Flick Flak: Super 8
Super 8
Director: JJ Abrams
With: Joel Courtney, Ellen Fanning, Kyle Chandler
12A, 112mins
When a film earns one or two five-star reviews, proclaiming a film to be a classic, there are always a significant number of people to jump in and declare the film 'the worst of the year', perhaps just to be different. Inception suffered this splitting of audiences and Super 8 seems to be doing the same. In fact it is neither a classic nor awful - it is a little unoriginal and unsurprising, but incredibly good fun.
Super 8 is a homage to its producer, Steven Spielberg, and films he worked on such as ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and one of my childhood favourites, The Goonies. These films really shine through Super 8, and the warm sense of nostalgia goes a long way to making it enjoyable. A group of teenage boys, adventure, danger, mystery, and aliens - most of these were present in films I loved growing up, and Super 8 feels quite familiar for these; in both good and not so good ways.
In keeping with the secretive nature of the film's promotion, all you need to know is that a group of friends making a zombie film are accidental witnesses to an event that the military is going to serious lengths to keep quiet and soon the small town they live in becomes the site of odd incidents. Like another of JJ Abrams' films, Cloverfield, the early scenes of Super 8 are so good, and you feel so comfortable in the presence of the characters, that you actually forget it is a monster movie until it enters with a bang. And one hell of a bang at that, with Super 8 boasting one of the most dramatic train crashes in cinema.
The first half of the film is brilliant, with the increasingly mysterious events unfolding, teasing us with barely-caught glimpses of a 'something', and the lead kids gently establishing an awkward romance that does not fail to raise smiles and remind us of being teenagers, when crushes were the biggest deal in the world. The performances from the young actors are excellent, especially Joel Courtney as main character Joe, and Elle (younger sister of Dakota) Fanning. It's a rare thing for children in films to not be irritating, but these are positively likeable. Look out for Joel Courtney as Tom Sawyer in the next few years.
The film tails off slightly in the second half, with few surprises being sprung and an anti-climactic finish. But then, I loved this film for clearly being a story first and a special effects spectacle second; I imagine many films nowadays are made by writing escalating set-pieces, and then finding a loose plot to link them up. Super 8 has a story with a soul, and uses special effects when needed with great impact.
Film mag Little White Lies made a beautiful point on why those old films from our childhoods were so good: because they spoke to the adults inside children and to the children inside adults. Super 8 absolutely speaks to the children in adults and has a very good understanding of what matters to children. However, I'm not sure that this is a film for children, which is odd as barring the swearing it would be a great film for all ages.
While Super 8 is not quite the classic I was hoping for, it is still very entertaining and does what it sets out to do beautifully: it tells the story, builds atmosphere, makes us like and feel for the characters, makes you jump and laugh and gawp. I left with a smile on my face.
News » Categories » Movies
Full list of previous Flick Flaks
Related Article: Review: Super 8
1 Comment – Postiwch sylw
Jeff the Fridge
Rhoddwyd sylw 9 mis yn ôl - 11th August 2011 - 19:16pm
would have been funny if we had been in the same cinema without knowing ;)