Last night I finally sat down to watch Super 8, a film I didn’t have a whole lot of enthusiasm but which I was sure I would enjoy. The film begins, and it’s instantly obvious just how much of an homage to Spielberg the film was going to be. Close Encounters, Jaws, even what I believe was a wink to Jurassic Park 2’s hidey high, this film was full of little nods to the godfather of modern cinema.
The film began with so much promise. The kids cast in the film were superb, with Dakota Fanning’s little sister Elle a particular delight. The interplay between kids is something cinema’s been missing for quite some time; for once, directors have actually found a cast of kids who really can act. Watching the film, it’s difficult not to be reminded of yet another Spielberg production – The Goonies. Super 8 plays like the jacked up, sci-fi big brother of the classic 80’s flick, and it’s all the better for it.
Where the film suffers, however, is when it tries to hard to be a blockbuster. The ‘villain’ of the film (and it’s difficult to say villain when you’re both not scared of it and not interested in it) feels like it’s been tacked on, which is a shame, as it’s clear that there was some effort at giving it some back story, even an attempt at empathy. There is just no presence of fear in the film past the train crash in the first 20 minutes (which is, admittedly, a pretty kick-ass train crash). The climax loses all the momentum the rest of the film gained, with Abrams seemingly desperate to please adrenaline junkies in the audience. He needn’t have; the film would have worked so much better as a character study, a summer in the lives of these kids trying to make their movie as they move awkwardly through puberty. In reality, it seems like Abrams simply had a brainwave of ‘HOW COOL WOULD IT BE TO DO A MASH-UP OF THE GOONIES AND CLOVERFIELD?!’ Yeah, me neither…
Don’t get me wrong, this is by no means a bad movie. It’s fantastic, up until the last act. Characters mentioned in the first act are bought back only to be ripped back out literally seconds later, just to up the fear factor. Abram’s monster looks like the bastard love child of General Grievous and a Cabbage Patch Kid, a sight which is in no way even remotely scary.
Throughout most of the film, I simply couldn’t help but think to myself ‘God I hope Abrams gets this alien thing out of his system’. He is a writer and director so full of promise, but if with every movie he feels the need to slap an alien threat smack bang in the middle of it, people will start to get bored. Show us a little more of what you’re capable of, J.J.
bywayofthegreenlinebus 