What better way to get back into the blog game than by seeing one of the most anticipated movies of the year, "Super 8". The official description on 'Super 8's IMDB page says:
"After witnessing a mysterious train crash, a group of friends in the summer of 1979 begin noticing strange happenings going around in their small town, and begin to investigate into the creepy phenomenon. "
and truth be told, without giving away more of the plot, that probably is as full a description as you can give. Having said that, I'm either going to end my review here, or continue on and possibly (probably) give away more of the plot and story than someone that hasn't seen the movie would want to know. On that note....
(POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERTS, POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERTS, POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERTS)
If "Stand By Me", "The Goonies", "ET", "Predator", and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" had a baby, it would probably be this movie. In fact, the main character in 'Super 8', Joel Courtney, looks supsiciously like a perfect mix of Sean Astin and Henry Thomas. I was fully expecting him to pull out a small red inhaler at any point. If there's any justice, the real breakout star of this movie will be Elle Fanning, younger sister of Dakota Fanning. She's excellent as the only (yes, only) supporting female star in the film.
I really don't want to attempt to rehash the plot at the risk of completely spoiling the movie for someone, but I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the first 75 minutes or so, while the last 30 minutes left me feeling a bit empty while the credits began to roll. Way too many unanswered questions. What's the deal with the dogs? Why were the people taken in the first place? Why wasn't the white square ever fully explained? Why did the teacher have a gun? Why didn't he use it? Why is the Airforce so inept? Were walkmen really that ugly?
Were it not for the fact that there were at least 3 or 4 genuinely 'jump out of your seat' scary moments, and 2 or 3 very intense and extremely loud action sequences (the train crash, is one of the most intense, spectacular, well designed, action sequences I may have ever seen), this could easily be a movie specifically made for the 10-13 year old demographic - and judging by the Harry Potter, Twilight, Taylor Lautner previews before the film, that's clearly the subset they're after here.
The movie's a throwback to films of the 80's, while capturing the futuristic appeal of 'The Transformers'. It's an odd mix that actually works very well, until, in my opinion, it wimps out at the end. If you see it, you won't be dissapointed, but don't expect 'the next great movie'. It falls short. 4 out of 5 stars.
