Cinema 2011 #78: Super 8

J.J. Abrams has always been something of a collaborative filmmaker, with his back catalogue of hits and critical successes consistently feeling like a genuinely cumulative effort. Whether it’s big budget remakes of classic anorak-favourite television shows steeped in years of constructed history and expectations (Star Trek, Mission: Impossible III), or cherished high-concept cult, in the broadest sense, television shows of his own invention (Alias, Lost, Fringe), there’s always a sense that the man is open to ideas and input from everybody and anybody on set, and ready to lend an ear to the rising talent he, and his production company Bad Robot, surrounds himself with.

While this generally works out for the best, there is also no denying that Abrams’ pet projects can sometimes suffer from an unnecessary fussiness that pulls away from clever and concise to grandiose and tangled. When his twists and thrills become the story, rather than adding to it, the audience loses the affection earned at the beginning, their enthusiasm for shocks and awes ebbing as his stories reach their convoluted coda and get, ahem, Lost in their own grandeur.

As such, it is important that Abrams chooses wisely whom to work with, and here, with Super 8, a nostalgic sci-fi romp that rekindles memories of summer favourites of yesteryear, he’s gone right to the source of the summer blockbuster itself, Steven Spielberg. And it almost works perfectly.

The rap party was a decidedly unglamorous affair

The year in 1979 and a group of young teenagers in the town of Lillian, Ohio, are attempting to film a zombie-movie on the super-8 mm film of the title, just as Abrams and countless other filmmakers cut their teeth in their youth. The group, made up of make-up and effects wiz Joe (Joel Courtney), lead actress Alice (Elle Fanning), writer-director Charles (Riley Griffiths) amongst others, sneak out of bed late one night to film at the local railway station, and manages to survive a massive train crash when a local teacher deliberately drives into the oncoming locomotive to knock it off course.

Fleeing just as the navy arrives to clean up the scene, the group continue with their project as the town, and Joel’s widower and Deputy father Jackson (Kyle Chandler), begins to witness a massive military presence, mass exodus of pets, countless missing persons and some serious bumps in the night, as the content, and the very nature, of the train’s cargo comes into question.

The story is, for the most part, well crafted and hugely enjoyable, with Abrams script and his direction, particularly of his extremely accomplished younger cast, recounting the sort of good ol’ ensemble fun of The Goonies and, more directly, E.T. Considering this is the debut of the majority of the film’s leads, their work is hugely impressive, with Courtney particularly engaging as Joe, and Elle Fanning showcasing a serious talent on the rise as the enigmatic Alice. Kyle Chandler does a nice job as the grief-stricken father who doesn’t really know who his son is, Noah Emmerich is slyly dangerous military heavyweight Nelec, and the supporting cast of town weirdos and oddballs are colourful and fun, with a special mention for David “Seventh Heaven” Gallagher as the doped up Donny.

The jokes about Early Addition had not gone down well

But Super 8 isn’t perfect, with the majority of the flaws coming from Abrams’ script. His direction of the action scenes, family tension, developing mystery and childhood banter are all well observed and presented, but at times the story feels laboured by a need to be more emotionally resonant than entertaining, as if Abrams is pitting his story as a worthy successor to E.T. and its particularly poignant emotional arc and forgetting to focus on his picture as a stand-alone film. For example, Joe is seen holding his recently deceased mother’s locket early on, in a touching reminder that he’s still just a boy and now without his mom. But Abrams chooses to reuse the locket countless times, constantly reminding us of its existence and Joe’s connection to his mother, and in a sense losing its significance.

Add to that the train’s cargo, which behaves in ways entirely contradictory, never really establishing itself as friend or foe, resulting in a muddled ending that doesn’t really make sense.

But there is certainly enough charm and pathos to carry this film along, with its humour and brilliant performances making up for its 11th hour missteps. And it’s worth it just for the super-8 movie that plays during the end credits alone.

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Released Nationwide: August 5th

Runtime: 112 mins

Certificate: 12A