SUPER 8 Gets A "10"

Rating: 10/10 (11 June 2011)

One of the things that make certain summers at the movies something more than just an endless stream of special effects blockbusters that promise a lot of bang for your buck, but in the end seem to offer precious little in the way of substance, is that sometimes there is that special kind of "blockbuster" that has everything you could want, and something more. SUPER 8, from writer/director J.J. Abrams, who directed the 2009 STAR TREK and 2006's MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III, is certainly one of those films for the summer of 2011. Abrams got a lot of help in bringing this film to fruition thanks to the generosity of his mentor Steven Spielberg; and while some will inevitably compare certain aspects of SUPER 8 to Spielberg's own directorial efforts, but the comparisons are just in the way that Abrams seems to understand that special effects alone do not a great movie make.
Instead of going with a big-name cast, Abrams went with comparative unknowns, most of whom were young kids. The film is set in a small Ohio town during the summer of 1979. Several kids, including Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning, are in the process of making a zombie horror flick using Super 8-millimeter Kodak film when, one night, they witness a violent train wreck that involves a truck being driven by their biology teacher (Glynn Turman). The accident is caught on camera, and they really think nothing of ituntil the Air Force mysteriously moves in to seal the accident scene. Turman warns the kids that if they tell anyone about this "incident", they and their parents may suffer some consequences too horrible to contemplate. The local police, led by Chandler, get precious little cooperation from the Air Force guys, including Noah Emmerich, and there's a good reason why. which is revealed step by step and not all at once. This is a film where a certain amount of brainpower and thought is required, even with a young cast in charge.
Abrams clearly doesn't make things easy by setting this film back in 1979, nor should he. There are no Blue Tooths, Blackberrys, IPods, the Internet, or digital cameras; instead, the means of communication are traditional telephones, citizens band radios, and the titular Super 8-millimeter camera that the kids use--this, and the sight of souped up and loud Trans-Ams. Abrams does utilize several elements of his mentor's films CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and E.T., in the way things go haywire and the power goes out with the aliens' presence (the aliens remain mostly shadow figures until the climax). And as happens in E.T., the military and the law seem to be depicted in a much more sinister light than the aliens themselves (even with all the mayhem being caused), and the kids, including Fanning (who looks like a dead ringer for a grown-up Drew Barrymore), are far more sympathetic. However, he is wise not to be so overtly slavish of his mentor.
The presence of such great 1979 hits as "Heart Of Glass" (by Blondie) and "My Sharona" (by the Knack) amidst Giacchino's dramatic score give us a good feel of what it was like back in those days. And while it is tempting in a film of this nature to hype up the special effects work, all of which is extremely good, the effects themselves don't swamp the movie. Even if the alien story part of the film is pretty much part-and-parcel of special effects blockbusters, it is what Abrams does with this plot that makes SUPER 8 more than just another high-budget blockbuster; it is a film worthy of comparisons to Spielberg himself.