Midnight Special

A father, Roy (Michael Shannon), kidnaps his own son, Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), and escapes from a religious compound with the help of an old school friend, Lucas (Joel Edgerton). Now pursued by the religious group as well as the CIA and NSA for their own reasons Roy, Alton, and Lucas are on the run to a very specific location for reasons that aren’t entirely clear; but, it’ll take the help of Alton’s mother Sarah (Kirsten Dunst) to make their journey complete. A journey about love, loss, and the unknown, what will come of all of this?midnightspec Written and Directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud, Take Shelter) this sci-fi romance adventure carefully walks the line of religion and science exploring what cannot be explained by either. And, while a bit slow to start, the sum of the parts still add up to an interesting puzzle revealed piece by piece to a satisfying resolution leaving a few questions on the table to keep things interesting. Assembled on a smaller budget it’s all about the most bang for the buck in the graphics department; meanwhile, the real gems on the screen remain the ensemble, there doesn’t appear to be a false step among them. Sparking the fires of imagination and “what if?” this lesser known release should not go unnoticed, sadly, that seems likely to be the case given what feels like the half hearted push in the marketing department on the part of the studio, don’t let that steer you away from this early treat. Midnight Special is rated PG-13.