Super 8
Super 8 comes with high expectations brought to us by the creative team of J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg. It follows a group of kids who are filming their own B movie. Whilst they are filing a scene, a train is destroyed right in front of their eyes. Something was inside the train but the kids, fearful of what the army will say, run away with one of the artefacts. Soon after people, pets and appliances begin to go missing. What really was on that train?
Super 8 will leave you feeling slightly disappointed. There is the basis of a good movie, here and it comes with a creative team that could produce the goods. Unfortunately by the time we hit the second act the film falters, losing any of the impact that it once had. The first act flourishes with an intriguing plot that draws you in; the characters have enough going for them to make you want to find out more. There is nothing original about the plot but at this point it does not matter because it has been executed perfectly. Yet by the time we get to act two, the plot has veered into something so typical, so lacking in any vision that it almost undoes all the good work done in the opening hour. Momentum that is not regained until the credits scene where we finally see the finished movie the kids were working on.
Like in Abrams’ previous venture Cloverfield, the alien in the first part of the film is very effective. Abrams uses the same technique never truly allowing you to see it. This, in my opinion, is always more effective because everyone is scared of different things and by allowing you to fill in the blanks, it creates a far more satisfying effect. Yet by act two all of their good work is ruined by showing us the alien in full, leaving you feeling subdued as the effects never live up to what your brain had envisioned.
The dialogue works well in general. Some of it does feel clichéd, but it is assumed that this was deliberate in order to link in with the B movie feel, especially when the kids are producing their movie. There are some brilliantly witty one-liners that hold the show together.
Further, as the film hurdles on, certain characters begin to grate on you to the extent that you are pleading for them to vanish along with the pets. Charles (Riley Griffths) is like a fly that will not leave you. You are desperate to swat him away, to stop the annoying buzz but he just does not leave.
Super 8 is an irritating mixed bag: its opening act is winning yet the middle falls apart and it never truly gets back on its feet. For many heralding this as the film of the summer, it would give the impression that this has been a weak summer because this is a thoroughly flawed film.
