There's a common fault in film making: child actors suck. Like, they REALLY suck, so darn bad. Rarely do child actors ever actually perform well, and even when they do, sometimes their roles are simply unbearable. But there was a film a few years ago that broke that mold. Not just with one actors, not with two, but with six. And it wasn't a kid's film. It was excellence. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the film of mystery and suspense, Super 8!
The Plot: Lilian, Ohio has just experienced a tragedy. Joe Lamb's mother has just been killed. At the wake held for his mother, Louis Dainard tries to enter but is forcibly removed by Joe's father, Jack.
Four months later, school is out for the summer. Joe is invited by his friend Charles to help finish a film for an upcoming festival. The two friends, accompanied by Preston, Martin, and Cary all head out to the abandoned train depot, along with new friend Alic Dainard. While filming, they witness a horrific train wreck, only to find that someone, or something, may have escape from the wreckage... and is now on the loose.
The Cast: Joel Courtney as Joseph, "Joe" Lamb
Elle Faining as Alice Dainard
Kyle Chanlder as Jackson, "Jack" Lamb
Riley Griffiths as Charles Kaznyck
Ryan Lee as Cary
Ron Eldard as Louis Dainard
Gabriel Basso as Martin
Noah Emmerich as Colonel Nelec
David Gallagher as Donny
Bruce Greenwood as Cooper
Zach Mills as Preston
The Review:
First off, the score for this film was wonderful. Giacchino did an excellent job.
The opening for this film was pretty somber. Death is not usually how a film starts out.
There are hints as to what happened early on, but no full-blown explanation. Instead, we are made to sit and wonder...
The music fits the era and feel of the film perfectly. I love a lot of 70's rock., anyway.
The acting is great right off the bat. Just wonderful.
The characters are well-developed early on, and we start to feel for them quickly.
This film made laugh my head off. The humor is absolutely brilliant.
The film, though having positive moments, has a general feel of sadness and loss. It's a film for grieving.
There's some barely concealed tension between Joe and his father. Clearly, Jack did not become the father he needed to be when his wife died.
The camaraderie between the main characters feel genuine and real. This is what friends should act like essentially all the time.
The camerawork for the film is well-shot and fitting. No shaky cam here, this film didn't need it.
Elle Fanning did a fantastic job, easily the breakout star of the film. Far better acting skills than her older sister.
Alice Dainard is a character embodies much of the sadness this film conveys. The further along this film goes the more we see how conflicted she is.A funny note, but Elle Fanning acting really well for a movie, including a scene where she acts real well for a film being made IN the movie.
JJ Abrams has this obsession with lens flare. Thankfully, he doesn't utilize it anywhere near as much in this movie.
HOLY CRAP! That train wreck scene is unbelievably insane! With great special effects, and the appropriate terrified humor, this scene is mint.
But what's this? With the knowledge that the wreck may not have been an accident, something is severely wrong.
Well, getting threatened by a nearly-dead man is not a great way to ease tension.
The reactions of the cast are hilarious as they are believable. Each person freaks out in their own personal way that fits their character.
The sets of the film are great, and like the music, fit the film to a T, right down to the fashion and electronics.
It sounds like crap, but that is an awesome car.
How often does a child romance plot work? Never. Except this one. The attraction is slow and well-developed.
Have I mentioned this movie is hilarious? I can't stop laughing!Jack's investigation only heightens the mystery. The USAF's refusal to share information intrigues the audience.
Quick little note, but does anyone notice the sign for "Slusho" in the gas station? A JJ Abrams standard since Cloverfield and has been in every film he's made since.
The first attack is set up perfectly. Dogs running in fear, strange electronic mishaps... it's a great atmosphere for fear.
Gosh, I love that thing's roar. Sounds so feral and powerful.
Things get weird in this movie very quickly, with zero explanation why. Then throw in a convoy of military personnel, and things get way more confusing.
I love the idea of dogs fleeing the unknown presence, acting much like a natural animal would to flee a large predator.
The military searching for Woodward's research is a good way to keep the plot going. The overall plot is well-connected and well-paced, but also allows for the smaller plots to exist alongside it, even add to it.
The second attack is just a scary, but has a layer of mystery to it. We see electronics being thrown around, but why?
"Soviet invasion..." Gotta love the Cold War era.
Forget the tension between Joe and his dad, the hatred between Louis and Jack is something else entirely.
The further the film goes along, we see Joe mature and display heroic elements. He's a genuine hero in man ways, but one I find most impressive is his clean mouth. Everyone else swears, but he keeps clean.I like how the events we see in the attacks are not isolated incidents, as many of attacks and disappearances happen off-screen.
One of the best scenes in the film occurs when Joe and his dad basically explode on each other. The emotion is evident, and the acting is top-notch. A riveting moment.
At this point in the film, we are still unclear as to who the true villain is in this film. Nelec or the unknown beast, we can only guess. As to acts with a more sinister nature, Nelec is clearly the winner.
Alice and Joe have a great relationship, one that is easy to believe and easy to enjoy.
Alice's monologue is simply riveting. The pure emotion in the scene is palpable. and we see just how truly she is torn at heart... how she did not get an ward for this I don't know.
Well, wasn't quite expecting that. What took Alice?
The anger Charles has against Joe is believable. I know far too easily what this feels like.
I like how their discovery on the film is not an intentional discovery. In fact, much of their involvement in the main plot is because of complete accident.
As if to cap off that fact, it took the threat of danger to one of their own to involve the group.
The pothead absolutely kills me. I'd take his car if I ever had the chance.
I love watching Woodward's videos. They were used early on in the film's advertising campaign, on a special website.
We learn the motivations and origins of the alien, and why he so violently attacks human beings. Some people had a hard time coping with this, but I find it entirely reasonable.
... Yeah, Nelec is this film's villain.
HOLY ****ING PISS! The bus attack scene scared the everloving crap out of me! Absolutely terrifying, and immensely satisfying. Might be the best scene in the movie.
When Nelec gets killed, you gotta love the violent way he goes out. With all he's done, the scumbag deserves it.
If the movie is getting too intense, the pothead arrives to save the day with his hilarity.I like the chaos of the battle against the creature. We see things going wrong and we know who's causing it, but not shown why. The film reveals much of what's happening, but keeps a slight air of mystery around some things.
The interaction between Jack and Louis is different from most forgiveness scenes. We see the hostility beginning to lessen, but it is clear the relationship is not entirely healed.
The creature's lair is reminiscent of a mad scientist's lab. Bodies all around, surrounded by strange makeshift electronic devices.
The film is dedicated to giving us just one more good scare.
I like the alien's design. It's a mix of familiar and strange so as to seem otherworldly but not overtly wicked.
Joe's interaction with the alien finalizes the film's depth, and speaks upon the film's message.
I love how the alien uncloaks its eyes, revealing the intelligence held within its gaze. It's not just a mindless monster, but an intelligent creature that has been twisted by hatred and imprisonment.
Jack embracing his son for the first time is a key moment of the film. It's the first time we see positive interaction between the two, but also shows that the broken relationship between the two is beginning to heal. It's not fully healed yet, but the process has begun.
As Joe releases his mother's locket, the last vestige of his grief is let go, and his past is buried. Nothing is preventing him from truly starting to live now.
With the alien flying off back into the stars, our film ends on a perfect note, leaving no hint or room for a sequel. Thank you, this film will remain untarnished.
Credits scene! We get to see the finished product of Charles' movie. It's laughably awesome, in a terrible way.
The Bottom Line: Rarely does a film come out that asks its audience to mourn the loss of a character. Usually mourning would come at the very end of a film, but Super 8? No, right at the start, when we know little about the characters at all is when we are called to sympathize for them.
But the film doesn't focus on mourning. It focuses on grief, and how we deal with pain and loss. We have two viewpoints, that of Joe's and that of the alien, which is nicknamed "Cooper". No, I'm not making that up because it's my last name.
In Joe, we see a young man who has just lost his most important parental unit. The one who sustained him and nurtured him and loved him is killed, leaving him behind with a father who either doesn't know how to or doesn't want to support his own son; Joe is left alone to console himself for four months. He keeps it quiet, learns to live with it, but has an ache, a hurt that doesn't go away. But despite his quiet nature, Joe manages to overcome the pain that he endures from the loss of his mother and continues to live, eventually coming out from beneath the shadows of his own grief and tries to learn how to move on. As the events of the film progress, we see the final development of his maturity, and he finally lets go of the loss that he has held in him. Joe and his father both have a ways to go, but the hardest part is now over.
With Cooper, we have a much darker perspective. He was captured and imprisoned, brutally treated when all he desired was to return home. For over twenty years it was held in seclusion, being tortured by Nelec. Those years of hell taught him to hate humanity, and the pain and despair he experience twisted a once intelligent creature into a killer, bent on slaughtering humans. To him, all of mankind was just like those who had tortured and mistreated him. They were all enemies, worthy of death. Upon his escape, he devised a plan home, capturing and even feeding upon whoever he came across.
However, his encounter with Joe changes his thoughts on humanity, and upon his tragedies. The moment he uncovers his eyes is when he realizes that there was more to mankind than the unspeakable horrors that had befouled him, and he quickly makes his exit. No more death, but to simply leave is his duty now.
Tragedy will come upon us. As one who lives on this earth, we will never be able to avoid that fact. We will face loss, grief, brokenness and pain, and there is nothing we can do to avoid it. But what matters more than what our trials will be is how we react to them, and eventually overcome them. Do we rise above it, or do we let it change us, pervert us into evil beings?
The sadness that is so evident in Super 8 is brought to light, but instead of being a gloomy, depressing film, the film has a sense of hope, of there being something beyond our sadness. "Bad things happen, but you can still live."
Tragedy does not have the right to end us, and it never shall. Instead, we are called to live past our trials, and learn to live once more. It may take us time, we may stumble and fall, but the day will come when we crawl out of that pit, and see the sun once more.
Well people, there is just one more film left. What can possibly beat this movie? Only one film: The greatest, the king of movies, the finest of film, the one and only greatest film ever made. This Friday, at 9:00, I will commence my review. Be ready, for it's coming.
P.S. If you haven't read any of my earlier reviews, here's your last chance!
Number 15
Number 14
Number 13
Number 12
Number 11
Number 10
Number 9
Number 8
Number 7
Number 6
Number 5
Number 4
Number 3
See you this Friday...
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