Midnight Special (2016)

Please don't spend money on this.

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Jeff Nichols's "Midnight Special" takes considerable liberties with its viewers, demanding that they go through at least the first 25 minutes of movie without really knowing what on Earth (or beyond it?) is going on. A film had better be good if it's going to do that to it's audience, and - after that build-up, plus many a good minute more, it fails to actually do that, first and foremost reaching its climax (which is actually quite pleasing and innovative aesthetically) with many a filmgoer compelled to ask: SO WHAT?For at least half of this movie we are left convinced that something pretty dire is going to happen to a large proportion of us - indeed the term "judgment day" is resorted to at some earlyish point in the film, but this concept is later abandoned altogether. The location/ground zero of the upcoming event is pondered at length - "why there?", they all ask. Answer - no reason at all, it's just a bit of swamp... Equally, a huge (if mawkish) dose of tension that our young hero-cum-prophet Alton (well enough played, if with VERY few words, by Jaeden Lieberher) is steadily succumbing to ... whatever it is and may not make his appointment with destiny, is likewise dumped unceremoniously, but without any particular sense of relief. Things should not be like that.Equally (2), the religious cult that has built up around Alton (and built up its supply of weapons likewise) threatens much and then fizzles completely - so just what is that all about? (And just where did what initially seems like a key character played by Sam Shepard disappear to??????) Adam Driver's somewhat Golblum-esque role in seeking to work out what is happening is fun enough, but looks a little out of place amongst all the portentous stuff, while Alton's growing ability to control technology and deploy his manifold powers is used in such an ad hoc manner that games are played with our patience without true focus ever being achieved. Kirsten Dunst is probably the best-known face in here, but does very little beyond the most basic "proud mum" stuff. "Midnight Special" is NOT a dead loss, and is particularly interesting in its brief "first contact" section, but even that dramatic circumstance does not offer us the focused "everything has now changed/nothing will ever be the same again" scenario that might have been expected. All is just dissipated and we are almost none the wiser.So why on Earth not? Why do we have yet another piece of sci fi lashing out rather randomly in all directions and achieving so relatively little? If this movie was never really meant to be scary, then why does it waste our time hinting at being so? Equally, if it is trying to out-Arrival "Arrival" with some kind of beautiful wow (and let's face it, this is not the most challenging task in cinema history), then why does it waste the artistry it is able to pull together with so little in the way of take-home message?Oh dear, oh dear...Made 41 years ago now, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is so VERY much better than this effort, or indeed than "Arrival". Just why is that so?

I sat through all of this hoping it would develop into something more exciting!

May contain some plot/theme spoilers.Alton (Jaeden Lieberher) Alf would be too obvious, likes to listen to the radio...in his head. He repeats what he hears thus "speaking in tongues" which appeals to "The Ranch" a Texas cult built upon Alton's spewing including classified information which draws due diligent attention. Roy (Michael Shannon), a member of the group, absconds with his own child (adopted by the pastor) with the aide of a friend Lucas (Joel Edgerton) a policeman who is not a religious person. Mom (Kirsten Dunst) left the compound 2 years ago.Seems Alton has places to go, like Frank Lloyd Wright heaven, which appears near Pascagoula Mississippi?Now how this seemingly alien baby had human parents and had to live in the dark as an infant wasn't discussed in the film. This is a film which attempts to combine religion, spirituality and UFO sightings into one "real" explanation, although I liked "Altergeist" string theory better.The story was interesting even if the characters tilted to the stiff side and the dialogue mostly reeked as in the case of most serious sci-fi films where the script writer was too engrossed in the me-so-clever plot as to take a minute to create memorable characters.Guide: Could be viewed as going against the grain of religion. Minor PG swearing. No sex or nudity.

Great film says artist and writer, including screenplay writer, Paul Heidelberg, who lives in a town in NM where some of this film was shot.Yes I had several "feelings" that related this film to "Close Encounters"; after viewing the movie, I read several reviews that mentioned same.I do not want to spoil any viewings, so will not write much more, but want to state some of the special effects and "Alton's" acting -- his name is listed at IMDb, but I do not want to lose this searching for it -- and the acting by other cast members was superb.