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Abrams joins with Spielberg for some on-screen magic
Super
8 was one of those movies that just didn't really grab me and demand
my immediate attention mostly due to the fact I'm not really the
target audience any longer. But I watched it anyway because really
I'm a kid at heart and I don't really know when to say no to a movie.
I went in knowing there were a bunch of kids and they were going to
have an adventure and there was going to be an unseen thing that
might send chills down our backs if we had a weak fortitude.
I'm
going to say right away that J.J. Abrams is totally a hit or miss
when he delivers something to me. I thought Cloverfield was a waste
of time mostly because I was promised an American Godzilla-like
franchise and nothing in that movie was remotely enjoyable like any
of the original Godzilla movies of old. I also wanted to punch most
of the cast and not to mention the shaky cam, but I digress. For me,
the point was whether or not Spielberg could help sway Abrams back
into the black.
I
can say yes, but (and there is always a but), I really feel that if
this was just a Spielberg movie the adventure would have been more
enjoyable. I'd rather not give away too much but for too long you
live in this mystery of what it is and it is borderline interesting
but as soon as it is all revealed (more or less in the middle of the
movie), I just wanted to see the zombie movie the kids were making
and I in no way cared about the main story.
The
movie opens with a steel mill taking down their sign of Accident free
for 753 days and putting up the lonely 1. So right off the bat we
know someone had an accident and quickly you find out that it was a
woman and that everyone blames this drunk fool. For quite some time
you are led to believe that this is a rather important piece of
information that everyone in the movie knows (except for the main
character). When it's finally revealed, however, it's a large
letdown, which is similar to the big picture storyline, to be honest.
The movie is truly the definition of “the whole is greater than
the sum of its parts”. Actually, some small parts really make the
movie. The entire sequence of events that lead them to a train
station to make a movie is rich with realistic portrayal of
children's enthusiastic behaviour coupled with their non-existent
mortality and of course their desire for the unknown. The generously
“borrowed” car feeds the first taste of their own mortality and
their hopes of filming the greatest movie ever created.
 |
| We're acting! |
There
are also some pretty humorous lines throughout the movie, such as
“Production value!” being screamed by the want-to-be director a
couple of times; a lot of the lines from their fake movie are gold,
although the best line might be when the old timer sheriff talks
about the slippery slope. I thought the writing was solid
surrounding any kind of character development sequences. It
certainly helped a lot of the kids seem to come to life along with
most of the supporting characters.
I
couldn't help but really enjoy seeing the aspirations of these
children trying to make a movie for a big contest. All the
stereotypical characters were in the group and they were all acted
amazingly actually. I thought this may have contained the best set
of child actors I've seen in a movie, especially considering the
movie is mostly made up of children. The characters of Joe Lamb, Cary
and Alice Dainard (played by Joel Courtney, Ryan Lee and Elle Fanning
respectively) were absolute gems. Special props goes to the writers
for writing in Cary with his obsession with pyrotechnics. Everyone
knew someone like this as a kid – I sure did so I was glad to see
it represented on screen. I believe Elle Fanning stole the show,
however, though not having as much screen time as others and having
to live in the shadow of Dakota. After watching her in Super 8, I'd
have to believe that the shadow is rather diminished by now
(especially since Dakota is now soaked up in the Twilight saga).
The
movie is not without its problems. It didn't bring anything new to
the table; The Goonies and ET are solid examples of movies it wants
to be, and the argument can be made that they did it better and 25+
years ago, but for a new generation this could be their movie they
talk about in 25 years as the great kids adventure movie.
I
gave it a 7/10
PS:
The ending credits gave me what I truly wanted. If I knew, I would
have gone to theatres to see that alone.
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