Telling the story of a father desperately trying to save his young son who has mysterious powers and the government forces trying to catch up with them, Midight Special feels very much like a seventies piece of science-fiction.
It's a slow burn story, there isn't too much in the way of exposition (the audience is left to fill in many of the blanks and there unquestionably elements that could have done with more explanation and at least one strand of the story that just seems to be abandoned) and it's much more about the performances than the spectacle. The central three adult performances from Micheal Shannon, Joel Edgerton and Kirsten Dunst are all very good, with a number of sequences relying on quiet delievery of emotions.
Jaeden Lieberher does ok as the young Alton but you do wonder at times if the part is written to be as other worldly as it comes across or if it's the performance not really selling some of the more emotional beats.
The film looks fantastic in a low key sort of way, like Starman crossed with Micheal Mann's Collateral. And a late stage sequence cutting between reactions to the final reveal and a car accident is fantastically done.
However overall the film feels like it's building up towards a crescendo that never quite arrives. It is nice though to have something a bit different that doesn't fall into the easy template of final reel explosions.
After Midnight Special and Mud I will certainly keep an eye on director Jeff Nichols who seems to developing as someone delievering interesting (and in some ways old school) films.
