No. 44 Midnight Special (2016) 66 of 100

 

This is Shannon’s 4^th of 6 collaborations with the writer and director Jeff Nichols. We have previously looked at the pair’s work on ‘Shotgun Stories’ and ‘Take Shelter’, both of which offered some appeal. This effort came after those previous two, but before ‘The Bikeriders’ which we also enjoyed.

In this one we open in a cheap motel with a news alert about an abducted 8 year old child. The suspect is named as Roy Tomlin and a picture of Shannon pops up. We then see that Roy is watching the TV in the company of the abducted boy and with another man. The hotel room has cardboard taped over the windows and it is clear that something odd is going on, but it’s not clear what.

Elsewhere two cult members are on the hunt for the boy, just as their service gets raided by the FBI. The Feds have been tracking the cult as they’ve been buying a lot of guns and some of their sermons contain embedded government secrets.

It turns out that Shannon is the boy’s father and he and a friend have rescued him from the cult. The minister reveals that the boy speaks in tongues and indifferent languages and it’s from his words that they gleaned the top secret information.

The Feds enlist Adam Driver’s specialist to help with the case and to try and track the fugitives down. The two men and the boy hook up with the boy’s mother Kirsten Dunst, as you would, and head off for a secret rendezvous specified by the boy.

Secrets slowly emerge and it’s clear the boy is special, not in the sense that he gets on the rides at Alton Towers first, but in the sense he has superpowers. At first these manifest themselves as lights emitting from his eyes but soon he’s pulling satellites down from space and communicating telepathically.

As the desperate crew head to wards the unknown in Florida they have to out manoeuvre the cultists and the Feds and to reach their goal. Will they make it and what is the truth of the boy’s powers and destiny?

This was an excellent film and easily the best of the Nichols/Shannon collaborations that I have seen so far. I think a lot of parallels will be drawn with E.T. as the family try to return a special creature whilst being pursued by government shits, but there was enough to differentiate it from that Spielberg effort and to keep me invested.

Shannon is excellent as the Dad who will do anything for his boy and Joel Edgerton gave his usual stand-up showing as his friend. The pursuing cultists and government weren’t up to much but Driver was decent as the official who saw the truth and ended up helping out. I enjoyed the big reveal of the parallel world and when the boy turned out to be a sort of Wesley Crusher herald for a new beginning. The parallel world did look like a big shopping centre, but the effects and marvel shown by the characters were well done.

This sci-fi mystery with a chase element was engaging and interesting and there were a few decent ideas that were explored in a logical and compelling manner. Definitely worth a look through your soon to be glowing eyes!

When is Shannon-On? - 01.25

Outcome? In jail with a glint in his eye

Film 4/5

Shannon Stars 4/5