Midnight Special * * 1/2

Three lads in need of "direction"

I guess we all the know feeling of disappointment. You know, a new Government that breaks its promises, a meal that tastes dull, a newly met person that speaks so inspiringly at first but soon ends up talking nonsense and stolen ideas.  Well that’s pretty well what Midnight Special is like. Such a promising beginning, even an interesting midpoint, such a stupid, derivative, imitative ending.  

Jeff Nichols gave us Mud which was a very fine film, and it is because of that I was looking forward to Midnight Special.  
In the beginning we are promisingly served the excitement and creativity we had hoped for. There is a sense of mystery with two men (Michael Shannon and Joel Edgerton) on the run with a child. They stay in cheap motels, they take cardboard and duct tape with them to blackout windows. The child wears goggles and hearing muffs in the day to reduce exposure to his senses. 
    A back story tells of a cult and a preacher who prophesies.  Slowly it comes together that they were part of this cult. Nothing is spelt out but a fascinating story is quickly developing.  The cult is raided by the FBI when it becomes apparent they have information that is so secret it is not spoken about outside the highest security level.

It is this child who got the information.  The child's senses are bombarded with data and radio signals. He can tune into anything, from foreign radio to encrypted data. He can pull satellites out of their orbit. His eyes radiate light.

The FBI are closing in on the two men and the child.  Finally the two men reach the child’s mother (Kirsten Dunst). Where do we go now????

Easy! Out of nowhere the child tells us he has got it all figured.  All his confusion and childhood insecurity is gone.  He confidently announces  he’s from another planet - or dimension - and now he wants to go home.

Enter the whole bullshit, E.T. / Close Encounters part of the film.  Honestly they’d have been better off casting Drew Barrymore in the Kirsten Dunst role so she could do a reprise.  If she’d stuck him in a bicycle basket and pedaled like buggery to the assigned location it would not have been out of place, so degenerate had the film become at this stage. As the child is taken "home" they literally do one of those awesome Close Encounter type manifestations. It looks ridiculous!  It’s not just the utter lack of imagination in the latter part of this film, it’s also the incongruous change of tone.  It's a lazy CGI resolution.

I do hope for more from Jeff Nichols next time and trust that this film does not reflect his career, with such a promising beginning only to fall into parody and imitation