MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Super 8   Rated PG-13

Directed by J. J. Abrams.  Starring Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning.

Photo © Paramount Pictures
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

 Back in the seventies and eighties, the films of Steven Spielberg and the movies they inspired ruled the multiplex.  Remember Close Encounters of the Same Kind, E.T., The Goonies, and War of the Worlds?  If I told you that I made a movie that mashed all of these other films together, would you pay to see it?

Have I got a movie for you!

Writer-director Abrams (best known for the TV series Lost and Alias and the new Star Trek movie) has great love for Spielberg (and has worked alongside of the great director) and it shows.  He also has a great cast of young actors (including newcomer Chandler and hardworking Fanning) to work with, as he tells the story of a bunch of middle-school kids who band together to make an amateur zombie movie during the summer of 1979 in a small working class Ohio town.  The movie is called “The Case” and it keeps the kids out at night with their Super 8 camera and sound equipment.  One night, as they are filming a scene at the train station, there is a terrific accident that creates a sense of mystery around their town.

Once Super 8 moves away from the movie-making scenes and becomes a Spielberg tribute show, things become quite dull quite fast. As good as the children are, none of the adult parts are written very well.  The special effects are both modest and over the top at the same time, and what is intended to be an emotional payoff for the audience seemed corny and obvious. Michael Giacchino’s John Williams-like score doesn’t help, either.

Super 8 is an OK time passer, but that’s about it.
 
I will advise you, however, not to leave during the end credits, for it is during the credit roll where we get to see “The Case” (the movie the kids were making) in full; it is quite entertaining.   Those filmmakers are onto something!

Pitchfork/Halo Ratings:

Two halos: A mildly enjoyable sci-fi diversion with likeable middle-school kids as its heroes.

Two pitchforks: Mild kid swearing, some marijuana use by a young adult, violence.

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