Super 8

If you were a child of the 80s and grew up on early Spielberg movies such as The Goonies, ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Jaws, go watch this movie now; you won't regret it. Being a child of the 80s myself, I was immediately reminded of these classic movies from the acclaimed filmmaker. I have often thought that some of the great movies of all time were made in the 80s and closely adjacent years. Maybe I'm biased, but the quality and child-like charm of those films and others like Stand By Me, Jurassic Park, and the early Indiana Jones movies are hard to deny. While I also enjoy the edgier films of today, I sometimes bemoan the fact that simple but memorable movies like those from my youth just aren't made any more these days. Super 8 changes that perception and allowed me to be 12 again for a couple of hours.

***Light spoilers ensue***
Since this movie has relied on low-key secretive marketing, I'll try not to give anything away that wasn't in trailers.




A classic bunch-of-likeable-kids-have-an-adventure movie, Super 8 opens with an allusion to a tragedy: an industrial accident has left young Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) without his mother. To make matters worse, Deputy Sheriff Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler of Early Edition and Friday Night Lights) isn't much of a father. Joe finds solace in a close-knit group of friends including budding filmmaker Charles (Riley Griffiths), borderline pyromaniac Cary (Ryan Lee), somewhat nerdy Preston (Zach Mills), none-too-bright jock Martin (Gabriel Basso), and especially Alice (Elle Fanning) whom he has a bit of a crush on. Four months after his mother's death, Joe and his friends spend the summer making a Super 8 zombie-themed movie under the direction of Charles. While filming at a train station, they witness the most spectacular train wreck ever filmed. In the aftermath, they find some strange cargo and it sounds like SOMETHING came out of one of the cars. The kids high-tail it out of there as the air force arrives on the scene. Not long after, strange happenings occur in the fictional small town of Lillian, Ohio. Weird things go missing: microwaves, car parts, power cables. Dogs run away in droves. People vanish without a trace. As Joe's father tries to grapple with increasingly panicking citizens, he grows ever more distant from his son. Meanwhile Joe continues to work on his friend's movie and nurtures a growing romance with Alice, which is not without some opposition from their respective fathers. The strange events come to a climax when the air force gets more involved and sinister happenings are clearly afoot culminating in a thrilling adventure for the kids.

The acting by the children, especially Fanning (I coulda sworn she was a tiny little girl) and newcomer Courtney, is very good and very natural. The kids all have some really funny lines and background dialogue reminiscent of The Goonies. Their chemistry really sells the plot and the film. The villains are suitably mean archetypes typical of classic Spielberg movies and Chandler does his job of portraying the distant but still loving father as well as one could hope. Using relative and total unknowns for the lead roles was a smart move by Abrams and he may have discovered a great talent in Courtney (who was ironically just hoping to land a commercial for laughs and a little bit of extra money).

Clearly a loving homage to the films of Spielberg, JJ Abrams continues his unbroken streak of awesomeness with this movie that combines many of the elements of the aforementioned movies with the same wide-eyed wonder that made them memorable. Even the music by the Abrams' resident composer Michael Giacchino (who also composed the excellent score for Up among many others) was reminiscent of John Williams' scores for early Spielberg films. The imagery of small-town Americana, gorgeous backlit skies, and kids on bicycles harks back to films of the era as well. The effects are very believable and while Abrams doesn't skimp on the CGI, it is used sparingly and seamlessly, never overshadowing the story.

Derivative perhaps, but Super 8 derives from some of the best material ever made and infuses it with a heart and soul sorely lacking in so many recent films. The plot is well fleshed out and takes its time without ever being boring. Abrams is definitely one of the most gifted storytellers of our time and further collaborations with masters like Spielberg would bear glorious fruit indeed.

For near-perfection in storytelling and for allowing me to be a kid again, Super 8 gets 9 out of ten baby seals.



Oh, and do stay for the credits :)