Spielberg clone wins no points for bashing US military and scientific communities

Rating: 4/10 (12 June 2011)

It sure doesn't hurt to have your film produced by Steven Spielberg and apparently J.J. Abrams, creator of the highly commercially successful 'Super 8', understood that the way to Mr. Spielberg's heart (as well as his purse strings) was to create an homage to the 'master', a Spielberg clone if you will, that both legendary director and scores of uncritical teenagers could appreciate.
'Super 8' certainly begins with a clever concept. A group of teenagers are shooting their own amateur detective zombie movie which they hope to enter in a statewide competition. You can see how this would appeal to Mr. Spielberg—he got his start making amateur movies as a teenager. At the end of 'Super 8' during the closing credits, we actually get to see the amateur film ('The Case'), the intrepid teenagers end up creating. It's one of the most clever and enjoyable moments in 'Super 8', and it's too bad the rest of the film is unable to reflect the true joy and unheralded abandon of young teenagers trying to find their way in the adult world.
The protagonist here is Joe Lamb (very nicely played by newcomer Joel Courtney) who is your basic Spielberg stand-in. Note that the young Lamb is the make up and special effects guy who best friend Charles depends on to spruce up the amateur Super 8 film they're shooting at a nearby train station. The tension really builds when a real train derails and crashes in spectacular fashion and the kids barely escape with their lives.
After that, there just seem to be too many contrivances to ignore as Abrams introduces us to another tired alien 'E.T.' narrative, about a misunderstood Anthropod, pursued by a sadistic US military who won't let him return home. It's a little difficult to believe that Dr. Woodward, the kids' biology teacher, is able to survive the horrible train derailment; in addition, one can only wince that the film's primary victim is another saintly black man who must sacrifice his life for the good of all humanity (please see 'Terminator II' and '2012' for further examples).
Much more egregious is the idea that there is a psychopathic Air Force Colonel (Nelec) who has an entire group of soldiers who follow orders (like any good Nazi), ensuring that a kindly alien is tortured needlessly for years and his main protector, is murdered after surviving a horrendous train wreck. After the kids discover Woodward's treasure trove of journals and film, we realize that it's not only the military (represented by Nelec) who is indicted here, but the scientific community who went along with the cover-up. Thus it seems rather obvious that Abrams is content to take cheap shots at both the military and scientific community since in these days of heady conspiracy theories, it just seems like the easy thing to do.
While I had to suspend my disbelief that the military was unable to uncover Woodward's treasure trove before Joe and his gang get to it, I was more bothered by the fact that neither the local or national media picked up on this story considering that there were a lot of unusual goings-on in this little Ohio town. First off there probably would have been a lot more questions from the media regarding the massive train wreck which probably would have drawn even more reporters to the sleepy town. Then after the power went on and off, and the sheriff disappeared, there was a town meeting (which certainly would have been covered by at least some local media), leading to some additional uncomfortable questions, which in real life, probably would have led to further scrutiny (perhaps leading to coverage by the national news.) In other words, this is something that could not have been covered up so easily as Abrams would like us to believe.
Abrams has more difficulty turning his alien into something lovable and cuddly. After all, he's locked himself into a corner when Nelec is depicted as having tortured the hapless creature relentlessly for years. Abrams is content to have the creature communicate telepathically—once anyone bothers to do a 'mind meld', the alien 'understands' that humans mean no harm, and it conveniently backs off acting aggressively. This is shown in the past with Dr. Woodward but also in the present with Joe, who tells the creature 'it's okay' to go home! The problem remains is that the creature has kidnapped a whole bunch of townspeople including Joe's love interest, Alice, who remains suspended upside down, in the creature's subterranean lair. One wonders how long the all those people have been hanging upside down. What happens if they have to go to the bathroom? And why does the creature grab the sheriff a second time? Has he killed him or simply hung him up on the 'rack' for another bout of suspended animation? It's obvious that Abrams doesn't want to kill the townspeople off since that will put his cuddly alien in a bad light!
For those who haven't noticed, 'Super 8' does have a 'B' story. No it's not the prepubescent romance between Alice and Joe but rather the conflict between their warring fathers, Jackson and Louis. It seems that alcoholic Louis missed a day at work and as a result, Joe's Mom was killed in an industrial accident. Unfortunately, Abrams misses an opportunity to develop Louis's character and he comes across as too petulant for most of the film. Jackson is good trying to wear many hats in attempting to help harried townspeople during the 'creature crisis' but later, the big 'rescue' of the kids flops, after Joe and his chums escape from the besieged bus, by themselves.
For those who enjoy Spielberg, 'Super 8' may be the ticket to relive the memories of some of Spielberg's sci-fi classics. But for those who want something that's not so derivative, you'll probably come away being a bit disappointed.