Super 8 Review

Super 8

A

A review by Frederick Cholowski

 

    Super 8 is director J.J. Abrams's homage to the film's producer Steven Spielberg. It's also a love letter to people who have embraced the art of filmmaking at a young age. Super 8 also manages to be the first film this summer that emphasizes character and plot over special effects and action set pieces. For that reason Super 8 is also my favorite film of the summer so far.

 

    Super 8 follows Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) a young man who's troubled by the death of his mother. He and bunch of friends are helping Charles (Rickey Griffiths) complete a Zombie film for the local film festival. The group includes the always panicking Martin (Gabriel Basso), the lighting guy Preston (Zach Mills), the pyromaniac Cary (Ryan Lee), and the girl Joe has a crush on Alice (Elle Fanning). They soon find themselves in a fighting situation when as they are shooting a pickup truck derails a train. It seems like an accident until strange things start happening to the town and the air force shows up.

 

    The monster mystery set up is only a backdrop for the characters to settle their issues. For example Joe has some issues with his police officer father Jackson (Kyle Chandler) who is a bit of a workaholic. The story and characters shine here with good writing and excellent direction by J.J. Abrams. The characters are likeable and complex.

    

Some people don't like the ending of this film as much. I kind of like the ending as it feels very much like the way a Spielberg film would end. The ending fits perfectly with the tone of the film and to me never crosses the line and becomes corny.

 

For child actors there are some great performances here. This is Joel Courtney's first film and man dose it not show. He is fantastic as the awkward and sweet Joe. Also Elle Fanning (yes Dakota Fanning's younger sister) is spectacular as Alice. I would have never have guessed Elle was just 12 if I hadn't looked it up.

 

The film looks and sounds great as well. As expected with an Abrams/Spielberg creation the special effects are top notch. The beauty of the action and effects though is that they are used well and they never get in the way of the story or characters. Oh and props to composer Michael Giaccihino who creates a great John Williams like score.

 

Super 8 is a great summer film. It's Spielberg nature mixed with the modern influence of J.J. Abrams strike a perfect balance. Same with the film itself witch strikes a perfect balance of good story, character development, and action. Super 8's mix of all these things make it the best picture I've seen so far this summer. (Oh P.S. stay for a bit during the credits you won't regret doing so.)