Movie Review: 'Super 8'

Directed by J.J. Abrams

Starring: Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler

My Rating: 8/10

These days, sometimes it feels like something is missing from Hollywood's big blockbusters. If they're not superhero movies, sequels, or remakes, they'll at least be packed with as many big name actors as it can afford. J.J. Abrams' new film, "Super 8," looks back to a different time in blockbuster history, the late 70s and early 80s, and aims to create a sort of homage to the blockbusters of Steven Spielberg. That being said, it doesn't necessarily have anything we've never seen before, but it certainly has a lot we haven't seen in a long time, and Abrams does enough with all this to make the film feel fresh and exciting. While viewers may notice some similarity to Spielberg films such as "E.T.," and even "Jaws" or "Jurassic Park," it's otherwise a pretty original story that's not based off of a comic book, tv show, or novel. It's main characters are all kids, but it never feels like it's a kids' film, and instead feels like something your whole family could enjoy. Like the films that it's modeled after, it deftly blends humor, drama, and genuine thrills, and makes a wonderful and satisfying movie. I think that its only huge flaw was that it follows Spielberg a bit too closely, making the ending a little predictable for anyone who's ever seen one of his films before.

"Super 8" takes place in the late 1970s, and is about a young teen named Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), who loses his mother in an accident. He struggles to get along with his dad (Kyle Chandler), the town's local deputy, who's similarly devastated by his wife's sudden death. Joe's group of friends, led by amateur film maker Charles (Riley Griffiths), are trying to put together a zombie film, for which Joe is the head make-up artist. Charles' happens to invite Joe's crush, Alice (Elle Fanning), to film a scene for their movie at midnight by the local train station. While filming, the kids witness a terrible train accident, and manage to run from the scene right before the military arrives. After this, strange incidents start to occur in the town. Dogs run away, people's electronics and cars go missing, and soon even people start to disappear. Through all of this, Joe and his friends try to piece together what really happened at the train crash, while Joe continues to deal with his struggling relationship with his father, the loss of his mother, and his newfound friendship with Alice.

It's these relationships that really make the film worthwhile. Super 8 boasts some spectacular special effects, and does a particularly great job of letting the suspense and mystery around the disappearances build throughout the film, keeping you on the edge of your seat. However, Abrams' knows that none of this means anything if we don't care about the characters, and if you were to strip away the special effects, the suspense, and the mystery, you'd still be left with a good coming-of-age drama about a boy gaining self confidence and learning to get along with his father. All the young actors in this are very good, and I thought they all did a fantastic job working together, and playing off of each other and teasing each other the way you'd expect a real group of young teens would. Of course, this is a summer blockbuster, and a Spielberg style one at that, so expect plenty of those special effects I mentioned, as well as action, and even some scarier moments that will make you jump from your seats!

While the film is able to keep us hooked throughout Joe's story as well as the surrounding mystery, I think the one big problem is that all the suspense leads to a slight let-down of an ending. Even though I've only seen a handful of Spielberg's old films, I was still really easily able to predict how the movie would end.

Overall, however, "Super 8" is a must-watch film this summer. It manages to create an original story even while staying true to Steven Spielberg's style, as well as provide plenty of thrills and even more emotional moments. In a recent interview, JJ Abrams said that with this film, he hoped to create " a movie that was not just a comedy, not just a horror movie, not just a science fiction film, not just a love story, not just an emotional family trauma or a weird sort of paranoid thriller, but all of them," and he definitely succeeds at that.

Once again, I realize I'm reviewing a movie that's already been playing for several weeks, (one of the problems with writing movie reviews as a hobby rather than a profession, I suppose!) so I'm sure most of you have seen it by now. If so, what did you think of Super 8?