Rating of
3/4
Super 8 review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 08/10/11
The film starts with a tragic accident involving Joe Lamb’s (Joel Courtney) mother in the summer of 1979. Louis Dainard (Ron Eldard) was arrested by Deputy Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler) for being absent during his shift. Charles Kaznyk (Riley Griffiths) casts Alice (Elle Fanning) to be part of his zombie film using a Super 8 film. Dr. Woodward slams into a train to release a creature inside. Colonel Nelec (Noah Emmerich) from the US Air Force does everything he can to secure the area and find the valued entity. Alice was abducted so Joe desperately seeks help from his friends to rescue her. Joe and his friends also discover the history of the extraterrestrial. The Alien then builds its ship with the final piece with Joe and blasts off to space. Some amusing quotes: Jackson – “Now things have obviously changed for us.” Joe – “Bad things happen, and it's no one's fault? I'm sorry.”
Its casting and tempo was appealing and it reminded me of Goonies, Stand by Me with a touch of E.T. I was particularly impressed with Elle Fanning’s enactment and Joel Courtney’s subtleness. The effects were convincing and script was effective. My favorite figure was Cary, the humorous braces filled boy who adores playing with fire and teasing Charles. It was great to see him play one of the huge parts in saving Alice and just brings the film to some perkier moments. Charles had his funny scenes as well if only he had more emotion in some of the revealing sections. One of the few petty reservations I had was the likability of Joe Lamb’s character. If only the personalities of Charles and Cary were meshed, then it would have been more interesting. Another would be the reason why the dogs went to every direction, lack of cinematography or a much improved score for the thrilling scenes. Themes of friendship, bravery, family and forgiveness were portrayed well with the right mix of drama and light humor. Entertaining from start to the middle part but doesn’t follow-through the finale with a bang. Definitely better than most alien related movies. This could have been better if Spielberg himself directed it. Super 8 had a good premise with a lackluster finale.
