Movies: Super 8

Score: ****1/2 out of *****

Long Story Short: Made in the style of '80s adventure/sci-fi/coming-of-age films all put together, Super 8 is not your typical film of this day and age. However, it captures that older tone quite nicely, features a two-pronged story with both innocence and mystery, and makes prudent, effective use of today's special effects. Go see pop-culture guru J.J. Abrams' latest creation; I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Well, it's been a busy summer for me at the theater already, and we're only about halfway through. I'd say it's been about an average summer, quality-wise, but we'll see what the next wave has to offer. I'm afraid that my review for this film is rather late, yet again, but I hope it's still enjoyable. Super 8 was directed (and written) by J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, LOST, etc.), starring Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) and pretty much no one else you'd recognize. Here's my review.

The beginning of the film is a flashback 4 months before the main events of the film, where we are briefly introduced to Joe Lamb, a 13-year-old whose mother died in a steel mill accident in a small, rural town in Ohio. We also see some of his friends, and his father, a police deputy. Moving to the film's present, the summer of 1979, Joe and his friends (led by a chubby boy named Charles) are driven to a train station by Alice (the apple of Charles', and soon Joe's, eye) to film a homemade zombie movie. They manage to get some great "production value" out of the trip when the train is derailed by a truck that drives onto the tracks. The truck driver miraculously survives, and warns the kids to run away just before soldiers begin to swarm the wreckage.

After this event, Joe and his friends attempt to complete their movie (and he becomes close to Alice), while his father is overwhelmed by a string of mysteries in the town, some odd (missing toasters) and some sinister (missing people) as the Air Force sets up camp to do its own mysterious work. The Air Force, led by Col. Nelec, stages a disaster in order to evacuate the town, and Alice disappears; Joe and his friends, suspicious and trying to find their friend Alice, go to their school, where the truck driver had been a teacher, to try to find clues to what's going on. I don't want to spoil anymore, so I'll just end by saying, this takes them on a wild ride.

Even though you won't recognize many faces in this film, you'll remember some of the performances. Kyle Chandler stands out as Joe's father, who is in over his head as a police officer trying to figure things out, and struggling to help his son, and himself, past their grief over his wife's death. Alice (Elle Fanning) also stands out in displaying a complex array of traits, from playfulness to detachedness due to her broken family life, but keeping it all believable. Charles (Riley Griffiths) is another nice character, a worthy addition to the lineup of outgoing young boy group leaders in these movies. Joe's character (Joel Courtney) is actually somewhat passive, considering he's the main character, but perhaps this is to allow the audience to see themselves in his place.

The film's greatest strengths are its characters, tone, and story, but it's worth briefly mentioning other aspects. Special effects are used quite wisely in this film. The main set piece is the train wreck, alluded to in the trailers, but fully expanded in the film itself to a genuinely frightening, (literally) explosive experience. The town's "mystery" is kept pretty well under wraps, with just hints most of the way until the end, where we are treated to full realization of the truth. There's a little bit of military stuff in here, but it's more for the tone of crisis in the town than for gratuitous action. The comedy is quite good again; really, as an aside, all of the films I've seen this summer have handled humor well for the most part. Charles and Joe's other friends provide the majority of the laughs.

***

This is the best film I've seen so far this year. When I first walked out of the theater, I wasn't quite so high on it - but it slowly dawned on me how this film is really supposed to be seen. Think of it a little like music: The Beatles made, obviously, incredibly good music. But if you've been raised on the music of the '90s and later, it takes a little while to get used to the different style of the '60s. In Super 8, J.J. Abrams has made an '80s-style adventure/sci-fi film mixed with some of that era's frequent, nostalgic coming-of-age tone. When you're used to watching the most recent films (*raises hand*), you don't really expect to see something like this. But looking back on it repeatedly, I think that Abrams has done an excellent job recreating the feel of that '80s style, but modifying it slightly to better accommodate today's audience, and also, of course, making use of the latest special effects. Another review you might want to check out that I agree with is in Entertainment Weekly (probably better written but containing more spoilers). J.J. Abrams continues to emerge as perhaps the greatest creative mind in pop culture today (in my opinion); if you want to have a great time at the movies this summer, feel the old magic of a blockbuster - but don't want to just go see any old thing - make this the one.