Step 1: Revel in it. Midnight Special shrouds its sci-fi story in marvelous mystery but tackles the narrative’s complexities with heart and soul.
Step 2: Appreciate writer/director Jeff Nichols. He is truly one of the more fascinating and innovative filmmakers working today because he comes up with such original ideas revolving around big concepts but manages to pare them down to essential and unifying themes of love, family, faith. Mud is Nichols’ stellar film about two boys coming of age while helping a drifter (Matthew McConaughey) reunite with his long-lost love. The excellent Take Shelter focuses on faith, as a man (Michael Shannon) convinced the end of the world is coming, nearly loses his family over his obsession to build a shelter to keep them safe. Now, we have the thoroughly engaging and entertainiing Midnight Special, in which Nichols explores the theme of a parent’s unconditional love for their child, even if that child has special powers and is probably meant for something greater than a normal life in this world.
Step 3: Tell the story. Midnight Special focuses on young Alton (St. Vincent‘s Jaeden Lieberher), who, when we first meet him, is on the run with his father, Roy (Michael Shannon), and Roy’s friend, Lucas (Joel Edgerton). Even though the media is broadcasting that Alton has been abducted, he is in loving hands. You find out Alton and Roy once lived on the Ranch, a commune where an extreme religious sect believes Alton is their Savior and that the Second Coming is happening on specific date quickly approaching. Roy takes Alton because he knows he has to reach a specific place on that date, in order to somehow save his son’s life. Roy doesn’t quite understand what his son’s powers mean, but he will do anything to make sure his son is safe. You see, they can only travel by night because sunlight sends Alton into fits. And when Alton uses his special powers to show people glimpses of something otherworldly (we aren’t sure what), it also weakens him. In fact, Alton is dying and helping him achieve his goal has become paramount.
Step 4: Stay on the run. Needless to say, Roy, Lucas and eventually Alton’s mother, Sarah (Kirsten Dunst) — who had previously left the Ranch and they pick up along the way – know they have to reach the place before its too late. But they continue to run into obstacles, including the Ranch flunkies who try to get Alton back, and also the FBI, who have tracked Alton and believe his powers may be a dangerous nuclear weapon. The race against the clock is harrowing, but what happens at their destination is what makes Midnight Special all the more special.
Step 5: Admire the actors. Shannon, who is now becoming one of Nichols’ go-to actors, brings a certain fierce determination to the father character, trying desperately to save his son’s life, even if he doesn’t completely understand why this is happening to his child. At one point, Alton tells Roy he doesn’t have to worry about him anymore, but Roy says, “That’s what all parents do.” Shannon is quite excellent, as is Dunst, who plays the mother figure so very convincingly. The underrated Edgerton also adds nicely to the mix as Roy’s old childhood friend and now state trooper who immediately helps Roy and Alton once Alton shows him the light in his eyes. Adam Driver, who you can’t take your eyes off every time he is onscreen, stands out as well as an NSA analyst who discovers what Alton’s true purpose might be through codes and signals, but is also eventually drawn into Alton’s universe. Then, we have the young Lieberher, who embodies the whole of Midnight Special with his soulful looks and understated acting. I think the kid’s got the chops to make it past adolescent and blossom into a fine actor, ala Jodie Foster.
Step 6: Again give kudos to Nichols, the true star behind Midnight Special. He carries this narrative without making it a sci-fi spectacle but rather he lets it ride on its heart, focusing on the family and what it means to be a parent. Nichols is quickly becoming a filmmaker on par with indie darlings Wes Anderson and Alexander Payne but who thinks big like Steven Spielberg. Can’t wait to see what he does next.