The 2011 science fiction/thriller/coming of age film, Super 8, has a great pedigree. It was written and directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg. The winner of numerous awards, it did well at the box office and won the praise of many critics. Not bad for a movie starring a bunch of kids.
IT ARRIVES
With that rather mundane tagline (and “It” didn’t arrive, it was already around), here is a brief overview of Super 8. The setting is a small town in 1979 Ohio. Teenager Joe Lamb is grieving the loss of his mother, who died in an industrial accident at her workplace. As a distraction some months later, Joe is helping his friend Charles, a wanna-be film director, with a zombie film that Charles plans to enter in a Super 8 competition. Also on the crew are three other boys and a girl named Alice (Elle Fanning), on whom Joe has an enormous crush.
As the kids film a scene late one night at a remote railroad depot, a train rumbles past. Great for “production value,” Charles announces. Joe notices a pickup truck mounting the tracks and heading for the train, and he warns the others. The ensuing crash derails the train and destroys the depot as the kids scatter. To their amazement the driver of the truck—their biology teacher—survives, and he warns them to forget what they’ve seen. As they run off, some troops from a nearby Air Force base arrive.
The kids are having a ball shooting their zombie movie…just before the train arrives.
THE THING IN THE BOXCAR
The camera that the kids had been using to shoot their scene had continued to roll. A couple of days later—this was the 1970s, and Super 8 film had to be sent to a lab for processing—Joe and Charles watch in disbelief as a large creature emerges from one of the boxcars that had been damaged in the crash. The town has already been experiencing some weird events, such as electronic items being stolen, the electricity fluctuating, and—strangest of all—townspeople disappearing. The latter includes the town sheriff, which puts Joe’s dad, deputy Jack Lamb, in charge of the mysterious happenings. But his hands are tied as the military takes over the town in a clandestine operation, even arresting Jack.
Alice and Joe have no clue about what is going on.
What is it that emerged from the boxcar? Why is the Air Force involved? It will be up to Joe and his friends to solve the mystery, at great risk to their lives, not only from the military, but from the creature itself.
As mentioned, the reviews for Super 8 were outstanding. For example: “Super 8 has thrills, visual dazzle, and emotional depth to spare.” Another said, “While the film’s genre-bending occasionally unsettles, the film’s genuine and emotionally gripping nature makes its journey believable.” And a reviewer for Time magazine referred to it as “…the year’s most thrilling, feeling mainstream movie.”
High praise from all. If you’ve never seen Super 8, or if you haven’t watched it for a while, check it out.