I was not one of the masses that went to see the new movie Super 8 over the weekend, but I did get the chance to catch up with it last night. This is the latest "better if you don't quite know exactly what it is" movie, written and directed by J.J. Abrams, and produced (in part) by Steven Spielberg.If you don't know exactly what the movie is about, then... well, like I just said, it's probably better if you don't. I'll simply describe how to make the cocktail that is Super 8. Take two parts The Goonies and one part Cloverfield; shake vigorously and serve with a wedge of E.T., in a glass rimmed with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. More or less. In other words, you get some summer action movie, but some monster/suspense movie, all with more character development and plot than is conventional for any of those kind of movies.
That character development is really where the movie shines. The people involved are compelling, and you do care about what happens to them, root for them, and generally "get involved."
What also shines is that those characters are mostly children, and they've been wonderfully cast by a half-dozen young performers who really can act. With a story built so much around kids, the movie would have fallen flat without good talent to play them. While some shine especially in the bunch (Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning), there isn't a weak link among them.
What didn't quite work for me so well was the pacing. The flow between action and character didn't always feel quite natural to me. The movie started out as a slow burn in the first act, rather reminiscent of the movies made in the year being depicted (1979). And that worked, except that when it seemed things were starting to accelerate, they slowed down again throughout the middle chunk of the movie. The ending too was a bit unusual in this regard -- after an intense race to the finish line, the last scene itself felt low-key by comparison.
But really, all I'm saying is that I wouldn't listen to the critics who have declared this "what all summer movies should be," or the "best film so far this year." It is good. It's just not that good. I grade it a B. Worth seeing for sure, and probably even in the theater. Just don't let any hype set your expectations unreasonably high.
1 comment:
spoiler alert (for those that haven't seen this yet)
I left the movie feeling like the alien was a giant ass and "WTF kill that people eater!" but after further reflection about the whole it-communicates-telepathically-by-touch and the kid must have calmed it down with his "feelings" it made a little more sense. Sure hope that alien doesn't get home and rally a fleet to wipe us out?
another thing I felt was a little awkward was the scene in the beginning where the director kid almost breaks the 4th wall and says character development is better than action because you'll care about it more. that was a pretty accurate description of this movie because at the end I really only cared about the (super very well developed) characters and frak that alien chump thing. but somehow it bothered me throughout the entire movie because there was SO MUCH character development and they had pointed it out.
I LOVED the final cut of "The Case" OMG that was awesomely fun. and I never would have gave you that information if we hadn't serverd together in 'Nam. Those were rough times. I don't want to talk about it.
the mole
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