The Reel Review
From the first few minutes of this gritty sci-fi thriller, you know you are in for one bizarre road trip. Michael Shannon (who also starred in director Jeff Nichols’ three other films Mud, Take Shelter and Shotgun Stories) is the father of a young boy with mysterious powers, being hotly pursued by federal agents wanting to know how he knows classified information, and a religious cult convinced he is their messiah.
The story feels like a much darker hybrid of E.T., Powder and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, made more believable by strong performances by Shannon, Kirsten Dunst and Adam Driver. The story is unsatisfying in its lack of detail and gets a bit silly towards the end, but its fresh take on familiar subject matter makes it worth seeing.
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