Reviews by Hubie Goode: Super 8

SUPER 8

Joe Lamb       Joel Courtney
Jack Lamb      Kyle Chandler
Alice               Elle Fanning
Charles           Riley Griffiths
Nelec             Noah Emmerich
Louis Dainard       Ron Eldard

Paramount Pictures presents a film written and directed by J.J. Abrams. Running time: 112 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, language and some drug use).

One thing Spielberg sure loves to do is tell a story from the perspective of kids. I suppose all the wonder and newness of life that kids posses is great stuff for the imaginary landscape of the movie theater. That’s what Super 8 brings us, back to the waist level view point of young kids, many of whom have traits we all know and remember. JJ Abrams wrote the script and Spielberg produced, and both of these gentleman know a thing or two about story telling and the heartfelt innocence of young kids.

Some might believe that this movie was set in the 70’s but they wold be missing the musical cues of My Sharona (circa 1979) and Blondie’s Heart of Glass (circa early 80’s). Joe Lamb, the young innocent kid hero of the film (yes, named LAMB), is a buddy to a young director friend of his who likes to make zombie movies on Super 8 film. They use much cloak and dagger to produce these films, as parents would of course stop their productions. (Footloose anyone?) So they run and hide and skirt the parental laws and film in places they shouldn’t be for the natural production values. This gets them in trouble one night as they film by a train station when a huge freight train derails in fantastic sequence. It literally covers the landscape with debris, and the kids, trying to escape, are surrounded by flames and twisted metal, but you know they all survive.

Joe has lost his mom in a work accident and his father, the local deputy (soon to be sheriff) can’t help himself from sitting on the toilet and crying by himself. Joe makes friends with a local girl who feels for him and they bond in a nice kid sort of way which reminds us all of the time when things were not so puerile between boys and girls, at least no until one’s thirties anyway. So this train has crashed and there is some kind of big thing inside that breaks free, suddenly the government is there investigating and the ground is covered with small cubes that belong to another world. What in the world has just happened? Scooby Doo, where are you?

The kids are on the case in their own investigation and they also have a super 8 film that kept running during the crash as evidence. These kids are more intrepid than any I would have ever known, I can tell you. Many of the situations they find themselves in would reduce a kid to panicked tears, especially one moment for young Joe, where he actually finds courage most adults would not have had in the same instance, as he is held in a deathly embrace and only seconds from lunch time. 

Mystery abounds as the kids operate seemingly right under the noses of parents who should be demanding that they all stay “right where I can see you” until the town crisis is over. But the story is of course about the kids and their adventure at these strange times despite the fact that in a real event one or two of them would have never made it to the third act.

A Spielberg movie for sure, and a professionally done one that reminds one of classic 80’s style movies from the master. 

4/5 stars