MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (2016)

Studio:       Warner Brothers
Director:    Jeff Nichols
Writer:       Jeff Nichols
Producer:  Sarah Green, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones
Stars:     Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Jaeden Lieberher, Sam Shepard, Bill Camp, Scott Haze, Paul Sparks, David Jensen

Review Score:

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Summary:

A young boy with special powers goes on the run with his father to escape a religious commune as well as the government.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

With the help of his childhood friend and state trooper Lucas, Roy Tomlin goes on the run with his eight-year-old son Alton Meyer. Roy and Alton previously lived in a fringe religious commune called Third Heaven Ranch under the leadership of Calvin Meyer. When it was discovered that Alton possessed unknown powers enabling him to receive radio broadcasts including communications and coordinates, Calvin interpreted Alton's behavior as speaking in tongues and made the messages a key part of his sermons. With Alton also capable of emitting blinding spiritual light from his eyes, Roy realized his son was meant for a greater purpose, seeking to transport him to a specific location on a date revealed in one of the boy's visions.

With the government discovering that Alton intercepted and repeated classified transmissions used in Calvin's sermons, FBI agent Miller leads a raid on the ranch in search of the boy. NSA agent Paul Sevier is brought in to question ranch members. Meanwhile, Calvin tasks followers Doak and Levi with finding Alton and returning him to the ranch.

Lucas and Roy temporarily hide Alton in the house of former ranch member Elden. The men are woken in the night as the house is torn apart while Elden experiences the light from Alton's eyes. Afterward, Elden insists that he needed to experience the vision one more time. Roy contemplates killing Elden since he knows where they are headed, but instead flees with Lucas and Alton in Elden's van.

Stopped at a gas station on their journey from Texas to Florida, the men narrowly escape a fiery debris shower when Alton brings down a government satellite used to identify nuclear threats. Alton later explains that the satellite made it possible for his power to be traced.

Roy and Lucas reunite Alton with his mother Sarah and the four of them go back on the road. Everyone worries as Alton's health is seemingly worsening, especially after an incident where light explodes from his eyes while in the car. Alton points skyward and says, "they're coming." Roy escorts Alton through the woods on foot while Lucas and Sarah continue on ahead in the car.

Alton normally wears goggles to shield his eyes and sleeps in blacked out rooms during the day because sunlight can trigger his powers. However, Alton insists that his father take him to a field to experience the sunrise. Roy does, and a large dome of blinding light briefly balloons around the area.

Roy and Alton reunite with Sarah and Lucas at a motel. Alton's health is now healed and he no longer needs his goggles. The boy explains that his experience in the field gave him a vision of an unseen world existing on top of our own. Alton believes he is one of these normally invisible beings and the transmissions have been guiding him to a reunion.

Doak and Levi attack the group outside the motel and abduct Alton. Roy, Sarah, and Lucas follow in pursuit only to discover that the government intercepted the ranch members' truck and took custody of Alton.

The FBI tries interrogating Alton in a special room. Alton insists on speaking only with Paul Sevier. Alton convinces Paul of his greater purpose and uses his powers for both of them to escape the facility undetected. Paul calls Roy at a payphone and arranges to personally transport Alton back to Roy. Paul takes handcuffs from Lucas to make it look as if he gave the boy back under duress.

Roy, Lucas, and Sarah drive Alton through a military roadblock on the route leading to their destination. After breaking through, Sarah and Alton flee on foot to the coordinates while Roy and Lucas lead the soldiers away in a vehicle chase.

Alton's power triggers another energy dome. This time, the light blast explodes across the United States, revealing the light beings and their world to the entire population. Lucas and Roy's vehicle overturns. Sarah watches as her son willingly joins the light beings. The other world vanishes.

Sarah escapes in the aftermath. Roy and Lucas are taken into custody. Paul interviews Lucas.

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Review:

With great power comes great responsibility.  In the case of “Midnight Special,” this applies more to the people protecting that power than it does to the one wielding it.

Eight-year-old Alton exhibited extraordinary abilities at an early age.  The source and full scope of what Alton can do remains a mystery, though this hasn’t dissuaded Pastor Calvin Meyer from reforming his Third Heaven Ranch around the boy.

In addition to providing seemingly spiritual experiences to cult followers connecting with light emanating from his eyes, Alton possesses a peculiar power to pull intangible transmissions out of thin air.  Calvin may not know what they mean, but he incorporates these confidential codes into his sermons as presumably divine messages.  That draws the attention of the FBI and the NSA, who don’t see Alton as a benevolent boy at all.  They consider his gifts a threat to national security.

With a religious radical out to exploit him, and the U.S. government aiming to capture him, Alton goes on the run with his father Roy.  Roy is as in the dark as anyone about the cryptic transmissions’ significance.  But he is certain that his son is destined for a greater purpose, and the intercepted coordinates and communications must be guiding them toward that unknown goal.  Aided by Roy’s childhood friend Lucas and the boy’s birth mother Sarah, father and son take a clandestine trek from Texas to Florida to discover the truth about Alton’s powers, provided no one catches up to them first.

Incredible abilities don’t always equate to superheroic status.  While comic book characterizations are usually king in such cinematic scenarios, “Midnight Special” emphasizes the “human” in superhuman with a realistically grounded look at how extraordinary powers might affect ordinary people.

Most supermen have an Achilles heel.  For “Midnight Special,” its greatest strength is also its kryptonite.  The cast is overflowing with incredible actors including the always excellent Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Sam Shepard, David Jensen, Adam Driver of “Star Wars” and “Girls,” and Paul Sparks from “Boardwalk Empire” and “House of Cards.”  The dark side of that coin is the movie overcomplicates itself with far more characters than it needs for the story, and the plot doesn’t always have a place to put everybody.

Sam Shepard isn’t seen again following his first act scenes as the religious ranch leader.  For a role ultimately supplanted by Adam Driver’s NSA agent, Paul Sparks’ appearance as an FBI agent basically amounts to an extended cameo.  Performances are terrific from top to bottom, though there would be much more punch in the personalities if their purposes weren’t spread across so many people.

Of the personalities that are put onscreen however, there isn’t an unlikable actor in the entire cast.  In a way, it’s difficult to fault the film for staffing itself so well, even though it doesn’t have a narrative need for all of the talent on hand.

“Midnight Special” could use a little more Amblin Entertainment sense of wonderment to counterbalance its often weighty examination of how far one is willing to run on faith for the benefit of family.  Then again, that isn’t writer/director Jeff Nichols’ style or objective.

Knowing as little as possible about the plotline’s destination before settling in is ideal, since piecing the puzzle together is a key part of the intrigue.  “Midnight Special” is essentially a chase movie with subtle science-fiction accenting a drama-centered core, as opposed to purely popcorn action propelling noisy flash and fire.  The mystery of Alton’s full capabilities and the final fate ahead still engages suspense throughout, while the rumbles from Alton’s uncontrollable energy bursts are frighteningly explosive.

But Nichols has an intention beyond entertainment to explore thought-provoking adult themes with a family-friendly tone.  When it comes to depicting superpowers on the silver screen, consider “Midnight Special” a calmer, more introspective alternative to the zips, bangs, and pows of an “Avengers” or “Batman v Superman” sight and sound extravaganza.

Review Score:  70

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