Super 8 (2011)

I was thinking this morning to write in this entry about the last Harry Potter. But I told myself to wait until the evening to add one more movie on the list of the ones I've seen this week (which I think is a record for this year = I'm finally in vacation .. at least theoretically). The result is that after watching "Super 8" I've changed the topic title as it can be observed, although I can't say that on my scale is much difference between the two, both being around 3.5 out of 5. Anyway, I've chosen "Super 8" because it fits perfectly to the "summer movie" description as I see it = we have a mix of adventure, drama, & love story in a SF (which is actually quite light as effective SF elements = 1979, on Earth, with .. almost entirely .. normal people). So it covers pretty much all the age categories considering the potential public target.

The action is set in a small fictive town from US, where a small group of children tries to shoot a zombie movie for entering a contest. One of the shooting sessions taking place in an abandoned train station is interrupted by a derailed train, fact that actually starts the development of the plot. 1. The train doesn't seem to be a usual train, but one belonging to the US Air Force, 2. The derailing is not accidental but provoked by a biology professor acting as a kamikaze behind a truck's steering wheel and 3. From the train something escapes ... To find out exactly what, and other details, :) go see the movie. The plot is nicely developed, although not very complex. On top of that the script itself has plenty of cliche and also some small gaps in the production. If you've seen the last "Star Trek" by the same J.J.Abrams you can compare the both to get the idea. It is pretty much the same = watchable, not boring, but you shouldn't expect any complexity from the story, which after all is not that original when you look at it in the end, especially if you take each piece individually. The part that adds the watching value is mainly that you don't get the whole story once. It reveals gradually piece by piece and that matters a lot in keeping a sort of illusion that covers the lack of depth.

I'm quite sure that the movie would've been received better if it was in 3D (I'm not a 3D fan by the way ...) especially considering that the cinematography is not very original, and the effects are the ones that steal the show. Anyway, even in 2D these look very good, probably on top being the train accident. Apart from the technical part, the first thing to notice is the children group "carrying" basically the movie from the beginning to the end, and whom I tend to believe that we'll be hearing of again as names in the next generation of actors.

Despite the fact that the story is in the end relatively simple, this impression is covered like I said above throughout the movie by the way it unveils. What should be mentioned are some tendencies/resemblance with other older titles, that might bring some pleasant memories for who has seen them :) . I would mention here "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" by Spielberg (who is actually producing "Super 8"). I don't recall the movie in details, but visually, as setting and I would risk to say also as sound I think it relates to what you can see in "Super 8". Another reference, quite explicit this time ( just watch the credits ... or what's near them :) ) is Romero, about who (coincidence) I was writing in the previous entry about "The Crazies". The reference doesn't stop at the name and at the zombie movie the kids are trying to shoot but it goes in depth a bit further up to the idea of crisis cell managed by the army, and also other stuff, but I'm not sure it's ok to give more details because I'm really getting close to spoiling something :) . So, the conclusion is like I was stating in the beginning, around 3.5 out of 5 .. but since I'm always rounding ;) ...

Rating: 4 out of 5