As an allegory for parental sacrifice, words cannot begin to describe my experience with this film. Midnight Special moved me in ways that very few films ever have.

| Aug 8, 2024

Jeff Nichols, the writer and director, keeps [a] sense of mystery throughout Midnight Special, always raising more questions with each answer.

| Oct 6, 2023

It has an emotional core compelling enough to draw in massive crowds of cinemagoers, a sci-fi grandeur showy enough to pull in the Marvel/DC crowd and a visual acuity worthy of the interest of even the most hardened cinephiles.

| Aug 1, 2023

“Midnight Special” is such a satisfying experience from Nichols’ smart script and assured direction to the top-notch performances especially from Shannon.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 24, 2022

The understatedness of Nichols' drama, the poignancy, renders a picture about how people react to what they believe or do not understand.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Apr 18, 2022

Midnight Special is sure to enthrall cinemagoers and marks Nichols as a filmmaker of extraordinary vision and talent.

| Sep 29, 2021

This is a poignant fantastic fantastical science fiction drama.

| Sep 14, 2021

I was impressed by the character of Roy. Midnight Special is science fiction and it took me seeing the film more than once to figure out what was going on.

| Aug 13, 2021

In the end, however, Nichols' minimalistic approach expresses his general bewilderment and pessimism more than anything else.

| Feb 26, 2021

The story is more about fear of the unknown and belief than flying saucers or little green men. Mulder and Scully would love it.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 3, 2021

Despite the intrigue from the beginning, the pacing rapidly deteriorates, due largely to the intensification of cryptic clues that results in fewer and fewer answers.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Dec 5, 2020

Special powers are involved and the end of the film delivers a sonic boom to your chest.

| Nov 10, 2020

Full of weighty existential, metaphysical themes and ideas, and a deliberately paced mystery, at its heart, the movie is about the mournful power of fatherhood.

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 3, 2020

It is a tense and imaginative science-fiction film that infects once it puts a family on the brink of a fantastic encounter, but this time close to the third kind. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 26, 2020

Midnight Special is uneven, but just successful enough to suggest that there's room in contemporary sci-fi for more positive, contemplative films.

| Jan 13, 2020

In an era of remakes and sequels, Midnight Special offers something a little fresh and different.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Oct 3, 2019

While the entire movie is exciting with incredibly realized set pieces, the love that the principle characters show for each other is what makes it a great movie.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 7, 2019

The entire cast delivers strong work, but the aimless script doesn't provide them with enough to cross the finish line.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 17, 2019

It's a lot like a frantic attempt to get at candy in the middle. But there is no candy. It's just a Tic-Tac. And sure, Tic-Tacs are fine, but if you're expecting actual candy, a Tic-Tac may as well be a hot booger.

| Original Score: B- | Jul 9, 2019

Midnight Special is missing a foundation in the pathos and humanity in which Spielberg and Carpenter firmly rooted their iconic films.

| Apr 20, 2019