Midnight Special (2016)

Up there with films like The Signal this was a indie scifi fans dream.Far too many big budget scifi rubbish on our screens over the years , not going to name anything in particular but its the same old same old tag line and Im sure anyone reading this will now exactly what Im talking about .

I fell asleep 3 times, on three different occasions, trying to finish this movie. Boring, acting is dull, story is dull, everyone has the same facial expression through the entire movie. Even the action sequences put me to sleep. I really couldn't stand this movie. Awful. Terrible. Don't watch it.

A young boy has special powers and the FBI want him.Close Encounters Of The Third Kind meets ET without all the wonderfully uplifting John Williams music playing over the thing. Midnight Special caught me by surprise, I hired the DVD from the library because the DVD cover stated that the film was science fiction. At first I was reluctant to hire it out as I suspected it was yet another wham-bam-slam CGI-dominated sci-fi flick filled with smart ass characters...which seems to be the way these movies are made these days.To my surprise I was wrong. A nice retro feel here. Slow pace. Great acting. No pretty boys. A reasonable musical score. A bit of a road movie going on. I liked it. But having said all this...I can't say it is one of the great films of the 21st century. However, it is the type of science fiction flick Hollywood needs to do more often these days as compared to the last two Star Wars films (The Last Jedi and Rogue One)....Midnight Special is a masterpiece.

My wife and I watched this at home on DVD from our public library. There are some supernatural elements and in certain scenes the whole viewing room shook. Of course you need a good subwoofer to feel that.The movie's theme plays on the many publicized cults that indoctrinate members and, on certain occasions, the cult leader "adopts" special children effectively taking them away from their natural parents who also are in the cult. His role is eventually minor but Sam Shepard is very effective as Calvin Meyer, the cult leader someplace in Texas.The movie starts with Michael Shannon as Roy, the special boy's dad, and his friend Joel Edgerton as Lucas, traveling at night with the boy, heading for the state line, towards N. Louisiana. Also involved is the boy's mother, Kirsten Dunst as Sarah. The special boy is Jaeden Lieberher, who more recently was so good as Henry in "Book of Henry" , as Alton. As we come to learn maybe he doesn't belong in this world.The movie is well-made, much of it involves the authorities trying to track down Alton while the parents begin to realize how special he is. Overall a modern fable, good movie for those who appreciate that type of story telling.