Cast: Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Noah Emmerich, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee, Gabriel Basso, Zach Mills
Plot: While filming a movie with his friends Joe Lamb (Courtney) witnesses a train crash that unleashes a dangerous creature on to his small Ohio town. When a string of strange incidents happen and the military attempt to contain the situation, Joe's father Deputy Jackson Lamb (Chandler) begins to question the military's involvement in the train's cargo.
J.J.Abrams directing, Steven Spielberg producing, a film shrouded in mystery and a plot involving a monster. Let's say I was interested in what 'Super 8' would offer. I love the idea of revealing little about a movie as nowadays we know almost everything about a film before it's even released. That was not the case here. The idea was to harken back to times where you would know little about a film till it put in front of you on the big screen and the film itself follows a similar ideal.
Abrams clearly loves the classic Spielberg films like 'Close Encounters', 'E.T.' and 'Jaws' (who doesn't?) and he pays homage to them in different ways through the course of the hour and a half running time. Whether it's a noisy group of kids or an alien that wants to get home; there are smatterings of the bearded genius everywhere. Herein lies the problem. It feels as though Abrams pilages from those movies a bit too much and made me just want go to watch 'E.T' or 'The Goonies' again. Abrams is an enormously talented and creative filmmaker and I'm certain he could have made a quality movie without essentially making a tribute to Spielberg.
Saying that however I did enjoy this movie. It's not as fun as the films picks from (it doesn't come close) but it is an enjoyable summer movie. I was slightly disappointed that there wasn't more to 'Super 8' then Spielberg love but it was a good watch and not much more than that. There is comedy, drama and action are rolled up into one and it makes for some good entertainment with the two main plot strands being the creature in the town and Joe's relationships with both his father and dream girl Alice (Elle Fanning). Annoyingly the two don't mesh all that well.
We have the human story and the extra terrestrial story and they don't seem to get along. The human side is Joe being unable to get over his mother's death, being unable to connect with his father and trying to get close to Alice. I found this is what worked about the film, but there was an alien crammed in the middle. The alien side to the story seems forced in and I found that I wanted to just see a movie about these characters without the monster and the train crash, even though that was what was initially enticing about the film.
I found that I really liked these characters and wanted them to resolve their troubles and it annoyed me when we would cut to "villian" Colonel Nelec (Emmerich) and the military because I simply didn't care what they were hiding about the alien. And then when it threatened to become interesting they simply don't tell you enough about the creature, making it a criminally underwritten character when it should have been something the audience could attach to. Abrams seems unable to decide whether the creature is misunderstood like King Kong or just a wrecking machine like the 'Cloverfield' monster and it hurts that side of the film because it sways back and forth - especially towards the end.
What works however, works very well. Joe and his friends are great together and Abrams found a likable cast of kids who actually weren't annoying. They witness the train crash first hand while filming a super 8 movie and it is a spectacular action sequence in which carriages fly and explode and the monster is set loose. The gangs reaction to the crash is great to watch as they all keep tight lipped about their being there. Charles (Griffiths) is probably the most likable of the bunch as he desperately wants to get his zombie movie made and is very very vocal about it. Elle Fanning is by far the most accomplished actor of gang and will certainly be a future star, but they all do exceptionally well coming across as a typical group of friends caught in an unusual situation.
The relationship between Joe and Alice is the film's strongest point, as their characters share similar flaws and troubles, but are forbidden from seeing each other because of their father's rivalry. Speaking of the father, Deputy Jackson Lamb, his relationship with his son is much more fractured yet is resolved much more easily and had me thinking there was a scene or two missing. It doesn't work quite as well but Kyle Chandler has a couple of moments to shine as the put upon deputy. These two relationships should have had more screen time or the alien should have; but in the end both feel slightly unfinished because they don't go together well.
Despite its flaws though 'Super 8' is an enjoyable film. I was never bored and I actually cared about the characters and their problems, but the alien derails things slightly. If there was more to the alien and the mystery surrounding it, it could have been more cohesive with the themes of the movie and been much more successfull. But ultimately the film is disjointed. What Spielberg did so brilliantly years ago, Abrams can only do half as well here. I'm sure he has that film in him that equals the legendary director but unfortunately this is not it.
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