J.J. Abrams loves to bring us to the edge of our seats. Fans of LOST are not strangers to his method of storytelling. He is a director who doesn't unravel his plot right away, rather he creates scenes that imply an idea. As that same notion resides in our heads, he will amplify our original thoughts into something bigger. He prefers to keep us in the dark as a means of creating suspense. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the story for Super 8 was top secret. As the first teaser trailer premiered last summer, little has been revealed about what Abrams project was actually about. Today, we are three days past the premiere. So, what's the verdict?
What's the story?
In the summer of 1979, 13 year old Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) is trying to overcome the recent death of his mother by helping his friend Charles (Riley Griffiths) finish a zombie movie that is filmed on a Super 8 camera. One night, they decide to shoot at an old train station, where they witness a train wreck. In the midst of the destruction, something inhuman escapes from the trains cargo. After making a vow to keep silent about what they have seen, the kids notice strange things happening in town. The military shows up answering no questions, people begin disappearing, and abnormal electricity shortages become common. Joe, like all teenage protagonists, ignore the warnings to find out the truth. What he discovers will leave him forever changed.
The Result?
Conceptually, the film was fantastic. It was both a love letter to Steven Spielberg and a tribute to Science Fiction B movies of the 1970s. Elements of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and The Goonies are everywhere. The Spielberg nostalgia fuels the heart and soul of the picture.
Unfortunately, a variety of problems made the experience unbearable.
The screenplay contained an excess amount of cheesy dialogue and stock characters. Often, the plot stopped to extract a cheap laugh from some of the character absurdity. In all fairness, Abram's direction was meant to satirize the B movie. However, this satire has no consistency.
Character development was absent. Joe Lamb and his love interest Alice (Elle Fanning) are the only ones that demonstrate genuine moments. The rest of the kids create annoyance. Charles was loud, crude, and had an obsession with saying how things are so "mint". During any of his screen time, I wanted him to shut up. He did nothing for the film's story, except play off a Hollywood cliche that every adolescent lead needs an obese best friend.
Tyler's Verdict: 2 1/2 Stars. The terrible writing and cliches pollute the originality of the idea.
This film was so bad, that I keep forgetting I saw it in theaters until I run across it (e.g., during a conversation or a in blog post). And then I remember that I've seen it. And that I want my two hours back. Your review is overly generous.
ReplyDeleteThere is very little of ET or Close Encounters. It's all Goonies--which is bad. If they're trying an homage to sci-fi B movies of the 1970s, Goonies and ET (both made and released in the 1980s) are not the place to start. Also, if it's a nod to Close Encounters, the Goonies vibe doesn't work at all. I think that's the problem: the film never decides WHAT is wants to be and, consequently, it's a mess.
You are spot on with regard to the characters.
And kudos for remembering the names of the characters. I had forgotten all of their names by the time the credits rolled.