Super Great Super Eight

JJ Abrams proved he was a capable director with the pilot episode of Lost. He then graduated to the big screen with Mission Impossible III, which was appropriately cinematic in many sequences, but it betrayed Abrams’ TV roots by coming across like an episode of his show Alias at times. He finally proved himself with the stunning 2009 Star Trek reboot which confirmed him as an A-list talent. But the question remained, was Abrams a genuine force to be reckoned with or was Trek a one-off, flash in the pan?

His latest, Super 8, ably demonstrates Abram’s is here to stay. It’s clearly a love letter to the films he grew up with as a child, particularly those of Steven Spielberg (also a producer on Super 8), and those movies that inspired him to become a film maker. E.T. is the primary frame of reference as it centres around a lonely boy from a broken family whose life is forever changed thanks to an encounter with an alien life form who’s just trying to get home. But there’s other pop culture references throughout from The Thing, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Invaders From Mars to even more obscure references like Alice In Wonderland (Ellie Fanning’s Alice escapes into the wonderland of film-making from her drunk of a father) and Pinocchio (when you wish upon a star). But Super 8 is less E.T. and more of a cross between a monster/horror movie and a kids, coming-of-age adventure like Stand By Me, The Goonies and The Monster Squad.

For such a great film, there’s been a lot of criticism levelled at it…some of it justified, some of it not. For example, it’s argued that the kids drama seems awkwardly shoehorned into the creature feature aspect of the plot. While it’s true that the drama heavy first half is superior to the monster-centric second, the story is deftly structured so that both parts feel like a cohesive whole. It’s argued that the character of the monster is ill-defined, that it’s killer tendencies rob it of any sympathy, and that it’s 21st century ‘Cloverfield’ design clashes with the 1970’s aesthetic that Abrams is going for. Well, if the monster seems to lack weight and screen time it’s because he’s a macguffin, just like Eric Bana’s Nero was in Star Trek, designed to motivate the characters and reflect their suffering. Yes, the monster is definitely a badass killer, but it is redeemed following it’s empathic encounter with Joe, and goes on to kill no more. Like the kids Joe and Alice in the movie, the poor blighter just wants to be understood.

Then there’s the argument that it’s Alice, not Joe, that should be the primary protagonist. And I agree with this to a point. Thematically it makes more sense to move Alice into a more primary role as her story mirrors that of the creature more than that of Joe. Also, her relationship with her father is more volatile than that of Joe with his, so it would make the film more dramatic to have Alice’s stronger story arc dominate. Apart from his loneliness stemming from the loss of his mother, Joe is a remarkably calm and remarkably un-tormented teen who is seemingly able to provide the un-judgemental understanding to others that he craves so much. Therefore his story arc isn’t as strong as it might have been. In a film that is truly, genuinely gripping, exciting and powerfully moving, it’s only a minor gripe, but it’s something that could have propelled Super 8 into the leagues of E.T. which is superior thanks to it’s simpler, more streamlined plotting.

Technically Super 8 is flawless. The photography by Larry Fong is superlatative, being grainy, realistic, with dynamic lens flares and vibrant, rich colours. It reminds me of legendary cinematographer Dean Cundy whose brilliant early work on John Carpenter films allowed him to top my go-to lighting guy list. Michael Giacchino who supplies the score, once again knocks it out of the ball park (following his distinctive old-school work on Star Trek, Let Me In and Cars 2) with a soundtrack that evokes old school John Williams.

The kids are particularly well cast with the stand outs being Joel Courtney who plays hero Joe, and Ellie Fanning (sister of Dakota and just as big an acting freak) who is just as emotive in Super 8 as her character is in the film-within-a-film “The Case”. It’s an unusually emotional adventure movie for a film released in this decade, and has been accused of being overtly manipulative. However, despite a lump-in-the-throat climax, Super 8 never descends into the saccharine coated schmaltz that represents the worst excesses of Spielberg (eg, The Twilight Zone Movie or Hook). Best of all though, Abrams directs the living crap out of this, recalling the best of Zemekis, Spielberg and Dante with it’s sweeping cameras, inventive camera moves and accessible character based drama. It’s fantastic to see a good old fashioned adventure for kids with an unashamed agenda for keeping the drama to the fore and grounded in reality. Super 8 isn’t quite perfection, put it’s not far off and delivers one of the most satisfying cinema experiences of the year.