By Melissa Garza
Admittedly, I was a Johnny-come-lately fan of J.J. Abrams. I never got into Lost or Alias and Cloverfield never interested me. I began taking notice of Abrams work with the 2009 blockbuster, Star Trek. When I saw the preview for Super 8, I thought it looked pretty interesting. I knew it was a must-see when the trailer indicated that producer Steven Spielberg and director J.J. Abrams was going to remind audiences why movie theaters were fun.
Apprehensively, I went in- hoping not to once again be disappointed with mainstream movies. Thankfully, Super 8 delivers from beginning to end in every way a great movie should.
The movie takes place in 1979 when young Joe’s (Joel Courtney) mom dies in a work accident. His father, Deputy Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler) blames her deadbeat coworker Louis (Ron Eldard). Louis hadn’t shown up for work, and Joe’s mom took the shift to protect Louis from being fired. Louis shows up at the funeral reception attempting to give his condolences but is thrown out by Jackson.
Meanwhile, Joe has a crush on Louis’s daughter Alice (Elle Fanning) who Jackson forbids him to see. Joe doesn’t listen, and along with Alice and a few friends they start making a zombie movie. While filming they see a car drive on train tracks and collide causing an explosion.
What starts off as just an awful accident, takes a turn for the strange when animals, people and items start turning up missing in town. It is then revealed than an alien is among the people causing all the havoc. The kids unknowingly get footage of the beast.
The air force gets involved quickly and evacuates the town by starting a wildfire. Jackson becomes suspicious and taps into the air force’s frequency to get information. When he confronts them, he is placed under military surveillance.
It is up to the kids to find the alien and free the townspeople still living.
One part IT and one part Goonies, Super 8 is an action packed thriller which is family friendly, entertaining, and heart-stopping. The characters are well-developed and the actors are topnotch – especially for being children.
This is one of very few movies which have come out and have the feel of a big production. When I was a kid huge blockbusters like Back to the Future, E.T., Indiana Jones, etc seemed to come out all the time. Nowadays, movies that really bring you into the action and capture the momentum of a classic are too few and far between. Super 8 does this remarkably well.
Scared Stiff Rating: 9/10