Super Gr8

For me Super 8 has been the blockbuster of 2011 that I have been most eagerly anticipating. The combination of Hollywood royalty J.J. Abrams as director, Spielberg as producer, 1970's as the temporal location and comparisons to E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind set my heart a quiver with excitement at the potential contained within this movie. Super 8 marks J.J. Abrams' third directorial feature length with 2006's MI 3 and 2009's superb Star Trek under his belt. Both films proved his worth as a visionary director who can combine narrative potential with remarkable action sequences without one negating or detracting from the other. *Insert predictable Michael Bay joke here*. I was however nervous as to whether Super 8 could live up to the hype, most modern day blockbusters can barely be whispered in the same breath alongside Spielberg's seminal 70's and 80's sci-fi classics. Often you will hear critics odiously repeat the dated mantra that "they just don't make them like they used to", Super 8 however works as a fantastic example to display that they can make them like they used to and perhaps even better them.

Super 8 is a story which centres around a group of young teenagers who witness a disastrous train crash in their small town late at night whilst shooting a zombie film for a local film festival. Strange events and disappearances start to occur after the crash and once the military start to get heavily involved with the town the group of friends start to investigate what is going on for themselves. Whilst this operates as the plot to the film Super 8's core lies more in the relationships between the friends and enemies within the town. This draws out large and emotive themes such as the difficult relationship between the protagonist Joe and his father. Another key aspect to the film which Abrams manages to capture vividly is the group of friends' passion for film making, whether it be the young director's manic obsession with production value or the plethora of fantastic posters adorned in the children's rooms- ranging from Halloween to Star Wars. Through the lens' of this group of children's passion for film you really get the impression of Abrams' own passion for film making and as a result Super 8 feels like a homage to cinephilia, a film vicariously about the joy of films themselves.

The happier aspects of the film are balanced quite harmoniously with some deeply saddening scenes which relate to Joe's coming to terms with the loss of his mother and his friend Alice's management of her father's alcoholism. The relationship between Joe and his father is particularly key to the more emotive aspects of the film, one scene in particular effortlessly portrays their lack of understanding of one another and inability to communicate after the death of Joe's mother. Whilst the interactions of the characters work as the emotional core of the film which seems to tie everything together there are some hugely exciting action sequences and relatively jumpy scenes ( I say relatively because I went to see this with my mum and she grabbed my arm in utter terror at least four times). 

One of the most rare feelings I think you can get whilst watching a film is the inkling that you are experiencing a sequence which will be remembered in the annals of cinematic history as being of importance, something to be discussed and exulted for years to come. Whether it be for depth of vision, quality of iconography, denial of audience expectation, creation of shock or simply just an incredible one liner nothing quite beats this unique sensation. For example the "E.T. phone home" scene, 2001's "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite" chapter, Roy Batty's "I've seen cee-beams" speech or Apocalypse Now's opening sequence are good examples of such moments. When watching Super 8 you truly get a feeling that at certain points, particularly in the closing scene, you are watching something that will come up in "100 Greatest Film Moments". Whilst a lot of these scenes could be seen as being corny somehow I didn't really feel the regrettable pang of cliché I so often find in contemporary blockbusters. I think this can probably be ascribed to the films setting in the 1970's which gives it a feeling of pastiche or homage which perhaps makes the more clichéd scenes forgiveable. Plus I think I was potentially too entranced by how amazing the characters' clothes were to notice some of the minor clichéd foibles contained in the film. I want all of Joe's shirts.

What further intrigued me about this film was the lack of Star pull to attract audiences, the most famous actor in it that I knew was Elle Fanning who is still very much an up and coming actress in her older sister Dakota's shadow. The adoption of fresh faces is utterly invigorating and denies an aesthetically constructed expectation of character roles. I can predict big things for lead actor Joel Courtney who provides one of the strongest child actor performances I have seen in years, watch his space. The chemistry between all of the children on screen is utterly convincing and the dialogue between them feels a lot more naturalistic than you see in most films, a far cry from the awkwardly stinted dialogue between the leads in the Harry Potter saga. In Super 8 there is much more of an impression of the leads acting and talking as kids of their age actually would.

I truly could not recommend Super 8 enough, a brilliant example of competent film making where character development and exploration of theme are not compromised in the face of big budget effects and action sequences. Nothing feels crudely inserted into the film to open it up to larger audiences but it is still open to a huge audience base as it truly has something for everyone. In the face of huge production values and studio pressure Abrams has miraculously produced something which feels like a small, personal project much like his predecessor Spielberg managed to with E.T.. Super 8 is a perfect example of Hollywood film making at its best.