Jeff Nichols is one of the best directors that America has to offer and Midnight Special was a delight to revisit for its timely science fiction themes rooted in immigration and fear of a controlling government. A father and son are forced on the run when the father learns his son has special powers – with Michael Shannon being perfectly cast as the protective dad to Jaeden Martell’s Alton. Arriving at the mid point of the last decade a year before Trump and Brexit; but when signs were pointing in that direction – it feels like an answer to both acting as one big allegory for parenthood and the clever family unit at the core of Midnight Special keeps it well-grounded. For a sci-fi movie the majority of it takes place in a car – suspenseful and with these characters on the run.
The film is purposely ambiguous and the 70s/80s homage that Nichols is so fluent in makes it for a perfect departure and a timeless feel that removes it from existing in 2015. It moves with a sense of grace and gritty realism – fusing both together in a way that anyone who is a fan of Nichols will expect. The bond between Alton and his dad is touching and deeply human – Alton tells Roy that he doesn’t have to worry about him anymore; but Roy knows deep down, he’ll always worry about him – after all, what parent wouldn’t worry about their son?
Nichols is inventive and independent in scope and scale; it would have been easy at this point in his career to move into a franchise but he instead crafts a journey that is grounded in old-fashioned storytelling values that you just don’t get a lot of anymore. The two characters looking out for Alton are well-realised; Joel Edgerton’s Lucas plays off Shannon superbly, and the ambiguity from the start about Alton stays with you the whole way: is Alton kidnapped? No – he’s Roy’s son – and he must be kept in pitch darkness because of his talents; think of this as a proto-Superman story in a sense, Alton is a Clark Kent who can’t control his powers and doesn’t know what they are, but this isn’t a comic book – it isn’t real life – the aim of the journey is simple; to reach Sarah (Kirsten Dunst), but they are followed by a religious cult led by Sam Shepard’s Calvin Meyer – to give the film a sense of agency and heightened tension.
The FBI are also there – Adam Driver is sympathetic to the course and he continues to excel in a character driven role here. Bill Camp offers up the light deadpan touches to Midnight Special that he needs to rival Driver and offer a share of escape from the seriousness – the perfect good cop/bad cop counterpart to the cult that is there for the tension. The tone is key to making this thing work – it doesn’t feel high concept, the opposite of that – a world removed from say, the lavish, flashy tale of The Creator, similar in core idea.
Nichols carries across the grounded nature from Mud and Take Shelter superbly and his post-Midnight Special movie, Loving, saw a return to true-story inspired drama. It’s slow to reveal its true intentions and the ending is purposely dividing – but his emphasis on substance over style really works wonders here. The religious undertones give the movie greater depth – the cult subtext heighten the chase, tension element superbly.
A family drama, a suspenseful chase movie, a sci-fi epic, Midnight Special redefines itself with a sense of sensibility that establishes its clear vision that you just would rarely get from most modern movies: if it came out today it would be rightly lauded as a rare original gem, but because it came out at the peak of the 2010s – it’s an unsung hero. There’s touches of Spielberg here because of course there is but to call it a Spielberg riff, or even a Stephen King one, or even a John Carpenter copycat, would be wrong – it’s a Nichols movie, there’s no thing else like it. He deserves – when looked at his body of work as a whole over the course of the 2010s, to be regarded as one of the greater directors of that decade. Midnight Special is perhaps the chief example of such a film operating in its sphere – heightening the tension from the start by documenting the abduction (although is it really an abduction when Alton is Roy’s own son?) on Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana Amber Alerts and National Television. It’s a frantic start – driving from motel to motel – always keeping out of sight.
The best thing of Midnight Special is its character growth – the connection of Alton and Roy are continued past the movie, exploring the pain and the fear of letting go of children post parenthood – we must all let our children leave the nest eventually. It’s a movie that puts its faith in its audience and doesn’t overexplain or put voiceovers to its main characters to show their motivations – Nichols knows the audience is too clever for that. Midnight Special is a visual movie – emotional themes prioritised in a nail biting way that has you hooked.
The mission and its faith is questioned – tension is high from the off. How committed to Alton is Roy? Enough to kill a cop? Even the simplest of scenes are given the high stakes – Roy and Lucas have different perspectives on how to look after Alton, and so too, does Sarah. Believe it or not: Alton is his own character – the emotional journey of the ending is best not spoiled, but the allegory of Alton as a sick child, who is special to his parents – is heartbreaking and so much more impactful than what the film clues you in for from the word go. Nichols’ cast bear the brunt of it – Shannon has scenery chewed in the past but it’s clear he is better than that here; bringing a touch of subtlety to the narrative. Cinematographer Adam Stone delivers a unique look that captures the remote feel of the landscapes that these characters in; and composer David Wingo is as much a star of the actors – playing a doubly important role when it’s dialogue-free – especially in the height of the action – when you get so many characters in franchises yelling “did that just happen?” just to fill it with something. Midnight Special exists as an anti-Hollywood movie down to its very core; enhanced purely by visuals first and foremost, but not in a way, say a Transformers or Marvel movie would be. It uses visuals to give depth to its characters and allows their actions to do the talking for them.
Able to resist the temptation to show off and commit to the restrained nature of it all, Midnight Special is a true delight; imaginative and rewarding in a way that’s worth returning to – fans of Fast Color by Julia Hart will find themselves right at home here.
Midnight Special is available to purchase or rent at your digital or physical retailer of choice.
Learn more about the film at the IMDB site for the title.
You might also like…
‘Train Dreams’ Film Review: An Extraordinary Experience That Will Ease Your Heart