Hundreds of movie-goers with badges and wristbands lined up outside of the Paramount on March 12 at SXSW to see the headliner “Midnight Special” directed by Jeff Nichols, who is best known for directing “Mud” starring Matthew McConaughey.

By Emily Nash

“Midnight Special” begins with Roy (Michael Shannon) and Lucas (Joel Edgerton) running away with an 8-year-old boy named Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), who is wearing swimming goggles at night. The first few scenes of the movie are ambiguous — viewers don’t know whether these men are kidnapping the boy or saving him.

We eventually learn that Roy is Alton’s father and Lucas is an old friend, and they actually did kidnap him from a cult that worships him because they believe he is some sort of miracle worker. Alton does have superpowers, which is  why he wears swimming goggles and why he can only go out at night — the daylight makes lasers come out of his eyes, transing people if they meet his gaze.

Roy and Lucas make it to Alton’s mother’s house, Sarah (Kirsten Dunst) and together the four them run away on a specific day to a specific location that Alton has to go to in order to become a part of another world, suggesting that there are other beings like him. This entire time, the FBI are on the hunt for them because, according to NSA Agent Paul Sevier (Adam Driver), Alton holds confidential government information and they need to detain him to figure out how he knew of the data.

Alton eventually makes it to the location where he will be picked up by the other world in the middle of a large field. The last scene is very much like a 1980s sci-fi scene; glowing aliens aboard a shiny, advanced spaceship that lands over all of Georgia. There is a large explosion, and then it’s over. Alton has gone with his own kind.