It Came From Outer Space

Rating: 8/10 (24 June 2011)

First--I had a heck of a good time watching this film with my daughters (who couldn't help covering their eyes at times--and I don't blame them!) Most reviewers mention the homage Super 8 pays to 80s blockbusters like E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and I would put Stand By Me in there, too. Now I'm sure others have noticed this also, but the essential elements of the story line go back much further--to the 1953 SF film It Came From Outer Space. A really terrific film! The story idea and first treatment were created by a very young Ray Bradbury, though the screenplay was taken out of his hands and given to a more established writer. Who didn't quite bung it up completely, thank goodness. I don't want to ruin anything for anyone, so suffice to say that if you watch both films you'll see that in bare outline they are strikingly similar. Of course Super 8 is an updated, big budget film that cost about 50X more to make than It Came From Outer Space. Yet, strangely, the 1953 film is actually more believable. That's my one complaint about Super 8--too much of the action, events and characters soar glibly beyond credibility. An incredible premise is okay--but outlandish scenes tend to take me out of the story as I ask: "how?" "what?" "why?" and "no way!" Another problem--and this is true of about 85% of films--is a bad guy or gal with absolutely no redeeming qualities, nor any positive elements to his or her argument or position. A story is just so much stronger if both the "hero" and "opponent" have credible, sympathetic reasons for their conflict/positions/actions. But I quibble. Super 8 was the most fun I've had in a theater in ages. See it!