Review: “SUPER 8” Mixes Charm and Chills. Check It Out!

The Best Kid Cast Since Stand By Me

The movie “SUPER 8” is named after the 8mm consumer film cameras that a lot of suburban families had in the 60’s and 70’s, and a few aspiring filmmakers had them, too. A guy named Steven Spielberg famously made his first “epics” with such home equipment. It’s only natural that Spielberg is producing this charming flick that was directed by his protégé of sorts, J.J. Abrams.

Set in 1979, the movie introduces us to a group of kids, somewhat outsiders, who are making their own movie in small town Ohio, and they’re taking it very seriously. The main character, Joe (played with an authentic sweetness by Joel Courtney) is the cameraman who’s crushing hard on his director’s “leading lady,” played with a beyond her years weariness by Elle Fanning.

Like “Stand By Me” and “E.T”, this is a film that really spends time with the kids of the cast. The two Dads of the romantic leads will both have important roles to play, but this movie sits at the kids table where the pushy director and the brace-face pyro and the humorless “leading man” bring us into their world away from grown-ups. The movie is not only set in 1979, it actually reminds me of a movie I might have watched in 1979. It’s got that kind of semi-innocent vibe. Yes, kids swear and smoke weed and sneak out of the house back then, as now, but they are good-hearted.

The weakest point, believe it or not, is actually the plot; one night, the kids are filming a scene at the small train station, when a huge train crashes before their eyes. It’s a brilliant extended sequence that opens up the familiar plot point, which I won’t spoil, but let’s just say that something on that train was under military guard, and the military dudes are being VERY sketchy, taking over the town, without telling anyone what’s going on. Although this part is well done, it’s not as interesting as the romance and emotion brought out among the kids’ relationships with each other, and the difficult relationships with their respective parents. J.J. Abrams, himself, has said that the film started as two different concepts that he blended into one film. I’m just saying I liked one concept better than the other.

That said, it’s nice to be charmed, and to be reminded of what it felt like to watch a Spielberg film back when he was new, much younger than I am now. Not to sound too vague, but I just really liked the vibe of this movie. It’s the kind of flick that makes audiences applaud at the end. But clap your hands while remaining seated—there’s a fun sequence that rolls during the closing credits.