The title of the film is simple, but fitting for the entire meaning of the film itself. The teenagers in the film were making a movie using a super 8 mm camera when they witnessed a train wreck that would change everything. It's standard, but leaves just as big of an impact as the film itself, further distinguishing it from other films, especially other films with 8 in the title. If you ask me, it had that late 70s horror film feeling to it. Sure, the film is science fiction, but the mood and tone of the film really made it a bit chilling, a bit menacing, and had a few scenes where your heart jumps into your throat. The film put you right into the setting and the time period quite well I think, and showed the simplicity and nontechnical advantages people had back in the late 70s in contrast to the more advanced technology of today. With all period pieces, it's always vital to make things just as they were in that time period to make it more authentic, and Super 8 gets an A+ for making us feel like we were living in the 70s, and I always enjoy movies that suck me right into the time period in which the movie takes place, taking me away from reality and into the world of sci-fi. With all science fiction films, you can't help but feel intensity, bafflement, intrigue, and Super 8 accomplished that quite well I think. When it was serious, it was very very serious, and made us wonder what the outcome of certain events would be, and when there was humor, there was really funny humor, especially among the child actors of this films, who, in my book, did a fantastic job portraying their on screen counterparts and reminded me of child actors in some other films I enjoy like The Goonies.
People often criticize children actors, feeling that they just don't know how to act or are too whiny and immature. The actors in Super 8 are nothing like that. They are very character driven characters that we can relate too, feel sorry for in a way, especially the main character of the film, Joe Lamb, played by Joel Courtney.You can almost flashback to your youth in some of the scenes with the child actors, showing how optimistic and mischievous children were in the old days, always looking for ways to have fun and have a bit of adventure. Super 8 displayed this flawlessly, and is another one of those films that shows kids being kids, always in the mood for doing things outside the box, different from everybody else.I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Joel and Alice, the main female character, because it was well thought out and innovative, and no film is complete without a male and female character forming some sort of bond with one another. The adult actors do a fantastic job as well, keeping the children characters in order and teaching them valuable lessons to help them through their journey we see throughout the film. They were your typical snobby, arrogant adult characters against everything the children said or did, they were noble, well respected adults that just wanted what was best for the children characters, making the film all the more interesting. As I said earlier, this film really had me wondering that was going to happen next and how exactly the film would end. The action was intense and the special effects, the very few there are in this film, really made the film more realistic in a way, with shattered material and matter flying all over the place, hurting others and sending the main characters running for their lives. And in the end, you are left with that feeling of "wowness", wanting to see the film a second time and point out things you didn't see the first time.
Overall, Super 8 was an excellent piece of summer blockbuster taffy. It was very much like Cloverfield in a way, although Super 8 didn't have a giant beast stomping about the city destroying everything in existence. Super 8 did however have some of the weirdest alien lifeforms I ever did see on film that had very different motives from the usual visitors from other worlds we have seen on film. It also had people banding together to solve a deleterious problem, a problem that was plaguing the community, a threat beyond anything in their imagination. And no doubt that this film will inspire other film makers to show off their takes on alien invasions, among them there might be the next District 9 or Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or a film displaying the mysterious events regarding the Roswell incident of 1947. Who knows, but whatever flying saucer, big headed alien films come our way in the coming years, they are guaranteed to intrigue us, fascinate us, and motivate us to see the film no matter what peculiar title the film goes under. There is even an alien related film hitting theaters next week that I am looking forward to seeing and reviewing, Green Lantern. Just imagine all the weird, exotic creatures that will appear in that film, all beautifully animated in CGI, because everybody enjoys seeing that on film (sarcasm). Anyway, Super 8 was a superb film that science fiction lovers and movie experts alike will indulge themselves in an enjoy until the very end. J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg did a pleasant job of making a science fiction film that has a little bit of everything, humor, horror, and astonishment, and that's what I enjoy seeing in films, things that will captivate the audience and suck us into the world of the silver screen. Stanley Kubrick would be proud.
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