Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Run Time: 112 min
How do you keep secrets in the age of internet? Apparantly J.J can do that and he has been successful in keeping so many mouth shut on his projects (Star Trek and Cloverfield). The teaser trailer can make you think that this is some sort of prequel to Cloverfield and it will be a full action alien movie.
But not keeping any expectation or even trying to peek what Super 8 is all about really pays off, at least for me. I didn't even want to know anything about this film. Set in the 70s (hence the Super 8 film stock as the reference and it is a nice reference since Spielberg and Abrams were both raised in this era, although Abrams is younger. So the film format itself is sort of a nostalgic road trip for both of them) the main protagonist is not some 20 year something spy but a 12 year old kid named Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney). Lamb helps his friend, Charley (Riley Griffiths) to make a cheap 8mm zombie movie for a local film festival. They were helped by their friends and there is always be a love interest for the protagonist in the form of 14 year old Alice (Elle Fanning). From the beginning of the film, it is being told that Lamb's mother died in an accident and his father Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler, I know him from Early Edition TV series), is drowning his grief in his job as a sheriff deputy.
As the kids try to film a scene on an empty train station something tragic happened, a pickup is making the train derailed, leaving so many explosions. The camera accidentally capture a disturbing image.
Soon the kids learn that their small town is being swarmed by military men and they suspect it has something to do with the cargo of the train. Will they be able to solve the mystery? Make the film on time and survive the test of friendship and first crush?
It is interesting to point out that everything is from the point of view of the kids and whatever inside the cargo is actually a fringe story. The core of the story is about friendship and ability to let go.
Does this remind you to E.T.? Not a surprise since Steven Spielberg is the producer. As a director Abrams managed to deliver a convincing drama about small town kids accompanied by a very good special effect plus the artistic lens flare. I think this is not a ripoff of E.T. but a nostalgia on movies based on friendship like Stand by Me or E.T. itself where a big thing affecting the lives of many ordinary people manage to change their perspective on their life and in the end we care about the characters and doesn't care about the effects at all.
Run Time: 112 min
How do you keep secrets in the age of internet? Apparantly J.J can do that and he has been successful in keeping so many mouth shut on his projects (Star Trek and Cloverfield). The teaser trailer can make you think that this is some sort of prequel to Cloverfield and it will be a full action alien movie.
But not keeping any expectation or even trying to peek what Super 8 is all about really pays off, at least for me. I didn't even want to know anything about this film. Set in the 70s (hence the Super 8 film stock as the reference and it is a nice reference since Spielberg and Abrams were both raised in this era, although Abrams is younger. So the film format itself is sort of a nostalgic road trip for both of them) the main protagonist is not some 20 year something spy but a 12 year old kid named Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney). Lamb helps his friend, Charley (Riley Griffiths) to make a cheap 8mm zombie movie for a local film festival. They were helped by their friends and there is always be a love interest for the protagonist in the form of 14 year old Alice (Elle Fanning). From the beginning of the film, it is being told that Lamb's mother died in an accident and his father Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler, I know him from Early Edition TV series), is drowning his grief in his job as a sheriff deputy.
As the kids try to film a scene on an empty train station something tragic happened, a pickup is making the train derailed, leaving so many explosions. The camera accidentally capture a disturbing image.
Soon the kids learn that their small town is being swarmed by military men and they suspect it has something to do with the cargo of the train. Will they be able to solve the mystery? Make the film on time and survive the test of friendship and first crush?
It is interesting to point out that everything is from the point of view of the kids and whatever inside the cargo is actually a fringe story. The core of the story is about friendship and ability to let go.
Does this remind you to E.T.? Not a surprise since Steven Spielberg is the producer. As a director Abrams managed to deliver a convincing drama about small town kids accompanied by a very good special effect plus the artistic lens flare. I think this is not a ripoff of E.T. but a nostalgia on movies based on friendship like Stand by Me or E.T. itself where a big thing affecting the lives of many ordinary people manage to change their perspective on their life and in the end we care about the characters and doesn't care about the effects at all.
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