When I went to see Star Trek Generations, all those years ago, the boy next to me shook with excitement for almost the whole film and especially when Counsellor Troi was drunk. This is something that I imagine quite a lot of fanboys were doing at the prospect of Stephen Spielberg and JJ Abrams were making a film together.
The resultant film is, of course, Super 8. The film is quite an achievement really as well. If Abrams wanted to make an homage to Spielberg; to E.T., the Goonies and Close Encounters, then it would look something like this film. There are strange goings on in a small town in America, after a massive train wreck, car parts and dogs go missing and the air force are acting mysteriously as well. This time though the events are documented by a bunch of movie making kids.
Both Abrams and Spielberg quite often portray non-conventional families in their films and series. I think that the only really happy couple in Lost, for instance, were Bernard and Rose. In Super 8 the only fully functioning family unit includes kids who repeatedly hit the dinner table with baseball bats.
Without giving too much away, important elements in this film, as with what’s come in the past, are communication and understanding. This is course evidenced in the lack of communication between parents and children as much as anywhere else and of course between different strata of authority, the Police and the Air Force.
Abrams has said as well that it’s important that the film is set in the late seventies, early eighties. He said that the events wouldn’t happen today. Kids would be making a film using their iPhones, or some such device. It wouldn’t take three days to develop film and they’d probably upload everything to You Tube and then Skype the Pentagon, lol.
On the whole it’s a worthwhile experience. It’s a film that is funny in the right places and does not fail to astonish as to how people can have such metal work in their mouth and be such pyromaniacs. People will make comparisons with other films that Spielberg and Abrams have been involved in, as I have. I did find it curious that Matt Reeves was acknowledged at the end of the film. Also when are people going to learn that the film has not necessarily finished when the credits start to roll? All those that left early, when I saw the film today missed a screening of The Case, the film that the kids were making.
Well said! My hubby and I always stay through the credits. Some of the best stuff comes at the end, doesn't it? lol
ReplyDeleteI have yet to see 'Super 8', but it's on my list.
I am far from a film critic and even avid watcher to be completely honest. However, after many years of not travelling to a cinema and with all the hype surrounding 'Super 8', I decided to venture out to see this film. Perhaps it was because the film was given such high ratings from what I had heard, or maybe going to cinema just wasn't as exciting as it used to be - but I was completely disappointed by this film.
ReplyDeleteI guess what troubled me with the film was, the beginning was extremely mysterious and kept me on the edge of my seat. However I felt that the 'point' of the film was given away too early and the potential suspense for the story line was not fully executed. That said, perhaps I just missed the magic that everyone else seems to have gained from this film, it can't be given such positive accounts without reason.
Just to offer a different opinion. Like you said, it would be boring if everyone agreed with your opinion!