Sunday, 21 August 2011

Super 8


Super 8 is somewhere between Son of Rambow (2007) and Cloverfield (2008) and with J.J Abrams as writer and director and Steven Spielberg as producer this has all the ingredients that a nostalgic summer blockbuster should have and it successfully pulls it off. A group of school kids in the 70s decide to make a zombie film with a super 8 camera for a local film festival. While shooting a scene they witness a mysterious train crash and accidentally film it. The involvement of one of their teachers and the US Air Force arouses their interest and suspicions. Other strange occurrences begin to happen in the town and soon the friends make a startling discovery.
The references to Spielberg films are fun to look out for and both the setting (time and place) and the story are nostalgic homages to the master of the Blockbuster – an interesting article highlighting the references can be found here . There are also references to Abrams own Lost and Alias. I have read a few criticisms of the film in that it solely relies on these references and nostalgia but I disagree as while these are strong foundations for the film it has originality as well. Also I would much rather watch a nostalgic piece like this than an unimaginative sequel/remake/superhero film any day. All the actors who play the young protagonists do a superb job and are genuinely likeable and the adults do a good job of filling in the gaps. My only criticism would be with the overly sentimental necklace plot strand but this can be forgiven.
There are tense edge of your seat moments harking back to the brilliant T-Rex in Jurassic Park (1993) and sound is used extremely effectively. The special effects are impressive and not too over the top and the narrative strands are interwoven efficiently. The alien (assuming everyone knows of its existence by now) is an amalgamation of classic film aliens and I was surprised at how quickly you get to see the whole of it and also a little disappointed but it is satisfying enough. This is a thoroughly enjoyable Hollywood Blockbuster that made me want to revisit some old classics and indeed this film again when it is released on DVD.

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