Entertainment
Adam Driver’s 83% Rotten Tomatoes Sci-FI Thriller Is a Perfect Spielberg Homage
In 2016, Jeff Nichols quietly united Michael Shannon, Adam Driver, and Joel Edgerton at the exact moment all three were sharpening the acting skills that would later define their careers. It wasn’t in a blockbuster, but in Midnight Special.A science fiction chase movie with the DNA of Steven Spielberg existing throughout, the film was not a box office success, telling its story with a whisper among the noisy blockbusters of that year. However, ten years on, the movie still holds up and deserves to have more people take its journey.
A Thrilling Story of Family, Mystery, and Survival
Shannon and Edgerton play Roy and Lucas, two men who have abducted a young boy named Alton (Jaeden Martell). It emerges that Roy is Alton’s father, and the two men are rescuing him from a religious cult in Texas, who are interested in the boy due to his supernatural powers. As the escape turns into a chase between them and government agencies, the two men and their precious cargo look to find the source and explanation of Alton’s power.
The 35 Best Mystery Movies of All Time, Ranked According to IMDb
Watch the greatest mysteries unfold.
Whereas most movies weigh down the plot with exposition, Nichols’ film respects the audience’s intelligence, setting the scene with atmosphere rather than spectacle and rewarding patience with revelations at the right time. While most sci-fi films dazzle you with expensive special effects, here the characters are the main attractions. There’s a beating heart to the story that goes beyond the mystery, celebrating parental love and the power of following your conscience.
Three Blockbuster Villains as You Won’t Have Seen Them Before
Were it released today, the film’s main trio of Shannon, Driver, and Edgerton would have generated a lot of hype, but all three actors were early in their ascent. Just five years after his first film role in 2011’s J. Edgar, Driver was on the ascent, having been cast as the lead antagonist of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Coming around three months after that behemoth, those who had just discovered the actor had a chance to see him in something more intricate. As Paul Sevier, the NSA agent on their tail, he serves as a midpoint between the men on the run and the mysterious cult, playing the role of law enforcement with more sensitivity than is usually seen in this type of movie.
Shannon, too, takes the opportunity to deliver something a lot more tender than mainstream audiences might expect. At that time, his highest profile roles were as the villainous Zod in 2013’s Man of Steel, as well as the ruthless, repressed prohibition agent Nelson Van Alden in HBO series Boardwalk Empire. As Roy, however, there is a softness to his bravery. Clearly devoted to his son, he promises, “I’ll always worry about you, Alton. That’s the deal.” Amid the strangeness and danger of their situation, Shannon is the emotional anchor, showing a different side to his range.
For Edgerton, Lucas was a chance to showcase the steady, everyman appeal he would bring to later roles. Best known at that point at the brutish Tom Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, Lucas is a loyal friend who risks himself for what’s right, with a quietly impressive performance that would be echoed in later work such as Loving, and the Oscar-nominated Train Dreams.
The Best Steven Spielberg Movie He Never Made
Nearly everyone who has seen the film has pointed to its similarity to the work of Steven Spielberg, particularly films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and E.T. Movies that had fantastical elements but still retained a human core, that followed ordinary people through extraordinary circumstances.
It’s not just the broader themes that have the great man’s influence, however, as many subjects feel parallel to those early classics. Nichols, who acknowledged that those movies are “built into my DNA” while promoting the film, builds a science fiction chase movie where government paranoia is rife, and the paranormal element is not always entirely known or explained. The ending in particular, in which we see the world Alton belongs to, is revealed just enough to be satisfactory, but leaves as many questions as answers. One might say the same of the ending of Close Encounters, where the audience sees the aliens they have been hearing of, but their intentions are not entirely explained.
The film is also centered on a child’s experience, and the kind of wonder that made an entire generation fall in love with the movies. Jaeden Martell feels right at home in this sense, making Alton a rounded character while still preserving the innocence we all felt at his age.
A decade on, Midnight Special remains a wonder of science fiction filmmaking, and a rarity in Jeff Nichols’ filmography as he moved to different genres. The director would go on to work with Edgerton and Shannon in the historical drama Loving, released later that year, while embracing the legend of the biker movie, making Austin Butler a Marlon Brando-esque antihero in 2023’s The Bikeriders. However, fans of his work will still point to this gem as a highlight that deserves to be explored by new audiences.Midnight Special is available to rent or buy on VOD services.
- Release Date
-
March 18, 2016
- Runtime
-
111 Minutes
- Director
-
Jeff Nichols
- Writers
-
Jeff Nichols
- Producers
-
Glen Basner, Hans Graffunder, Sarah Green, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Christos V. Konstantakopoulos
You must be logged in to post a comment Login