In the 1970s, a young Stephen Spielberg began to earn mainstream attention for his family-oriented science fiction films, which often played with themes of adolescence and nostalgia.
"Super 8" is a film that attempts to pay tribute to the Spielberg films of the ‘70s; the problem is it never establishes itself as more than that style and wastes a good amount of potential trying to be an homage film, rather than establishing its own identity.
"Super 8" tells the story of a group of five kids who get together to make a monster movie,— a zombie movie to be exact. One night while filming, they witness a horrific train accident in the background of the filming. Shortly after the accident, the military shows up and begins assuming control of the town. Strange events happen as a monster appears in town: people go missing and dogs run away. As the monster wreaks havoc, the kids investigate to find out what's really happening.
The main character is Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), a kid whose talents lie in movie make-up. Joe has gone through the terrible loss of his mother, and is trying to connect with his estranged father.
At first Joe is seen hanging out with his best friend Charles (Riley Griffiths), as they and some friends attempt to make homemade movies. Eventually, Joe begins to fall in love with a girl named Alice (Elle Fanning) right as the monster appears in the movie.
The one actor who really shines is Kyle Chandler, known to most as Coach Eric Taylor of the television show "Friday Night Lights." Chandler plays Joe's father and is the deputy of the town, delivering dialogue with the utmost sincerity to help the plot take off during crucial moments. Given that the cast is nearly all kid actors, there aren't many performances worth noting outside of Chandler.
The only exception is Griffiths, who actually establishes some conflict and depth with his character. Charles creates tension with Lamb, challenging his perceptions of the situation. If any of these kids have a solid future in movies, it will probably be him.
The monster, not surprisingly, looks a lot better in glimpses and snippets than it does fully realized. The monster also suffers from how hard the narrative works to mold it into a morally-just character.
I understand the need for complexity, but the creature's back-story makes the plot extraordinarily broad-stroked. The creature is explained as a misunderstood alien who has been abused, and the military are portrayed as the bad guys, torturing him for information about his home planet. In general, characters are placed inside rigid boxes that allow them only to behave so the audience can tell exactly who the villains are.
Ironically, in a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, Steven Spielberg said that he hates the term "Spielbergian." Spielberg denounces this term because he believes "Super 8" is J.J. Abrams' project, and might even be considered his first "real" movie. Spielberg seems to believe that this project is Abrams' most true and personal piece of work, and while I don't doubt that this story is very personal to Abrams, I also think that Spielberg's influence is undeniable on the story.
The best example of "Spielbergian" film style in "Super 8" is the narrative itself. The story is built around the audience having the morals of the story drummed into them constantly; it's a wonder audience members weren't dying of exhaustion by the end.
The viewers are repeatedly given reasons why the military is evil, why the kids are innocent and misunderstood, why the kids' parents should get along and let their kids be friends; it builds to a point where there is little room for developing interesting characters. Narrative choices like this hold the story back, instead of allowing it to go through an interesting evolution, forcing it to continually regress back through recycled material.
Overall I think "Super 8" is a great idea that doesn't quite deliver. The nostalgic aspects of the story make it instantly relatable, but it feels like a story about some kids making a movie collided head on with a monster movie, and the resulting crash wasn't quite as spectacular as the one we see in the film.
"Super 8" receives a 6.5/10.
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