This is super entertainment, showcasing traditional values – both social and production/story – and highlighting JJ Abrams as one of the best mainstream directors in Hollywood today.
Super 8, while co-produced by Steven Spielberg, is very much Abrams’ film: he’s the co-producer, writer and director. His very clear intention here was to produce a sci-fi movie worthy of his master – and that he does with considerable aplomb.
The set-up is simple, combining key beats from Close Encounters and ET (but not slavishly so): kids in sleepy town in 1979 make home movie on a Super 8 camera; while doing so they witness a horrific train crash (better than The Fugitive), which unleashes some sort of beastie upon the kids’ town; the military arrive to do the clean up, conspiracy theories mount as the town goes to hell in a handcart; and it falls to the kids to save the day.
The kids are great: each of them is perfectly cast and portrayed (the two leads especially so: Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning); and their group dynamic is realistic, touching and funny. The film doesn’t talk down to them – they aren’t children, they’re small adults (a very Spielberg touch that).
Abrams keeps the story moving at just the right pace with no hamfisted jumps from scene to scene: no scene outstays its welcome nor passes by too fast.
The action/disaster sequences are brilliantly staged without being overdone. Cinematographer Larry Fong (last seen on Sucker Punch!, Watchmen and 300), working with Abrams for the first time since the award-winning pilot episode of Lost, is a significant contributor to these scenes, ensuring the audience is always on the edge of its seats. The night-time scenes are particularly finely shot, complete with Abrams’ love of lens flare.
Thankfully, among all the Spielberg homage, Michael Giacchino’s score doesn’t ape John Williams’ classic ET score.
There’s a wide-eyed innocence to Super 8 (much like the summer’s other best geek movie, Thor), which stood as a beautiful and timely counterpoint to the social unrest gripping the country outside the cinema.
If you’re a 70s kid, you’ll enjoy this massively entertaining just that bit more.
Score: 8.5/10
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