Review

Review Date: 12-June-11
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Just OK

Super 8 (2011)

Much as I wanted to like J. J. Abrams' Super 8, it just didn't happen. This throwback to Steven Spielberg's "we are not alone" phase may have its moments, but you can feel the gears grinding to try and mesh them together. The only parts that truly engage echo Abrams' own past, i.e., scenes of middle school kids making a movie with a Super 8 camera. The setting is Anywhere, USA (aka Lillian, Ohio) in 1979 (where, incidentally, I doubt they said "whatever" as people do now, so the script's use of this word is an anachronism). Sweet-faced makeup artist Joe (Joel Courtney) joins aspiring director Charles (Riley Griffiths, the standout) and their predictably gawky friends to produce a charmingly gawky movie about man-eating zombies. The catch of Abrams' own movie is that the kids witness (and record) a horrific train wreck which sets off disturbing events in their town.

The ensuing body-snatching and other monster effects (possible subtitle: "The Cargo Was Alive!") are satisfactory for a summer flick, but Super 8 gets bogged down while trying to give it meaning. Adults are usually marginal in kid-centric movies, and Abrams would have been wise to follow this course. Every adult here is a one-dimensional appendage, from the mysterious teacher who causes the train wreck to the grim-faced military types who arrive to lock down the crisis. (They don't make sense either. If the teacher was willing to die for his cause, why did he move to the Midwest and ignore it until it showed up in his backyard? And could the military really believe they could hide such a large secret?) Worst of all is the pair of fathers whose sole function is to facilitate a tearful ending. Joe's dad, the deputy sheriff (Kyle Chandler), doesn't know how to comfort himself or his son in the wake of a loss. His nemesis is a guilt-ridden drunk (Ron Eldard) who happens to be the father of the girl Joe likes (Elle Fanning). The grown-ups' interactions with their children and each other are forced upon the story as if adventure and budding sexuality weren't enough to romanticize the days of youth. The result is an alien movie mucked up with notions of death, grief, parenthood, and forgiveness.

Copyright © 2011 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.