Midnight Special 2016

Jeff Nichols, the writer/director behind two instant American classics Mud and Take Shelter, brings us Midnight Special. The film is a blend of genres and subgenres, being a family drama as well as a chase film, mixed with political and religious conspiracy elements, and being a sci-fi thriller at the core. It juggles them all perfectly by bringing focus to the people of the world instead of the actual situation. Roy Tomlin takes his son Alton (who was adopted by cult leader Calvin Meyer) with Roy's best friend Lucas, as they race to get Alton "where he needs to be," for he is not like us, with the FBI also on the hunt for Alton, and NSA specialist Paul Sevier acting as their consultant.

To reveal anything outside of that would spoil quite a bit of the movie, as well as the effect it has. The film is a slow-burn, having a few action sequences in the form of car chases and one brief shootout (of which was extremely intense, being one-sided), but is mainly a somber thriller about a father who will go to the ends of the earth to keep his son safe.

A father (Michael Shannon) goes on the run to protect his young son Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), and uncover the truth behind the boy's special powers.

Starring: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton
Runtime: 1 hour, 51 minutes