Movie Review: Midnight Special
Anticipation for Midnight Special was high heading into the film’s release. Perhaps, even a little too high. So much had been said about director Jeff Nichols and haunting muse Michael Shannon that the Internet had many thinking it would rocket off into another dimension of quality. That it would be this generation’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. (1982), and Starman (1984) wrapped up with a nice little indie bow on top. Midnight Special is not that at all – or rather, no film deserves to be lauded with such a level of pre-screen expectation. But 
it’s important to get this stigma out of the way, for Nichols and Shannon have still managed to craft a project that’s both entertaining and impressively assured.
Opening on the undeterminable decor of a hotel room, viewers are thrust into a situation they know little about with lots to learn. Roy (Shannon), stone-faced and sullen beyond anyone’s years, convenes with Lucas (Joel Edgerton), a strapping accomplice with more in the way of confusion than confidence. Both prepare as if set to reenact the finale of Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid (1969), until an upright bed sheet breaks the tension. Buried beneath blue goggles and red headphones, the adorable tike (Jaeden Lieberher) underneath manages to snag a smile from the big guy, before it’s off on what turns out to be a nationally covered kidnapping.
Information is scarce for much of Midnight Special’s first half, but Nichols quickly proves himself masterful in the method of nuance. Interactions between his three characters pulse with uneasy affection, a trait furthered by the assumption little Alton is Roy’s biological son. But amidst supernatural happenings and the cardinal rule of concealing him from sunlight, neither Roy nor Lucas offer much outside of achieving their mission – even when a satellite comes crashing down at a gas station stop gone wrong. Protected by the thousand-watt command of his actors, who absolutely shine in these dark opening scenes, Nichols gets to slow cook his narrative and reveal plot points as he sees fit – in the process, building a father-son relationship beneath the bed sheet of a sci-fi chase.
This bait-and-switch attitude is nothing new for the Arkansas native, as acclaimed Indies Take Shelter (2011) and Mud (2013) have already attested to. Both films deal in Midwestern locales, family ties, and, in the case of the former, a supernatural twist that flips dramatic cliché on its head. Thankfully, the only differing between Special and its predecessors lies in scale, as Alton’s extra-terrestrial awakening provides Nichols with his most ambitious project to date. The inclusion of a surly cult leader (Sam Shepard), an NSA desk jockey (Adam Driver), and Alton’s estranged mother (Kirsten Dunst) only add to this emotive intensity; with each performer proving deceptively crucial to the plot.
Thing is, no matter how tightly wound a chase movie can be, the tension often unspools once the destination has been reached. And though valiant in his attempt to maintain vigor, Nichols slips up heading into the home stretch. Driver’s twitchy analyst keeps things bubbly opposite the enlightened (no pun intended) Alton, but the fabulous trio of Shannon, Dunst, and Edgerton are left to twiddle their thumbs until the final push. Thankfully, a thoroughly magical third act comes through, evoking Spielberg-esque spectacle with even more heartfelt intent.
“You don’t have to worry about me,” Alton affirms to his father, minutes before they part ways, but a simplistic “I like worrying about you,” captures every parenthood aspiration in a single poetic line. Ignoring the explosions, aliens, and alienation, this father-son dynamic brings the film to an extremely satisfying close. Nichols may glide over a few narrative flaws, but with Michael Shannon leading the way, Midnight Special is, well, special. Or perhaps more importantly, it succeeds in convincing the viewer that it’s special.
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