Super 8

Summer blockbusters are not my thing.  Traditionally they’re over-produced, rehashed sequels, or movies featuring racist robots that transform into cars whilst thing explode.  Super 8 caught my attention because it is not a reboot, a superhero movie or a sequel, instead, it is an “original” film.  (I feel like it requires air-quotes because it draws heavily from films you’ve probably already seen.)

When I told people that I saw Super 8 the most common comment I got was, “Oh, I saw the commercial for that.  Have no idea what it’s about.”  Abrams likes to keep an air of mystery about all his projects; what was Lost about again? So I’m not surprised that no one really knows what it’s about before seeing it.  I’m not sure why it’s a secret, but apparently it is.  Well I’m going to let you in on it.

The movie opens at a funeral and we learn that 12 year old,  Joe (Joel Courtney) has just lost his mother.  He is left in the care of his distant father and spends his time with his friends, filming a zombie horror movie on their super 8 camera.  While filming late one night they are witness to a train crash that unleashes an unseen monster into the night.  The kids don’t see the monster and are more concerned with what would happen if thier parents found out that they were there.  As with most stories where a monster escapes: it doesn’t stay hidden or secret for very long.

While the trailers tend to make it seem like the film was a scary movie it really isn’t, it’s intense - with action and explosions aplenty.  The train crash was intense and really well done, but despite being a monster movie it failed to provide any real scares or surprises.

One thing that did surprise was the comedy.  I found myself laughing much more than I expected to.  The young actors delivered their lines with good comic wit and timing.  I can’t say if this is a compliment to the actors or Abrams for being able to drag that kind of acting out of children, but the films comedy helps it remain lite.

It’s easy to see that Super 8 was heavily influenced by producer Steven Spielberg, but what’s hard to say is if this happened during the filming, or if it is a result of J.J. Abrams watching Spielberg’s films as a kid.  Abrams grew up during Spielberg’s sci-fi stage, when he released Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.  The movie draws quite a bit from those films, with a dash of Jurassic Park.  I also couldn’t help but feel like the movie also resembled The Goonies and Sandlot, but that may just be a result of the young ensemble cast.  While it takes from all these movies it didn’t feel like a rehash but instead like an evolution of movies that I’ve enjoyed in the past.  While those were the start of something, this feels like the close of that chapter.  To those of us that are the target audience of twenty-five to thirty this is a remembrance of adolescence and childhood wonder.

I don’t know if Super 8 will be as long lasting as those other films, if I had to guess I’d say it won’t.  It’s probably missing whatever that magic piece is that makes something like E.T. a staple for 30 years.  That still doesn’t mean that this is a movie to miss, with the summer blockbuster list consisting of transformers and superheros that couldn’t be any more uninteresting, Super 8 might be one of the few good films that come out this summer, at least until award season rolls back around.  

-JP

Viral Video

Trailer
Super 8
Written & Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Staring: Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths, and Elle Fanning