Some kids in a small town in the late ‘70s are making a zombie movie with a Super 8 camera. The director Charlie says his movie needs to have a story, characters we care about and real production value. So he gets his middle school friends to read lines like “I love you too,” to paint themselves in zombie makeup and to blow up model trains with real explosives.
To think there was a time when kids actually knew what a movie needed to make a memorable summer thrill.
J.J. Abrams, the director of the spirited and exciting monster movie mystery and adventure “Super 8,” is still one of the new kids on the block in the movie world. He’s a household name on television, but as somewhat of a director-for-hire on franchise pictures like “Mission: Impossible III” and “Star Trek,” he’s been waiting for an original story like this one to show he looks up to the big boys still making movies, specifically Steven Spielberg.
Spielberg has his paws all over “Super 8,” either as the movie’s executive producer or indirectly as one of Abrams’ influences. Without giving anything away, “Super 8” is a youthful and charming tale that combines ideas presented in “E.T.,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “The Goonies.”
And for the number of pages taken from the Spielberg handbook of summer blockbusters, Abrams is still a clever stylist on his own. Like “Star Trek” before it, “Super 8” is decorated with flashy blue lens flares and bright, extravagant set pieces. But the down to Earth fantasy of “Super 8” gives it a credible and accessible charm in the story and special effects department.
It begins, as all Abrams stories typically do, in a moment of tragedy. Joe Lamb’s (Joel Courtney) mother has died in a steel mill accident, leaving him alone with his somewhat distant father, the town’s deputy Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler). Four months later, Joe is working on a secret movie project with his friends Charles (Riley Griffiths) and the older, pretty girl Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning, Dakota’s sister).
The movie genuinely invests us in these kids’ lives and their innocent friendships, even going as far as to show us scenes from their makeshift zombie movie to get more than a few laughs.
And then “Super 8” surprises you. In a carefully suspenseful and masterfully directed action sequence that can only really be described as awesome, a truck drives on the train tracks where the kids are filming and derails an oncoming train in a spectacular display that simply floors you.
The whole film is structured with similar flashes of greatness and spectacle that never overpower the touching story between these kids. There are no cheap thrills or special effects for the sake of it in this movie. Everything is handled with tact and filmmaking prowess.
Granted, “Super 8’s” thrill ride isn’t what you would call deep, and the performances are not precisely Oscar-worthy, but the kids and adults both strike you as relatable and memorable. The chemistry between Courtney and Fanning is especially strong, and the rest of the cast is equally cute.
And their inclusion in this slightly complex sci-fi gives “Super 8” the substance and audience accessibility that Spielberg was and is so reliable for. If younger children can get past some of the scares, the film will prove to be an enduring action movie for generations to come.
4 stars