SUPER 8

SUPER 8

Super Cool

Directed by J.J. Abrams
Starring Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler

Super 8 is writer/director J.J. Abrams’ love letter to Steven Spielberg, but beyond being an homage to one of Hollywood’s greats, it is damn entertaining. Best known for TV series Lost, J.J. Abrams is the king of mystery, showing just enough to keep you hooked, but rarely revealing the the creature or object that lies just off camera. In fact his projects are always too easy to spoil so this review will be light on details. If you don’t want anything at all spoiled, I’d probably stop reading after I say this - it’s really, very good.

Set in 1979, Super 8 feels and looks like a Steven Spielberg blockbuster that was never released, with sets and costumes that transport viewers back to that time brilliantly. As Steven Spielberg was a producer, his production company Amblin Entertainment’s logo prefacing the movie makes it feel all that more authentic. But of course it doesn’t follow his style completely, this is very much a J.J. Abrams written production, with sinister mysteries wrapped in a tense orchestral soundtrack.

Set in the small American town of Lillian, Super 8 charts the existence of a group of young friends who enjoy getting together to make zombie films on their super 8 camera. Always searching for more production value, their director auteur, the portly Charles, organises a scene to be shot at the rail station, timed with a train screaming past. As the camera rolls, the kids deliver their stiff lines and a train marked US Air Force rockets past. But as it reaches the nearby crossing, a truck smashes in to it causing an epic derailment and mysterious, white cubes to explode out of their holdings. All the while their super 8 camera keeps rolling. Going in to too much more detail would be skirting into spoiler town territory, a place I don’t feel comfortable in, so I’ll put it like this; train derails, town loses power, dogs leave town and people go missing.

The cast are brilliant, not just in the performances but also in the casting. You have all the archetypes that make up a classic Spielberg teen blockbuster - the nerd with a weak stomach, the fat loud one, the mouthy kid with big teeth and of course, the brave, but sad, lead boy with textbook swept brown hair and freckles. Elle Fanning does a superb job of playing the token female and love interest in the group, but all the actors do their parts well. Of course this would all feel like a sham if it so blatantly wasn’t supposed to be an homage to Spielberg, and with him producing it, it is pulled off.

My only criticism with the movie would have to be the ending, something I felt could have been done a bit better and smoother. But that is nitpicking on an otherwise terrific piece of cinema. I also did think there would be more super 8 footage mixed in with the movie, and there isn’t any. Well, until the credits roll. Stick around to watch the credits, you’ll thank me.

_TOM VARIAN