Super 8

For all of its efforts to bring back warm, fuzzy feelings of a simpler time with summer blockbusters (the movie is not only an homage to the 70s and early 80s work of the film's producer Steven Spielberg, but literally plunders from some of them), Super 8 succeeds in many ways, yet fails in one very crucial area. Writer-director J.J. Abrams, for all that he does right here, forgets to give us a creature that we can care about. That was always a vital ingredient in films like E.T. and Close Encounters (the films Abrams most desperately is trying to emulate here). We were interested in the aliens that were at the center of those movies. Here, the source of the film's mystery is just a big, lumbering plot device designed to push events forward, and nothing else.

Saying this, Abrams does get another crucial area very right - The group of kids who act as the heroes are some of the most natural I've seen in a movie in years. Spielberg always has had a talent for showing kids in extraordinary situations, but never forgets that they're also competitive with one another, kind of foul-mouthed (in a gentle, PG-13 sort of way), and always with a sense of wonder. Abrams gets this, and you can see this in just about every scene the kids get together. Just listen to their dialogue. It doesn't even sound scripted, it sounds like Abrams just told them the situation in the current scene, and let the cameras roll. The kids, who live in the fictional steel town of Lillian, Ohio in the late 1970s, are a group of middle school outcasts and "geeks" who have come together during their summer vacation to film a homemade zombie movie for an upcoming film competition. No wonder Abrams gets this part right, as this is how he (and producer Spielberg) spent a lot of their time growing up.

I also admired how quickly and efficiently the movie set up its premise - 14-year-old protagonist Joe (Joel Courtney) recently lost his mom in a steel mill accident, and now lives a mostly lonely and sheltered life with his caring, yet distant and grief-stricken father, Jackson (Kyle Chandler), the local deputy. His dad wants to send Joe off to camp for the summer, but the kid knows the best way to spend his time off is with his friends, and helping his best friend Charles (Riley Griffiths) finish his Super 8 zombie movie. Joe and his friends go to an abandoned train station late one night to shoot a crucial scene for their movie, only to witness a terrible train accident. This sequence, depicting a military train derailing in a bizarre head-on collision with a car that suddenly drove onto the tracks, is an early candidate for the most thrilling special effects sequence of the summer. The friends swear secrecy, knowing they would get in trouble if any adults found them at the scene. But, over the next few days, strange things begin occurring as the local dogs start fleeing the town in mass numbers, car parts begin disappearing, people start being attacked by an off camera presence, and the military starts swarming the town of Lillian. Something (or someone) that the military was guarding escaped from that train accident, and is now loose.

As the town slowly goes into shut down and panic mode over whatever is lurking about, the kids continue to try to film their movie, using the increased military presence and local paranoia for dramatic effect in their movie. Meanwhile, Joe's dad is being flooded with mysterious reports of missing persons and electric appliances, and the military won't give him any answers. Super 8 cuts back and forth between these two plots, and is much better when it's dealing with the material concerning the kids. There's a shy first-romance blooming between Joe and the lovely young Alice (a wonderful Elle Fanning), which will bring the kid a lot of joy and sorrow, as it not only puts him at odds with his best friend Charles (who likes her too), but also with his dad, for reasons I will not explain, in order to avoid going too deep into plot spoilers. Still, the natural chemistry of the young performers is undeniable. They act like kids who have known each other all their lives, finish each other sentences, talk over each other, fling playful insults, and sometimes seem to be having multiple conversations all at once. It's so natural, charming, and has such an unscripted feel, you wonder why more movies can't give us such a natural depiction.

It's the overall mystery of whatever is out there where Abrams drops the ball with increasing frustration. At first it's little things, like the object that Joe finds at the crash scene. It never really ends up playing a key role in the plot, and the payoff is a letdown. Also disappointing is how Abrams never deviates from the same formula each time he tries to establish tension - Some hapless local is minding their own business or doing their job, when they hear something somewhere nearby, wonder what it could be, and then scream as something comes at them from off camera. Abrams at least has the sense to keep his monster in the shadows for most of the film, but when we finally do get a good look, it's underwhelming, and doesn't have half the personality of a classic Spielberg creature. As I mentioned earlier, the creature mainly exists to move the plot, rather than generate any actual wonder. It's a tacky modern day element of summer blockbusters that somehow snuck into this otherwise wonderful nostalgic trip dedicated to the films Abrams grew up on.

Before all that, however, the mystery it creates is quite intriguing, and the movie does work as a whole. I am recommending it, no doubt about it. The movie does a wonderful job remembering a time when family films weren't afraid to get a little thrilling or even scary. It also perfectly recreates the setting and the mood it sets out to achieve. I get the sense that kids the same age as the ones in the film will get the most out of this movie, as will adults who remember waiting in line as kids for movies like E.T., Gremlins, The Goonies, and Poltergeist. A couple modern day missteps aside, Super 8 is probably the best cinematic nostalgia trip I could hope for, and is certain to reach a lot of people in the audience in different ways.

One final note - It's criminal to see people leave the theater the second the end credits begin, and especially so here, since those who leave early will miss the chance to get to see the homemade zombie movie in its entirety. It's not only the best "credit cookie" to come along in a while, but it also once again shows Abrams' attention to detail, and the natural performances of the young actors. If we're lucky, it just might inspire a few budding filmmakers in the audience.

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