Super 8

“Super 8” was made as a summer adventure/Sci-fi film in 2011, aimed at a young audience, and as such should be fairly free from controversy., but the opposite is true. People seem to be passionately either for or against the film in a way unthinkable in previous decades. Over time, science fiction films went from low budget affairs strictly for kids to gigantically budgeted films of much greater significance; from trivial fare to films that attracted serious critical attention.Add to this the problems that arise with great expectations. “Super 8” came with an impeccable pedigree: producer Steven Spielberg and writer and director J.J. Abrams, the equivalent of royalty in the world of science fiction films. Spielberg everyone knows, but in this case it’s important to know that he was personally very involved in the project and was frequently on set. J.J. Abrams was already a major writer and producer who came out of television hits like “Felicity”, “Alias” and “Lost” before directing the first two “Star Trek” reboots, “Mission Impossible III” and “Cloverfield”. (He has stumbled somewhat with the last two “Star Wars” films, but that’s a fanbase that is impossible to please). Still, with expectations as high as they were, there was a big chance of disappointment.The film is an intentional homage to classic Spielberg of the late 70’s through early 80’s and as such is practically perfect. There are many literal references to Spielberg’s films that I won’t give away, but if I say it’s about a group of typical American suburban teenagers in 1979 who get involved in a mystery that involves a space alien, I think you get the picture. But there’s more to it than that. If you were to go to the theater without any knowledge beforehand, you would think you were watching a Spielberg film.All The Spielberg tropes are there. The setting in suburbia or a suburb-like small town, a place considered too mundane by most other directors, which Spielberg used to show that magical things can happen in the most ordinary places. The teenage central characters, a specific link to “E.T.” (in some ways you could call this film a dark version of “E.T.”), and the fact that in most of his less-serious adventure films there is at least one teen in the primary cast. Of course there is the alien being present as well as government interest with the government people here being far more serious than in “E.T.”, more like “Close Encounters” where they also stage an evacuation on false premises. Oh, and the first movie he ever made, at age 12, was about a train wreck, using his model trains.The kids even make their own movies, much as Spielberg did in his youth with “Firefly” and “Amblin” among others. As a map shows, the town is just north of Cincinnati, where Spielberg was born (though his family moved around the country a few years later). Abrams, no doubt with excellent advice, even achieves the look of a Spielberg film with camerawork, lighting and color. At one point a car races along in the foreground with a big, “Close Encounters” starry sky above.The film is a real success in summoning up the world of Spielberg, especially in “E.T.” and “Close Encounters” but how is it on its own? It mostly succeeds, especially in its first two thirds. The kids are differentiated enough and the central group (of 8) interact like real kids with conflicts, in-jokes and working together. The central character, Joe Lamb, isn’t the one directing the home movie, and that’s a nice touch. He’s also a rather quiet, slightly introverted boy into making models and is played that way convincingly by Joel Courtney. The real standout is Elle Fanning (as Alice Dainard), whose acting beyond her years is absolutely astonishing. She jumped out of the screen at me in an early scene of the group making the movie at a local train station. Her acting was so far beyond any expectation and anyone else in the film, that I had to watch the scene again. The other kids are funny, their main role. The adults are adequate, but not much more than that. They each convey the role they are supposed to be, but that’s all.The writing is a bit hit or miss, though here you get into matters of personal taste. I thought there was too much of a soap operatic backstory to the Lamb and Dainard families. Their connections may have looked great on paper but the whole thing was unnecessary and a bit too distracting. The military man in charge was too much of a stock villain without any clear motive for being so. It was much more interesting that in “E.T.” the seemingly sinister government people, in the end, were only trying to help.The special effects are good, though gratuitous at times and require the audience to suspend disbelief a few times too many. A heavy, speeding train would just smash right through a small pickup truck and keep going, but it sets up a big scene that’s wonderfully executed. Later on the CGI gets a bit much and takes over for the entire problematic finale. The finale, at least a quarter of the film, almost drops all pretense of reality (yes, it is a movie, but still...) and is the part that causes much of the negativity toward the film. One always has to give any film a certain amount of wild coincidences and improbable happenings, but here they really pile up. When the alien is shown, late in the film, it’s a bit too much of a monster and not enough of a sentient being for me. No effort at all was made to explain how the alien Rubik’s cube-like technology worked; just a hint would have been fine.Let’s get back to the beginning. This was a summer movie made for a mostly young audience to enjoy. It totally succeeds in that for me. Yes, the ending is not up to the rest of the film and feels grafted on. But it’s a good film with a great atmosphere, and most people should really enjoy it.

As a kid who grew up in the late 70's and 80's watching films like ET, Jaws and Close Encounters I was destined to enjoy this movie. For me to say that Super 8 is a nostalgic and entertaining movie would be true. To say that Super 8 is a J.J. Abrams tribute to Spielbergian cinema would be partly true. Partly. There are so many parallels to story, characters, time period and genre that's it near impossible not to immediately start making connections to which Spielberg film is being referenced in any particular scene.That said, before I get into Spielbergia I must give J.J. Abrams his due as an original artist. Anyone who has watched American television the past decade knows Abrams can deliver solidly on story and character with series like Alias, Lost and Fringe under his belt. However, until now his feature film career has been rooted in existing properties like Mission Impossible III and the new Star Trek. Both highly entertaining and visceral films in my opinion. But with Super 8 being his first original screenplay for a feature film, in some ways this was uncharted territory for Abrams. But with someone like Spielberg as his collaborator and producer and Abrams litany of experience in film-making and storytelling its hard to imagine his first original feature being anything but what we would come to expect from him. Emotional, well plotted, well acted, funny and just plain entertaining.Now that we've gotten that out of the way lets get to the fun part - the Spielberg parallels! Here's the ones I spotted, in no particular order:1. The "catalyst" into Act 2 is a spectacular train crash. Any coincidence that the 1st movie Spielberg remember's seeing as a child was 'The Greatest Show on Earth', which also contains one of the biggest train crashes in movie history? In fact, that train crash is said to be what inspired an 8 year Spielberg to shoot his first film; 2 toy trains crashing into each other (also as a way to get away with seeing his toy trains crash over and over without getting them taken away by his father.) Notice the discussion in Super 8 about filming the toy trains crashing into one another, which ultimately they do.2. The obvious MILITARY parallel of Alien Life in Close Encounters being covered up by a staged viral outbreak that kills anyone or thing that breathes it causing town evacuation. This VS. the Military coverup of Alien Life in Super 8 being a staged grass fire that causes town evacuation.3. In JAWS the scariest thing about the shark is the NOT seeing it. Same is true in Super 8, we don't fully see the monster until the film is almost finished. Builds suspense much more effectively.3. Any coincidence the place that that the Alien in Super 8 makes his final takeoff into space from a water "tower". In Close Encounters the Alien Mothership arrives and takes off from Devil's "Tower", Wyoming.4. The town hall meeting in Super 8 is very reminiscent of the town hall meeting in Close Encounters. All citizens EXCEPT the sheriff seem to be clueless and way off base about whats really going on.5. The sound that the Alien makes is VERY similar to the sound of the T-Rex in Jurassic Park (as well as the sound of the dying truck in Spielberg's 1st feature 'Duel'.)6. The main kid, Joe doesn't make good grades, as evidenced by him throwing his C+ papers aside when the Alice sees them (this could easily be a J.J. Abrams childhood connection too however.)7. In ET & CLOSE ENCOUNTERS the alien makes a "psychic" connection of some kind with the people it interacts with. In ET its Elliott "feeling" what ET feels (i.e. classroom scene with frogs & Elliott getting drunk & Elliott getting sick when ET gets sick, etc.) In Close Encounters its Richard Dreyfuss and Melinda Dillon being obsessed with the image of Devil's Tower, which ultimately draws them to it. In Super 8 every human the Alien touches "sees" what the alien feels and has been through, thus sympathizing with it.8. In ET a group of underdog kids led by Elliott "save the day" for ET. In THE GOONIES a group of underdog kids led by Mikey "save the day" for Mikey's families home which is about to be sold and bulldozed. Same here in Super 8 with Joe, the main kid taking one of the cubes which is close enough to the Water Tower to be drawn to it, thus creating a foundation for the Alien's ship to work from. Remember all the other cubes had been taken away by the government until the very end. And Joe is the one who tell the Alien to "GO" and that he understands and that bad things happen and its OK. This could be seen as the alien's motivation to leave. (my brother mentioned a parallel to 'Stand By Me' underdog kids, which is also true.)9. Slight Spielbergian cinematography connections - 2: a. The way both the gas station attendant and the airfare bus driver are "pulled away" feet first screaming by the Alien is very similar to the first death in Jurassic Park, where the gatekeeper is "pulled away" feet first screaming by the Velociraptor. b. The side tracking dolly shots of the kids running through neighborhood "up and over" hills, fences, etc is very similar to side tracking dolly shots in ET of kids riding their bikes through neighborhood "up and over" hills, fences, etc trying to get ET to the forrest.10. And here are a random sampling of other various connections I saw to Spielbergian cinema - the use of smoke and light, the conversational cadence of the kids interrupting each other & using cuss words poorly, loss of a parent, military being overly "big brother" in hiding alien, tracking and dolly shots, overhead shot of bus. I could go on and on.Without question Super 8 has a multitude of connections and parallels to Steven Spielberg films but it is also good to keep in mind that good story elements are good story elements no matter when, where or who they are used by. Many times the good ones pop up over and over again, precisely for that reason, because they work. Overlap to previous archetypes or story mythologies is inevitable because the ones we like are the ones we like, whether they are set in space or in the old west. Good storytellers are drawn to these same archetypal stories, they just flavor them differently each generation. In summation, all of these parallels could simply be a MASTER STUDENT (Abrams) following his MASTER TEACHER (Spielberg) with such skill that it comes off as an omage, which it very well may be and does not keep it from being a truly original work.BONUS!#. Not a Spielberg omage but the name of the gas station KELVIN is the 2nd reference J.J. Abrams has made to his grandfather in a feature film, the 1st being the name of one of the spaceships in Star Trek (the "U.S.S. Kelvin") And of course all LOST fans know Kelvin is the name of the guy that was in the Swan Hatch before Desmond.#. Also not a Spielberg parallel, but the kids zombie file "The Case" pays omega to George A. Romero, the godfather of zombie films by naming the chemical plant 'Romero Chemicals'. Loved that.

This JJ Abrams movie is not what you expect. It’s about tragedy and redemption. The movie focuses upon Joel Courtney who lost his mother in an industrial accident. He thinks about her every day until he meets Elle Fanning who is the daughter of the man blamed for his mom’s death. Their relationship is the way out of their mutual pain. Oh, and did I mention there’s a giant alien who escaped and is terrorizing their town? The monster and Courtney are actually connected because they have both experienced loss. Abrams focuses far more upon Courtney, Fanning and their friends then the alien. It makes it a very different kind of Sci-Fi film. Steven Spielberg’s company produced the film and it resembles some of his movies like E.T. There’s a real sense of innocence and wonder in Super 8 that can really spark your imagination.

There is so much to say about this movie that it can't be put into a general review.It is brilliant.A very good premise. A superbly worked out story arc. A fabulous nod to a whole bunch of SciFi adventure movies. It's a real crossover with a sharp script & humour, top acting, very realistic FX and well mixed sound editing.There is a niggle in one plot point where the issue is, "why didn't the creature just leave when it had the opportunity?"But apart from that it's a lot of fun. It's a youngsters adventure, with a hint of a crush story, a broken home story, a would-be movie maker's story, a military hush-up story, and a lot more besides.Loved the credits at the end.A great all-rounder.

We were half-expecting to be disappointed after reading other reviews, but we thought this was a really well made film. The kids here are super smart, and the way you're kept guessing about what exactly they're dealing with until near the end makes the film more intriguing. There are some interesting characters who've been through difficult life experiences, and you get to know about this gradually as the film progresses.

Abraams, known for rebooting film and TV franchises, here reboots Spielberg the man: you'll think you're back in 1979, with all those things Spielberg was known for: weird alien type unexplained events that never actually get explained. With a bit of ET and the Goonies thrown in for good measure. Not much originality. An ok watch. But good choice of period pop music.

I enjoyed the movie, it starts like a spielberg at his best, but then it shows it's by jj abrahams, meaning that it indulges in a mechanical plot that doesn't develop all its potential.A very nice potential actually, with a enjoyable and well done setting and presentation of the characters, some great cinema moments, and a script that, at the end of the day, can be emotional and puts each of its pieces in the right place.Still it lacks of that special touch adn style to make it memorable.Blu ray is technically great, the fil, doesn't lack of entertain, and in some parts is even emotional (in a good way)

JJ Abrams has had some good ideas - he invented Lost and Alias, the TV series, but often his films tend to be '4 star' rather than '5 star' - see the Star Trek reboot as an example.This may be an exception - inspired by the 1980s films about childhood adventures, such as ET and The Goonies, this manages to capture the same energy, with a likable cast of young actors who stumble upon a big secret whilst making their own zombie movie on an old Super 8 camera (there is also some nostalgia for the first video cameras here, no doubt the writer was remembering some films he made).