Movie Review: Super 8

There's not much to say about Super 8. Personally, I found Super 8 to be super great. As a result, this movie review will end up being on the short side. If there's one word to describe the film it's "nice". By the end of it, you just end up feeling good. The film certainly has it's dark moments, though, and starts with the death of the main character's mother. The story, you see, focuses on a group of kids trying to film a zombie movie to enter a film festival with a Super 8 camera. That's the only mention of the title in the entire movie, and it's irrelevant other than that. They could have called this movie anything, really. Anyway, after sneaking out one night to film by a train station the kids witness the most extreme train crash in the history of film. Seriously, it was ridiculous. I'd say Super 8 is worth seeing for that moment alone. After the crash, the children and their families get wrapped up in some crazy government conspiracy involving the mysterious train cargo. There's not even a whole lot I can talk about without ruining things, but I can say that this movie has been compared to Spielberg's sci-fi classic E.T. (he produced Super 8). That's a fair comparison, I'd say, as this is reminiscent of it. It also reminded me of District 9. If you've seen D9 then you'll probably understand what I mean while watching Super 8.

Overall, the film gave me a bit of a comforting feeling. It just seems to have a "classic" feel to it. Something about the story or the characters reminds me of films from 20 years ago. It's hard to even pinpoint when the movie takes place, but it has sort of a timeless feel like movies used to. It's 1979 according to a gravestone, but that doesn't seem right. It reminds me of growing up in the 90s. That's quite a difference and yet it's instantly relatable to me. The cars seem old but not that old. Nobody dresses like they're from any particular decade. TVs are the classic old fatties. The kids communicate with walkie talkies. And the Super 8 camcorder looks surprisingly modern. In a way, I think this is for the generation that grew up with E.T. Anyone who grew up from the late 70s to the 90s should be instantly transported back to childhood. Yet despite it's timeless nature, it has a modern edge and some very adult themes. Put some kids at the center of it all, though, and you've got a movie that the older audience will relate to on two levels. It's just as much a tale about the evolution of the characters' relationships as it is about the government plot. Super 8 has a surprising lack of mothers, but the single-father relationships are just as (if not more) engrossing. I think it's definitely due to the top notch cast and the excellent dialog that makes everything seem that much more real.

There was a lot of mystery surrounding Super 8 and the movie itself plays out that way. I went into it not knowing what to expect and came out surprised. It wasn't what I pictured from the mysterious trailers and advertising. It was something more. I loved this movie because it captured the magic of what filmmaking used to be, before everything became too epic and overblown. See Super 8. You deserve it.