Every summer brings at least one movie that’s not a sequel, prequel, three-quel, or based on a videogame/superhero comic/youtube video. And it’s that one film that has an ounce of mystery that’s usually the best (like Inception last year or Tropic Thunder a couple years back). Not that I have anything against excellent sequels like Kung Fu Panda or groundbreaking genre films like The Dark Knight. I love them too, but it’s always nice to have at least one Super 8 (the eight is not a sequel number lol) per summer.
What Works: Realistic kids (Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney are particularly good), a mysterious plot, and actual emotion. There are one or two scenes that cut right through all the usual, cynical BS usually associated with summer blockbusters.
What Doesn’t Work: Some of the kids are so realistic they’re annoying, as some real kids are. And the actual mystery at the heart of Super 8 isn’t bad, but it’s a little more generic than you might have been hoping for, plus a monster that feels…less than distinctive.
What I Would Have Done Differently: It’s so hard to say without spoiling part of this movie. I’ll just focus on the part of the plot that isn’t essential to the mystery (the human stuff which 70 percent of the movie is about) and say it could have used a little less warmed over Spielberg and become a more fully realized beast of its own.
I loved this movie. It’s a most see.
Do we at least get to “SEE” the monster in this JJ Abrams’ movie? Because with your review I am now thinking of watching Super 8 instead of X-Men this weekend, but only if I see the monster, I am still trying to figure out the the hell the monster in Cloverfield looked like and was.
– If it is a “spoiler alert” situation – I still want to KNOW.
Cheers,