This article discusses the ending of Midnight Special. For the full review, please follow this link.

So, what is Alton? He’s a being from another dimension. Apparently, there’s a whole group of ancient beings who exist in a world on top of this world to keep an eye on humans. And, by being part of this extra-special race of beings trapped in a human body (or something), Alton can somehow control electricity, channel satellites, read minds, and otherwise do a wide array of supernatural activities. Jeff Nichols never actually sets any rules for Alton, and thus allows the rules to constantly change as the movie plays on.

By the end of the movie, Alton figures out that he has to be at some precise location in the middle of Louisiana at a precise time, where the sunlight triggers a gigantic lens flare to erupt from his head, revealing the rift of the dimensions in a bubble that extends from Florida into Texas. Why this has to be in a specific place and time is never revealed, nor why, earlier in the film, Alton experiences a smaller tear in the fabric that separates the dimensions. Regardless of these unanswered questions, the reveal of the dimensions is supposed to be the ultimate payoff for those who are watching the literal movie.

Unfortunately, the reveal is less than stunning. The world revealed is more than a little reminiscent than a Final Fantasy XIII skin laid on top of the real world. Buildings are slender and curvy, egg towers with little purpose rise in the backgrounds, and, for some reason, they added shade structures to the top of human buildings. It’s at once lazy and silly; an attempt to manifest the physical ideals recalled by phrases like “the hallowed halls of Academia” and yet so lacking in imagination that it might as well have been nothing. The awe that this finale is supposed to capture whiffs away into boredom.

But, if the movie is only about the metaphor, the finale works in gangbusters. The future is an indescribable advancement upon our current culture, and parents have to release their children to become their own people into that unknown future society. Alton, now with full knowledge of who he actually is, is released into this unknown at the expense of his parents. We will never have the answers for who our child actually is, but it is awe inspiring to see what they will become.

But there is one final shot that’s even weirder: Now imprisoned by the government, Roy looks into the space trying to think of his son…and for a brief second, his eyes morph into Alton’s eyes and capture a little bit of lens flare of their own. On a literal level, this is terrible. On a metaphorical level, this is nostalgic and perfect. Jeff Nichols doesn’t care about the literal, while developing the emotional metaphor. Just like every other choice in Midnight Special.