Super 8

School is out and Joe (Joel Courtney), Cary (Ryan Lee), Preston (Zach Mills) and Martin (Gabriel Basso) are all sneaking out of the house at midnight to help their friend Charles (Riley Griffiths) finish his film. Charles is consumed by film and he believes that with the help of his friends that he’ll be able to win a local Super 8 movie contest. With Joe doing make-up, Martin playing the lead, and Cary willing to die multiple times and blow things up, all that is left is Preston behind the camera and their little zombie flick has a chance. But when writer and director Charles begins to doubt the quality of his script, they are competing with high schoolers after all, he decides to give his detective a wife, So, he recruits Alice Dainard, played by Elle Fanning, to play the love interest and Joe for one is thrilled.

While out at a remote part of town, filming at an empty railroad station, an unscheduled train approaches and Charles decides to use it in his film. But just as it passes by the train derails dumping its load and a very nasty secret. As the army tries to cover things up, Joe’s dad (Kyle Chandler) who is the local sheriff becomes mighty suspicious and starts digging for the real truth. The whole town gets swept up in the subterfuge and only the kids have proof of what the army is really hiding.
 
Super 8 is a pure, overblown, popcorn chomping, summer flick. Yet when the kids are on screen the entire film is elevated. They provide an underlining tenderness and weight to the film and an excuse for all mayhem. Elle Fanning is tremendous in this film and Joel Courtney provides a nice natural counterpoint for her intensity. Ron Eldard plays her dad and he is indirectly responsible for the death of Joe’s mother. This dynamic fuels the film because Joe’s dad, the sheriff, still can’t forgive him. Alice and Joe’s attraction becomes like Romeo and Juliet as their two widower fathers deal with their grief. Joe and Alice are the heart of the film and their relationship is the catalyst for all kinds of action.
 
Super 8 writer and director J.J. Abrams keeps the army’s secret hidden for as long as possible and then when he must reveal it, he only gives us a piece at a time. Like a certain smoke monster on a Lost island in the pacific, the answer to this mystery is slow in coming. But luckily for us the kids are so engaging that we enjoy the wait. Also it was fun having a 1970’s rural America setting. It reminded me of a time when children still came together to play, sharing a summer of magic. A time before videogames, iPods, and DVR’s began to keep us apart. Super 8 is a reminder of a different era when the lives of kids were more simple. Soon Stars Wars would premiere and then Raiders and all the rest. The world would enter the digital age with home computers, mobile phones and things would never be the same. This film is a throwback to when the “Event” film got started. It’s a nod to Spielberg, Lucas, and the films of that age. But what I liked best was the capturing of innocent youth. Super 8 is a tribute to a simpler time when the imagination of children ruled the summer. Thankfully some of them grew up to make films and our summers will be forever captured.

Rating: First Run A pure, overblown, popcorn chomping, summer flick