I feel that Super 8 should have aimed to be an exciting sleeper hit rather than trying too hard to be a summer blockbuster .That is just aiming at the moon when you know the fuel will only last until you reach the clouds.I am not talking down the film.I found it quite enjoyable and have typed in 8 things about Super 8.
The Kids Rare is the film that captures that weird and endearing combination of innocence, jerkiness, raunchy immaturity, camaraderie, and so forth, which come with a pack of pre-teen boys. The kids and their banter, the way they cut each other while the other is talking makes it pleasing and natural to watch. Elle Fanning as Alice, Joel Courtney as Joe and Ryan Lee as Cary the pyromaniac kid with braces give worthy performances.Oh and back then ‘mint’ was the buzz word!
Genre Coming of age kids movie,thriller,mystery,sci–fi, it is a mix of many.
Tributes JJ Abrams has paid homage to his favourite movies while growing up.E.T, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and a few others. There is also the use of found footage from the kids' Super 8 camera which they are using to shoot their own zombie film .One would gingerly feel that this may well be an old Spielberg movie that was never released as the prints were lost.
Nostalgia Element Set in Ohio,USA, Super 8 resembles films of 1979 more so than actually 1979,which brings the nostalgia. Joel Courtney has the same innocence on his smitten face as Drew Barrymore had in E.T. It a personal film for JJ Abrams as he himself grew up making short films on Super 8 cameras and one of the two reasons it is set in 1979. One being the Area 51 connection and second that that was the time Steven Spielberg started making these kind of films.
Mystery It's a film that is a masterclass in the art of tease. Giving snippets of information and make the audiences wait for the ‘creature’. Lost dogs, lost people, disappearing microwaves and snapped electricity lines only heighten the tension. As Alfred Hitchcock said of the idea used in creating tension “A bomb is under the table and it explodes. That is surprise. The bomb is under the table but it does not explode. That is suspense.” There’s a Lost like ‘orientation video’ where the creature and the cubes are hinted about. So, only the repercussions of the actions are shown;the creature doesn’t show up until the very end.It is infact a clever plot device in a kid-drama set in a summer in USA.
Action Scenes The spectacularly filmed train scene which generated the viral interest is imaginative and is integral to the overall story arc and not just a gimmick.The whole army curfew and town evacuation are well picturised but the bombings and war-fire towards the end seems a bit too much.Watch the extended 6 minute teaser scene here.
The Big Reveal The caveat with huge curiosity build-ups is that the revelations are rarely as satisfying as the anticipation.Don’t hold your breath too much , it’s underwhelming. Rather than saying that there are plot deficiencies, I would say Abrams has chosen not to answer all the mysteries. E.T does something to phone home while, in Super 8, it is just done in the last frames as the people of Ohio watch in amazement at the sky.
Originality While we have heard of cover bands, there are people calling Super 8 a cover movie, and that it is at times too reverential to the films that inspired it. But, despite giving nods and tributes and taking plot points from the classics, it seems fresh and in a summer of sequels and superhero films, Super 8 is an original, live-action non-sequel.
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