Super 8

I came of age when the summer blockbuster was born. I have fond memories of going to see Jaws, Star Wars, Alien, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. These were magical movies that were all about story and not special effects. The age of Godzilla and Armageddon was not upon us yet, when studios would spend as much money to market movies as they did to make them. These were innocent movies in a more innocent time.

Director J.J. Abrams in a loving homage to those early days of great science fiction fantasy takes us back, and makes us realize how much we miss good movies, with his superb movie Super 8. The movie feels like a classic Steven Spielberg film and the fact that Spielberg is the producer might have something to do with it. But Abrams and Spielberg have known each other for years and have always been looking for the right opportunity to work together. Abrams grew up watching the same movies I did and in Super 8 he has re-created the perfect summer movie. Super 8 takes the sci-fi elements from Close Encounters and mixes them with the fear from Jaws, and then adds all the warmth from E.T., and gives us a film that will make you jump in your seat, but also touch your heart with a sense of wonder. 

The film follows the story of a group of kids, geeks, who are making a zombie movie with a home movie camera. The film is Super 8, a type of 8mm film, hence the title. One night, while filming they witness a horrific train crash, and when the military moves in to clean-up, they begin to realize that everything is not what it seems.

I won't go into the plot any further than that because you need the movie to unfold for you in it's own special way. Abrams has written a frighteningly good script that relies more on the human emotions of his actors than it does on the CGI guys creating the special effects. The bulk of the movie falls on new comer Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb, a boy who is learning some hard facts about life, but still filled with an adolescent sense of wonder and adventure.

Super 8 is not your typical summer blockbuster. There are no big name stars in Super 8. The very effective Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Light's) stars as  Joe's dad. The only girl amongst the group of boy movie makers is Elle Fanning (sister of Dakota Fanning) and playing her dad is Ron Eldard (ER, Deep Impact, Black Hawk Down). And that's it. The film is not a sequel or a super-hero movie. In addition Paramount used an almost stealth like marketing campaign. I could not find anyone under the age of 40 who even knew what the title referred to (super 8mm film became obsolete in the early 90's with the advent of the camcorder). The trailer looked great, but explained little, and the advertising art of a landscape vertical in the frame told even less. In many ways the marketing campaign resembled another film, a little summer flick from 1982 called E.T., also directed by a new, but successful director. That film went on to  be one of the biggest hits of all time. Let's hope Super 8 does the same.

At The Movie House rating ****