I regret that I still haven't gotten around to see Jeff Nichols' TAKE SHELTER. The reviews from its run on the festival circuit made it sound intriguing but it had zero local presence here and no promotion when it arrived on home release. I'd completely forgotten about it until MIDNIGHT SPECIAL came out. I guess Nichols had gained some clout since 2011 because this one surprised me on the shelf in my local department store. So yeah, I finally got to see what the indie hype surrounding Nichols was all about. Well deserved hype, too. I thought MIDNIGHT SPECIAL was great. It's a science fiction thriller starring Michael Shannon as Roy Tomlin. We're introduced to Roy in the start of the film as he's hiding out with his son in a shady motel room with the windows covered and his friend, Lucas (Joel Edgerton), helping keep watch. The way he keeps his son hidden from view of others and only travels at night you begin to suspect he's kidnapped the boy, and it's not far from the truth. He's stolen his son away from a religious cult that views him as some sort of holy figure due to strange episodes the boy suffers. This cult is the sort that stockpiles weapons and encourages a strong distrust of the outside world, so it can only be leading up to something dangerous. So Roy grabs his son and goes on the run with the government and members of the cult in pursuit.
We come to discover that Roy's son, Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), does in fact have some kind of supernatural powers. Roy was a former member of the cult who lost Alton when the boy's powers began to manifest when Pastor Calvin Meyer (Sam Shepard), the cult's leader, adopted the boy as his own for use as a tool in his pseudo-religious preaching. Alton has the strange ability to receive encoded satellite signals (among other things) and Roy has managed to decipher information, including coordinates and a date/time, from his son and they've made it their objective to bring him there at the proper time for whatever is meant to happen. The government has taken special interest because a lot of the coded transmissions Alton has intercepted are from NSA signals and information from those signals had found their way into Pastor Meyer's sermons. So it's all one big race against time as Roy and Lucas try to bring Alton to the coordinates before government agents can abduct him to one of their secure facilities or Meyer's goons can steal him away back to the compound for whatever it is he has planned for the child. Along the way, Roy reconnects with Alton's mother Sarah (Kirsten Dunst) and finds a potential ally in an NSA communications analyst (Adam Driver). It's a tense run from the heart of Texas to Florida capping with a breathtaking sequence as Alton's true origins and destiny are revealed. MIDNIGHT SPECIAL is suspenseful, often emotional, and full of mystery.
I can't help but feel a little bit of an Amblin vibe from this movie. Not in the sense that it's aimed at children or families because I doubt most kids would stomach the slower pacing (and there are a few moments that might be a little too shocking or violent for the especially young). I mean MIDNIGHT SPECIAL feels almost like an E.T. for adults. People on the run with an individual they don't fully understand with the government on their heels and it culminates in a grand finish as the characters accomplish what they set out to do. I really enjoyed the concept of Alton and his background, once the movie started dishing out the details. It was a sharp use of an underutilized sci-fi trope that doesn't seem to get much play. I'll always have a soft spot for creative, unique science fiction tales so MIDNIGHT SPECIAL was bound to hit all the right buttons for me. In addition, it stars Michael Shannon who, as far as I can tell, has been awesome in every role he's done. It serves as a reminder here that I really, really need to check out TAKE SHELTER. I should also compliment the use of CG in the film. This movie was done on an $18 million budget, a fraction of some other movies, and the CG is incredible. It's used somewhat sparingly and, when it's used, it's used to great effect. MIDNIGHT SPECIAL won't appeal to those who need lasers or space battles in their sci-fi, but those of us who appreciate something a little more toned down (action- wise) that relies on its themes and performances, this one shouldn't disappoint.
We come to discover that Roy's son, Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), does in fact have some kind of supernatural powers. Roy was a former member of the cult who lost Alton when the boy's powers began to manifest when Pastor Calvin Meyer (Sam Shepard), the cult's leader, adopted the boy as his own for use as a tool in his pseudo-religious preaching. Alton has the strange ability to receive encoded satellite signals (among other things) and Roy has managed to decipher information, including coordinates and a date/time, from his son and they've made it their objective to bring him there at the proper time for whatever is meant to happen. The government has taken special interest because a lot of the coded transmissions Alton has intercepted are from NSA signals and information from those signals had found their way into Pastor Meyer's sermons. So it's all one big race against time as Roy and Lucas try to bring Alton to the coordinates before government agents can abduct him to one of their secure facilities or Meyer's goons can steal him away back to the compound for whatever it is he has planned for the child. Along the way, Roy reconnects with Alton's mother Sarah (Kirsten Dunst) and finds a potential ally in an NSA communications analyst (Adam Driver). It's a tense run from the heart of Texas to Florida capping with a breathtaking sequence as Alton's true origins and destiny are revealed. MIDNIGHT SPECIAL is suspenseful, often emotional, and full of mystery.
I can't help but feel a little bit of an Amblin vibe from this movie. Not in the sense that it's aimed at children or families because I doubt most kids would stomach the slower pacing (and there are a few moments that might be a little too shocking or violent for the especially young). I mean MIDNIGHT SPECIAL feels almost like an E.T. for adults. People on the run with an individual they don't fully understand with the government on their heels and it culminates in a grand finish as the characters accomplish what they set out to do. I really enjoyed the concept of Alton and his background, once the movie started dishing out the details. It was a sharp use of an underutilized sci-fi trope that doesn't seem to get much play. I'll always have a soft spot for creative, unique science fiction tales so MIDNIGHT SPECIAL was bound to hit all the right buttons for me. In addition, it stars Michael Shannon who, as far as I can tell, has been awesome in every role he's done. It serves as a reminder here that I really, really need to check out TAKE SHELTER. I should also compliment the use of CG in the film. This movie was done on an $18 million budget, a fraction of some other movies, and the CG is incredible. It's used somewhat sparingly and, when it's used, it's used to great effect. MIDNIGHT SPECIAL won't appeal to those who need lasers or space battles in their sci-fi, but those of us who appreciate something a little more toned down (action- wise) that relies on its themes and performances, this one shouldn't disappoint.