Super 8: Giant Aliens and Other Rites of Passage

I didn't really have a ton of drive to go out and see Super 8. It wasn't like I was boycotting the movie or anything, but it didn't really hold much interest to me. So what turned me around? A simple lack of anything better to do.

Let's do a quick rundown of what this pic's about. Our hero is the adolescent Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney). The movie opens with the death of his mother in a factory accident. At the funeral that we are introduced to the major players in the movie, the most important whom are Joe's father (Kyle Chandler) and Joe's ragtag group of best buds. Cut to four months later and the boys are in the midst of filming a zombie movie on a Super 8 camera. In need of an actress to play the female lead they recruit the help of Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning). The crew then hikes out to remote railway station to film a scene for their zombie flick. Whilst filming, Alice and the boys are witness to a massive train crash which sends a alien loose on their small Ohio town. Wackiness ensues.

That's really the main stuff you need to know about the plot. Despite what the initial trailers may have led you to believe, Super 8 is not some thriller with a killer last minute twist. It's actually a pretty straightforward coming of age tale/children's adventure story mixed with a monster movie (though to be fair that mix significantly favors the coming of age tale of the monster story).

To me the movie shined brightest when it focused on the kids. Now normally child actors get a bad rap. And it's true, a lot of them tend to come across as obnoxious, overly precocious creeps. But the kids in Super 8 aren't like that, instead they generally act like real live kids. Elle Fanning, not surprisingly, stands out among the kids. Her innocent romance with the protagonist is incredibly sweet and believable. If I had any major complaints it would actually be that they didn't focus on the kids enough. When the movie shifts to focus on the military or the adults it slowed the film down for me considerably. I would have liked for these scenes to have been replaced with further characterization of the boys. In particular the chubby loud-mouthed friend and the kid with the fireworks fetish were really entertaining, and were ripe for more screen time.

I feel obligated to say a few words about the alien even though I don't have all that much to say about him. The alien looks good and is both menacing and sympathetic when he needs to be. He gets the job done, but he's look isn't going to be seared into my brain or anything. As the alien is really only a secondary aspect to the movie, however, this didn't bother me all too much.

I have a feeling that kids will eat this story up. Adults will get a kick out of it too. Super 8 doesn't really cover any new ground, but it's a solid reworking of a classic adventure story that was pretty solid to begin with. As long as you're inner child isn't completely dead and buried I recommend you check this out. Oh, and be sure to stick around through the credits to see the kids' zombie movie, "The Case" in its entirety. I'm not going to lie, a part of me feels that The Case was the best part of the movie. Initially expecting a cheap gag, I was surprised at its legitimate comic and entertainment value.