Super 8

1979. The Russians were conducting nuclear weapons testing, E.L.O. was still a popular music band, and in Alliance, Ohio a train wrecked causing millions of dollars in damage. This is a true event, with the cargo being reported as being perishable food and automobile parts. Now in the decades following it has been rumored that this train might have been carrying much more dangerous materials, and most conspiracy theories tell a different story. Now in 2011 Hollywood has taken this idea and turned it into “Super 8”, wild ride for a group of small-town teens caught in the middle.

We open on a steel factory in Ohio. The town is called Lillian (fictional) set around Dayton. This factory is the scene of an accident resulting in a death, the mother of Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) who is first seen grieving on a swing holding a locket necklace of hers. Joe’s father Jackson (Kyle Chandler) is the town’s deputy sheriff, and he has completely distanced himself from his son. Joe’s friends are making an amateur movie shot on a super 8 camcorder (hence the title), when they invite classroom cutie Alice (Elle Fanning). The boys are creating a very cheap student film, but when she arrives they are all stunned by her acting ability. Then as they sneak out to a train station at night to shoot a scene, a large freight train passes and a pickup truck deliberately crashes into it. The train derails every single car (in a spectacular crash), the teens are terrified, and a school teacher is found barely alive in the wreckage. Soon Air Force soldiers rush to the scene as the kids escape. However, what they didn’t realize was that their camera was running the whole time, and the creature they photographed escaping is beyond description.

Writer-director J. J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible III, Star Trek) has collaborated with Steven Spielberg to make a nostalgic alien-monster movie not too dissimilar from “Cloverfield” (look for a Slusho reference). On the other hand, the idea of young people finding it in themselves to be stronger and smarter than adults is a tradition that Spielberg has used in many of his movies, and also forms the emotional center of the film. In a small town there are no secrets among people, and the kids are dealing with their parents’ problems. Also the young romance of Joe and Alice is inspired and sweet.

The monster itself is big, scary, and revealed not until the end ala “Alien”. It eats townsfolk and is stealing metal appliances to create a spaceship to escape Earth. While it’s a pretty cool alien, it’s not really different from the “Cloverfield” monster. The U.S. military is portrayed as evil and stupid, wanting to destroy the monster with no reasons at all. While the young film crew is interesting to watch, the boys are pretty much stereotypes (don’t get me started with the fat-kid). The recreation of 1979 Ohio is very well done, complete with a disco soundtrack, but doesn’t add much to the story.

In the end, “Super 8” does have fantastic visuals but ultimately becomes an update of “The Goonies”. Strangely this is not really for kids, despite a breezy PG-13 rating, but rather older audience members to look back in times of imagination and fantasy. If you want sentimental eye-candy, this might be satisfying enough.