How important are the 1980s kid friendly films of Steven Spielberg to you?
If you have been spending every day since the end credits rolled on The
Goonies wishing that someone in Hollywood would recapture that blend of
action and soft-focus nostalgia, then this is your lucky day - Super 8
has arrived!
If, on the other hand, your cinematic touchstones come from another place and time you might not be so lucky.
The year is 1979 and Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) is struggling
under the double burden of a mother who died in an industrial accident
and a sheriff’s deputy father (Friday Night Light' Kyle
Chandler) whose idea of good parenting is to ship him off to football
camp when all he wants to do is make a cheesy zombie film with his
friends.
It's while filming a scene for said horror film -
poor old Joe is in charge of make-up, giving him plenty of opportunity
to get close to the female lead / tomboy / girl with a mysterious link
to his family Alice (Elle Fanning) – that the friends witness a
spectacular train derailment.
Well, not so much witness as have
it happen right on top of them (cue somewhat overdone effects
sequence), and if that wasn’t enough it soon becomes clear that there
is a much deeper mystery going on.
Why did their High school science teacher derail the train?
Why is the Air Force taking over the town?
Why did all the dogs run away?
What's up with the weird power fluctuations?
And… actually, there is no mystery at all that some kind of monster is on the loose, because that is just the kind of movie Super 8 is.
How much you enjoy Super 8
depends a lot more than usual on how much you like this kind of movie,
because this is a carefully designed and targeted appeal to fans of
Steven Spielberg's 1980s era work. So much so, in fact, that if you
don't feel a tug at the heart strings just at seeing loveable kid
stereotypes messing about on their own in a small town where things are
dangerous (but not too dangerous), then you’ll discover that a lot of
this film is merely serviceable rather than great.
Director J.J.
Abrams knows what he is doing – there is plenty of action, loads of
creepy moments, and the kids are all good - but it never feels like he
feels it in his gut.
Abrams is playing by someone else's rulebook, someone else's nostalgic vision of growing up, and as a result Super 8 lacks a little of the heart it so sorely needs.
DVD Special Features
Super 8
proved to be something of a new formula for Hollywood - big budget
movies and box office takings on minimal budget. The flick cost just
$50M and took over $260M worldwide. It could pave the way for a whole
new era of cinema.
Not surprisingly, there's plenty on offer on the Blu Ray / DVD / Digital Copy triple pack - check out these goodies...
Includes over two hours of behind-the-scenes special features:
Deconstructing the Train Crash: Uncover the secrets behind filming the astonishing scene
8 Exclusive Featurettes: Explore the origins of the story, casting, creating the alien and more!
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