In 1958, an 11-year old kid in Scottsdale, Arizona borrowed his dad’s 8-mm movie camera to fulfill the requirements of the Boy Scouts’ photography merit badge. His first film was a western in which the big special effect was a staged crash of his Lionel model train set. He caught the filmmaking bug, and never stopped making movies. His name was Steven Spielberg. A quarter century later, in 1982, Spielberg was fresh off the shoot for E.T., a film which deeply connected Spielberg both with his own childhood and with his young stars, who became, in his own words, something of a second family. Around this time he came across an article in the LA Times headlined “The Beardless Wonders of Film Making,” which featured a group of teenage kids who had made waves at that year’s Super 8-mm film festival showing their own clever homemade movies. No doubt inspired by nostalgia and flush with paternal emotion, Spielberg bravely decided to have his producer contact two of those kids and hire them to edit and restore his own childhood 8-mm films. Their names were J.J. Abrams (“Alias,” “Lost,” Star Trek) and Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In).
Fast-forward another quarter century to Super 8, directed by Abrams and produced by Spielberg, in which the grandest set-piece (among many) is a train crash. This is a film which celebrates not only Abrams’ childhood filmmaking adventures, but the great early Spielberg films that had inspired him and his friends. His decision to set his story in 1979 goes a long way in making his evocation of those films so successful, and his cast of young actors seem transported en masse from the occasionally-great but generally fondly-remembered adventure films of the era (E.T., Goonies, Explorers, et al.). The kids in those movies had a tendency to talk over each other in an Altman-esque pitter-patter that lent a distinct comic realism to their relationships. Lo and behold, the kids in Super 8 talk that way too.
Of course, just as in those movies, there’s something otherworldly afoot. Something the USAF was hauling cross-country in that crashed train. Witness to the crash are our young heroes, on a clandestine wee-hours location shoot for their DIY zombie mystery movie. They don’t quite catch a glimpse of the something that crawls out of the wreckage, but–aha!–their trusty Super 8 does. Trouble is, it’ll take a few days to get their film developed, and a lot can happen in a small town in a few days when something unusual is on the prowl. Car engines are suddenly missing from under their hoods, a service station gets smashed, ham radio operators hear strange murmurs on Air Force frequencies, and the sheriff has mysteriously vanished.
One trademark feature of Spielberg’s films (which is sometimes overlooked) is that, with few exceptions, their protagonists come from broken families. E.T. is really all about the father who ran away to Mexico. The kids in Jurassic Park were mostly sent there as a diversion from their parents’ divorce. Even Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones and his dad fell out after mom died. Super 8, which so reverently emulates Spielberg’s magic, follows the same pattern: its father and son (Kyle Chandler and Joel Courtney) are freshly reeling from the steel-mill accident that claimed the mother’s life. Complicating matters is the son’s infatuation with the daughter (an excellent Elle Fanning–yes, she is Dakota‘s little sister) of the man who may have been responsible.
Ultimately, Super 8 stands on its own as a fun, atmospheric sci-adventure with superb production values and well-above-average characterization. As easy (and fun) as it is to watch it with an eye for all the visual and thematic allusions to the Spielberg canon, this is probably the first real J.J. Abrams movie, and easily his best. While his Star Trek sometimes felt a little breathless, Super 8 takes its time establishing setting and character back story, to a much greater extent, in fact, than most Hollywood blockbusters have for many years. There’s no question that its imitative qualities are both deliberate and affectionate, and in the context of the shared history of its creators, almost poignant. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if some of the young viewers who watch it might be inspired to find a camera and make their own movie. I’m sure nothing would make Spielberg and Abrams happier.
P.S. Make sure you keep watching when the credits roll, or you’ll miss the best part. - [DVD] [Blu-Ray]
Mystery/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Rated PG-13
DVD Release Date: 11/22/11
[...] SUPER 8 [...]