Cast: Elle Fanning, Amanda Michalka and Kyle Chandler
Director: J.J Abrams
Rating: ***
J.J Abrams’s ‘Super 8’, produced by Steven Spielberg is one of those mixed genre films that you shouldn’t miss at any cost. A story told through the eyes of a bunch of kids, Super 8 becomes a J.J Abrams masterpiece that closely reminds us of Spielberg’s ‘E.T’. It also gives one the feeling that the film in today’s era is an equivalent to E.T. However, this film is different and distinctively special in its own way.
When a group of kids witness the derailing of a train carrying a mysteri
ous cargo in a small Ohio town, not only they record the events, but get behind the core of the event to unravel the mystery. However, very soon they realize that they have gotten into something that is more terrifying than anticipated.
After his successful rewinding of ‘Star Trek’, J.J Abrams returns and delivers something that all of us are going to remember for a while. ‘Super 8’ is not a children’s film but it’s a film that is told through the perspective of some young, brave ones. Instead of putting together a team of astronauts/scientists like always, J.J Abrams cleverly paints this shivering mysterious environment and captures the reaction of kids thrown in it. Brilliant!
If you’ve been a fan of movies like Goonies, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T, you’d notice that ‘Super 8’ is no different from these films except that it was made in 2011, with CGI superior to all these films put together and it’s a mega budget project. Story wise too ‘Super 8’ has lot of similarities. For example; the kids in Goonies and Super 8 are in search of something. There’s a sheriff in Jaws who comes to the rescue and likewise there’s one in this film too. The alien with psychic powers is common across E.T, Encounters of the Third Kind and Super 8. So, there you have it, a perfect mishmash of these films with a touch of computer generated brilliance gives you J.J Abrams’s ‘Super 8’.
J.J Abrams skyrocketed to fame with his 2004 television series Lost and followed
it up with his debut feature film, the third installation in the Mission Impossible series – Mission Impossible III. Abrams scripted the 1998 sci-fi film ‘Armageddon’, which despite being nominated for four Oscar awards (mostly in sound department), only won him a Razzie award for worst screenplay. However, in Super 8, Abrams weaves together a story that is filled with suspense throughout and equally interesting despite having similarity with several films of the past.
The film has the heart of a children’s film but qualifies as a cleverly narrated and intriguingly abnormal film. The film also boasts a whole new generation of artistes, the kids, who sweep us of our feet with their exceptional performance. In particular, worthy of mention is Elle Fanning, younger sister of Dakota Fanning, who with her breathtaking and mature performance has certainly proved her potential to be big star in the future.
In essence; ‘Super 8’ is not an action/mystery/thriller film but it’s a good-hearted film with abundant sensitivity.
