Jeff Nichols is a director not usually associated with great science fiction films. He became known through grim and serious dramas such as Shotgun Stories (2007) and Take Shelter (2008). Even when a devastating storm is brewing, his films are usually grounded and lack fantastic elements.
In 2016, however, he ventured into the science fiction genre. With Midnight Special, he made a film that took place before one of the greatest filmmaker bows: Steven Spielberg. Especially from ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind there are many familiar things to be found in Midnight Special.
A must for every Spielberg fan: Midnight Special is a gripping science fiction film
Midnight Special tells of an escape: Roy (Michael Shannon) does everything to bring his son Alton (Jaeden Martell) to safety. This is sought by various parties, ranging from religious extremists to various government representatives. The reason? Alton owns superhuman powers.
You can watch the trailer for Midnight Special here:
Midnight Special – Trailer (German) HD
A mixture of drama and thriller that is becoming more and more of a sci-fi road movie. Nichols tells the touching father and son story as a restless hunt, while more and more pursuers attach themselves to the heels of the fugitives. Two other Spielberg films come to mind: Duel and Sugarland Express.
In the end, there is a lot more at stake than the survival of a family. Still, Nichols doesn’t lose sight of the heart of his film, repeating the same feat Spielberg has done in each of his blockbusters mastered with flying colours: the combination of spectacle and a story with real feelings.
Podcast for series fans: 15 sci-fi highlights starting this year on Netflix, Disney+ and more
In the coming months, there will be franchise replenishments from Star Trek, Star Wars and the MCU as well as lots of other new genres to be discovered on Netflix, Disney+ and Co. In the podcast we take a closer look at 15 innovations that will be launched this year.
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Chaotic time travel, survival struggles at the edge of the universe, gripping alien conspiracies on earth or dystopian societies in the post-apocalypse: the sci-fi series starting in 2023 show how diverse the genre can be.
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