Roy Tomlin (Michael Shannon) is on the run with his special son Alton (Jaeden Lieberher) and his old friend Lucas (Joel Edgerton) with the FBI and NSA Agent Sevier (Adam Driver) in pursuit.   Alton has a purpose and Roy is trying to get his son to a certain location on a certain day.  The government wants to know how Alton knows classified government info which has ended up in the sermons of a preacher (Sam Shepard) who is head of a religious cult.   Alton can also reveal special things when people look into the light of his eyes and he can even pick up radio stations word for word (and he has to wear goggles and sometimes even noise canceling headphones.

 

MIDNIGHT SPECIAL is a supernatural sci-fi thriller which is like a combo of a John Carpenter film and something that Steven Spielberg would direct in his earlier days.  Writer/ Director Jeff Nichols has crafted a unique film which will at least be a cult classic.  It captures the wonder of so many 1980s genre films that it is an otherworldy movie not belonging to this time of movies.  It has a wonderful cast including Michael Shannon and Jaeden Lieberher giving a mature performance as Alton plus Adam Driver gives a spot on performance as Sevier (better than his effort as Kylo Ren).

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

ORIGINS has interviews with the cast and the director as they talk about key characters and their origins (sometimes only hinted in the movie): ROY, SARAH, LUCAS, SEVIER, and ALTON

 

THE UNSEEN WORLD- Jeff Nichols talks about the movie, why he made it, and how it is like the 1980s genre movies that he loves

 

Preview for BATMAN v SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

 

Code to download and stream a digital HD copy of the movie

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: MIDNIGHT SPECIAL is at least going to be a cult film, but it has the DNA of great 1980 genre movies all over it which should make it a hit in the rental market.

 

This review is ©6-22-2016 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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