Review of Midnight Special (2016) by Bob K — 08 Apr 2016

It's not always the best movies which warrant the longest reviews, but the most ambitious. Jeff Nichols is an ambitious filmmaker, between this movie, and Take Shelter. Here, we enter into a crisis situation that is well advanced, so there is no explanation of what is going on, only hints and bites that finally lead to the big reveal. There is an exceptional child at the center of everybody's attention, and different groups want their hands on him for their own agendas, without really understanding what he is. By the end, we mostly understand, although how he came to be among us is never answered.

That's the what, but more importantly is the how. Our modern entertainment is saturated with post-modern irony, and this film is completely free from it. Indeed, it's completely free from humor at all, with the exception of one lame joke about returning to Texas from Joel Edgerton, who maintains a kind of religious zeal throughout the film. This type of sincere and sometimes painfully earnest presentation is jarring to a modern audience (or it would be if there was an audience. I went to an opening night screening, and there were two others in the theater). Midnight Special is almost overburdened with meaningful deep long looks between the adults, who are trying to communicate to us that this is terribly serious business, and no place for humor.

This kind of build-up demands a real pay-off, and the film delivers, partly. It shows us another world that's a cross between Tomorrowland and Abu Dhabi. Something really big happens, we are to be assured. Just don't ask for specifics.