Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Midnight Special (2016)

This is topic Midnight Special (2016) in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 03-27-2016, 05:36 PM:

Both the FBI and the members of a religious cult search for the kidnappers of a young boy with extraordinary powers, who is intent on a rendezvous with someone along the Gulf Coast. At the Regal Union Square Theatres, New York City.

*****

This is a B-grade science fiction movie of the “I don’t belong on this planet and I want to go home” genre. Very little of it makes any sense at all, and writer-director Jeff Nichols has seen Starman, like, a zillion times. That having been said it’s still pretty watchable, even exciting in parts. The young man in question is NOT a space alien, y’see, he’s . . . something else. He sure has some serious powers going on, not the least of which is the ability to intercept and understand satellite transmissions with his mind (and, in one startling scene, to seriously mess with the same satellites if he doesn’t like what he’s hearing). The action scenes are well staged, and the actors are very good. Overall, the picture walks the fine line between interesting and hokey, and at about ninety minutes in you may find yourself thinking that it had better come up with a good payoff. It does, in fact it has one of the most visually interesting final scenes of any movie of it’s type, and the answer to the question “what’s with this kid?” is pretty original, if not totally convincing. Recommended, even though a lot of things remain unexplained at the end.