Super 8 Review

Last Updated on Saturday, 18 June 2011 16:48 Written by Neil S. Saturday, 18 June 2011 16:12

This was a pretty good movie. I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting from it going in, but after seeing it you could call it a mix of The Goonies & The Explorers with a seriously pissed off alien thrown in for good measure. Because who does not like a really pissed off monster? I'm not going to spoil the whole movie for you, but I will say that you can easily tell that this is both a Spielberg and Abrams movie. Both directors have been around long enough to have their movie making system's down pat.

If you happened to grow up in the very late 70's then you will see a lot of of what you grew up with. However the scene with the gas station attendant listening to a Blondie song on his Walkman was a big blooper. In classic Spielberg fashion you only get hints and minor glimpses of the monster during the first two thirds of the movie. In my opinion this is the best way to do this. After all nothing they can show is more frighting then what our own imaginations can think up. The monster itself was good; although it did kind of remind me of the Cloverleaf monster.

One thing I did like about Super 8, was that Abrams did a good job of paying homage to those early works of Spielberg. Now JJ Abrams is no Spielberg, but he does a really admirable job trying to replicate the feel of the type of movies the bearded one made when he was young. Especially towards the end of the movie he really nails the tone, so much so that there are little moments scattered about that must have come from a suggestion from Spielberg. Anyone familiar with Spielberg’s movies and his way of thinking will recognize these. They don’t distract from the movie, just enhance it.

Let’s be clear Super 8 is not the sci-fi monster movie that some people may be expecting. There is indeed a strange creature terrorizing the kids’ town, but this plot thread is mostly used for narrative drive, and the creature itself is seldom shown in the film. What the movie chooses to focus on instead, is how this group of kids bond and develop during this extraordinary event. For the most part, J.J. Abrams pulls off a good balance of light humor, drama that’s never too heavy, and some good jump-in-your-seat thrills here and there. The downside is that the final act of the movie devolves into a standard sci-fi action chase, complete with a Spielberg-brand, gooey feel-good ending that does away with a lot of the great foundation built beneath it. However, this is often the case with stories that hinge on some kind of central mystery: the revelations are rarely as satisfying as the anticipation.

Overall this is a good summer popcorn movie, but not one I would pay evening show prices for. When you do see it; make sure you sit through the credits, it's more then worth it.

Rating: 4 out of 5