Midnight Special

It is not often that a film comes along and leaves me utterly unable to describe it. Midnight Special is one of these films. I highly recommend this film if you are tired of the standard Hollywood movie featuring comic book heroes, sequels or reboots.

What I really like about the film, outside of its originality is that it does not treat the audience as stupid. There’s no narrator telling the audience what is going on or why something is happening. We start the film in motion and writer/director Jeff Nichol’s slowly unravels the story and lets the viewer figure things out. Even the ending of the film leaves a lot to the audience’s imagination.

To try to explain the story of the film is to ruin the experience of the film. If you have not seen any trailers for the film, don’t do it. The film is a story about a father and a son, that’s all you need to know. It falls into many categories including sci-fi, road trip, religious prophecy and government chase. It has a retro-80s film feel.

Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst and Adam Driver are all great in the film. Sam Shepard makes an appearance in the film and is good. The real star of the film is Jaeden Lieberher as Alton, the young boy that is the focus of the movie.

The movie moves along at a slower pace, but the payoff at the end was completely worth it. I was in awe at what they had designed. Usually, I would write a spoilers section, but I will skip it this time around, no accidental spoilers for Midnight Special.