastic action sequences and bloated CGI usage. Michael Shannon is fantastic here, he's an actor who conveys so much with a single look, his internal turmoil brewing just beneath the surface.

Also excellent are the supporting actors, the likes of Joel Edgerton, Adam Driver, and Kirsten Dunst. Director Jeff Nichols (Mud and Take Shelter) tackles some big ideas in a pretty understated way. The notion that another dimension exists over the top of our own isn't altogether new, but Midnight Special's otherworldly (or perhaps supernatural) beings are not the spindly bodies with the bulbous heads that we are used to seeing, they are decidedly more complex.

There are some events that seem to happen for the convenience of the plot, but they are not detrimental to the integrity of the story. Much like Take Shelter, this film offers a final twist that isn't easy to pin down.

It will linger in your thoughts for some time.