Super 8 Review

Last year if you went to see a movie called “Iron Man 2”, you probably saw a little teaser trailer that went like this. Somebody drives their pick up truck onto a railroad with a train approaching. The truck collides with the train causing a spectacular wreck. As this happens we are told that in 1979 a section of Area 51 was closed by the Air Force. Also that all materials in that section were being transported into another facility somewhere in Ohio. After we see the train derail, it spans over the wreckage and comes to one of the cars. Something inside the car is making noise. The final image of that trailer is the door to that car being busted open from something inside. This was the setup for one of this summer’s most anticipated and hyped up films. “Super 8” is the name of this movie and is without a doubt one of this year’s best.

Now I will try to keep the summary of the plot simple and try not to reveal any major details. The film focuses on a group of friends who live in a small town in Ohio. Center in this group is Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) and his father Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler). As the film opens Joe and Jackson have recently suffered a personal tragedy. Jackson’s wife was killed in an accident. The film then flashes forward four months later and Joe is busy with his friends making a movie. His buddy Charles (Riley Griffiths) is making a zombie movie for a film festival being held in the town. In so doing Charles manages to get Alice (Elle Fanning) to play the wife of the main character in his film. Joe has a huge crush on Alice by the way. While they out at a train station filming a scene they witness the huge crash that I described before. They manage to capture the crash and what happened afterward on the eight millimeter camera that they are using. They also capture what was in one of the cars. This is a major secret that has been kept under huge wraps since the late 1950s. This “secret” then starts causing havoc on the small and quiet town. People start disappearing as well as any piece of an electronic nature.

Although this secret is of course what we have all known for the past year is simply an alien creature. However there are lots of little things about this creature that are best told by simply watching this movie. You are kept in the dark so much that you keep guessing as to what will happen and this of course leads to a lot of suspenseful moments. That is how the film’s director J.J. Abrams has built the suspense of this movie for the last year. He likes to keep all of the major details of the plot under huge wraps so that you actually have to go see the movie in the theatres to find out what it’s all about.

Super 8 is an homage to the earlier films of Steven Spielberg. In case you did not know already, Spielberg is one of the producer’s of this movie. As you are watching this movie you get a lot of references and memories of films like Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, and The Goonies. But in its heart it is also a coming of age story that echoes the innocence that was explored in Spielberg’s films of the 1980s. And that is where the film draws its power from. But is also allows Abrams to show his love for science fiction by throwing a monster movie plot into the mix. This film is basically a story of friends who are making a movie, with a little family drama, and a monster movie with all of the usual plot points, government coverups, man’s inhumanity to anything diffrent from us, rivalry between friends, and many others.

All in all, Super 8 is without a doubt one of the best films of the year. It’s full of a lot of fantastic moviemaking. Abrams proves that he is the new Spielberg with this picture. He brings with him all of those memories that helped make Spielberg the director he is today. There is a reason that Spielberg is considered the most influential filmmaker of this generation. This film exhibits all of those influences while at the same time giving another director, who grew up watching those films, his chance to shine. In so doing Abrams has brought together a great cast of talented actors. Joel Courtney is this year’s breakout star. As well as Elle Fanning who is following in the footsteps of her older sister Dakota. Riley Griffiths adds lots of comic relief, as does the rest of the young bunch. Kyle Chandler brings a strong presence to the picture as the seemingly absent father who is trying his hardest to move on from his personal grief but can’t. Also the creature in this movie is extremely well thought up and brilliantly executed. The creature is treated like the shark in Jaws. You don’t see it until the film is just about over. Anything before that is a quick and dark flash that keeps in suspense. Super 8 lived up to the hype that has been building for the last year. It delivered something that is lots of fun and full of adventure. But also it is a film that is the joining of two huge forces in Hollywood. And these forces have delivered one of the best films of the year. This is one of those rarities that must be seen in the theatres.

Adam Miller

Movies Correspondent and Associate Producer, The RPM Show

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