MIDNIGHT SPECIAL
Dir: Jeff Nichols (12A, 111 mins)
Jeff Nichols is the writer/director behind such classy art house fares as Take Shelter and Mud, films that helped reinvigorate careers in the case of Michael Shannon and Matthew McConaughey. With Midnight Special, Nichols takes the plunge into blockbuster territory, whilst still maintaining some offbeat character moments not normally found in a multiplex. Michael Shannon is a father, who along with Joel Egerton kidnap his 8-year-old son, Jaeden Lieberher, from a religious cult. The boy may have supernatural abilities and his father embarks on a road trip with him to a destination which will explain everything. It’s intriguing stuff mostly well handled by Nichols and his cast, although Adam Driver as an NSA man hot on their tail and Kirsten Dunst as the boy’s mother could have had more to do. A sense of expectation and Spielbergian wonder is created, albeit with a less pacey feel, making the film both exciting and frustrating. It is however constantly engaging and a palette cleanser to more straightforward sci-fi fare. Shannon is excellently intense as always, and although 80s family movies like ET and Starman are evoked, Nichols adds a supernatural shade of his own.