I will attempt to summarize Super 8 in a series of haiku.
The Goonies. E.T.
Nineteen fifties sci-fi films
Film's influences
Mysterious train
Incredible collision
What is on that train?
Strange things around town
People, dogs, things go missing
U.S. Air Force comes
Kids try to solve case
Uncover awesome secret
Dark and foreboding
Okay, that kind of summarizes JJ Abrams' latest film, the much hyped and secretive Super 8, a callback to Steven Spielberg's earlier classics where kids try to be kids in an adult world while something big is happening around them. Young Joe Lamb is trying to cope with the loss of his mother. His relationship with his father has been quietly strained, both are hurting inside. He fills his time by helping out his friend Charlie make an amateur 8mm film for a local film festival. These scenes are delightfully charming. Charlie is a serious film maker always concerned with production value and perfecting his film, a campy zombie movie that brings back nostalgic feelings of the old sci-fi/horror films that Super 8 tries to recapture. In fact, these scenes are so good that a part of me wishes the entire movie was just them trying to make this zombie picture. The two kids are also joined by Carey, a kid obsessed with fireworks, Preston, the lead actor in the zombie flick, and Alice, Joe's crush who is a source of tension between Joe and his father.
While filming on location at a train station, a train passes by and is suddenly and spectacularly derailed. The kids run for their lives as the sky falls around them in one of the best action sequences I've seen in a while. Everything leading up to this moment is so innocent that the violence of the scene is jarring and suddenly these kids have more to worry about than completing their film.
What unfolds can only be described as a mystery sci-fi thriller. Watching it, I couldn't help but be reminded of JJ Abrams' famed show Lost where all sorts of crazy and mysterious stuff was going on and you had no idea what that would eventually be. What are these weird little objects that came from the train? Why is stuff suddenly disappearing? What's on the other side of the island?! Even the revelation of what was on that train is done Lost-style where old black and white footage unveils part of the story. While of course anxious to find out the big mystery, like Lost, I felt like it dragged on a little too long and by the end I was kind of underwhelmed. "Oh that's kind of cool, but that's it?" As is the case with many of these types of movies, when the length and magnitude of the mystery is dragged on too long and made too big, it will inevitably fall short of expectations. Of course, all the fun is in the build up but when you're expecting a new bicycle for Christmas and all you get is a helmet instead, you can't help but be disappointed.
That said, there are wonderful moments. There are great moments of suspense and cheap thrills. The kids are great, which is pretty rare for kids since they're mostly, you know, kids and not actors. And while on the surface Super 8 is a sci-fi mystery, at its core it is really a coming of age story for Joe and if anything it is more well-written for its touching innocence than it is for its generic plot.
Oh, also make sure to stick around during the credits as they show the zombie picture they make which is pretty awesome.
Grade: B
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