Video: Super at Times

By: Holley Sinn

Verdict:  Denied

Steven Spielberg is a legend.  J.J. Abrams is a force with which to be reckoned.  One would think that their combined efforts would yield the greatest extra-terrestrial thriller to ever find its way to the big screen.  After all, Spielberg is directorially responsible for some of the most revered films that have shaped our collective ideas about aliens and the possibilities of our expansive universe. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" made us feel sympathy instead of contempt for the creatures that may or may not make their homes in our galaxy.  J.J. Abrams took the helm of the "Star Trek" series remake and created what will undoubtedly be a cinema juggernaut.  However, the coupling of Spielberg as producer and Abrams as director on the big summer release "Super 8" feels more like an indulgent valentine from an admiring apprentice to his master than a well-developed feature film worthy of the kind of praise normally garnered for these two cinematic super heroes.  It's a flat, bland attempt at paying homage to a body of work that turned Steven Spielberg into one of Hollywood's most celebrated filmmakers.  What a sad state of affairs.

"Super 8" stars doe-eyed Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb, a pre-teen who has recently lost his mother in a steel-working accident in the winter of 1979.  Joe must begin relying on his emotionally distant father Jackson, played by Kyle Chandler, who also happens to be a sheriff's deputy.  Intent on staying out of his father's way, Joe throws himself into helping his friend Charles make a zombie movie for a local film festival, a task which ultimately brings him into contact with Alice, played by Elle Fanning.  Alice is the daughter of the man who should have been working Joe's mother's shift the day she was killed, but he was out of commission due to alcoholism.  When Joe and his friends happen to catch a catastrophic train accident on camera during a late night shoot, they become immersed in a U.S. military cover-up and a town under seige by some unknown force.

Joe and his father become more and more estranged as Jack takes over the local investigation into the unusual incidents taking place in the town.  Dogs are disappearing.  Microwaves and other electrical appliances are going missing.  People are being snatched up.  But for Joe and his friends, the show must go on, and the fight to finish the film continues.  Joe and Alice become closer as a strange sort of war wages around them, until Alice is taken by the unseen creature after a fight with her father.  The boys switch their focus from filmmaking to heroism as they plan Alice's rescue amidst a city-wide evacuation.

"Super 8" has moments of brilliance, mostly from a cinematic perspective.  The film is wrought with signature Spielbergian lens flares, exquisite use of natural light and some incredible effects.  What this movie lacks is heart.  The character development is thin, so the children with whom we are meant to sympathize act more like instruments to advance the plot from one disaster scene to the next.  The relationship between Joe and his father is never very well developed, save one scene that is forcedly poignant, so much so that it is a little uncomfortable to watch.  "Super 8" is a testament to the idea that effects do not a masterpiece make...story-telling is still king when it comes to connecting with an audience, and throwing in a handful of kids won't cut the mustard.  Additionally, the story is overdone and pieced together in what seems like an homage to some of cinema's adventure successes - "Close Encounters...", "E.T....", "The Goonies", "Stand By Me" and even Abrams experimental monster flick "Cloverfield".  The void where originality and heart usually live can't be filled with explosions and flying microwaves.  "Super 8" is almost two hours of proof.

If you must spend your $10 at the theater this weekend, then know that "Super 8" is rated PG-13 for some language and intense and some times frightening action and visuals, and it is now playing in theaters all over the bay area.  If you are content to stay at home, take the films mentioned above and make your own little film festival.  You'll have a much more fulfilling, and cost-effective, experience.