Super 8: a great homage to our childhood!

My Rating for Super 8: 3.5 out of 5

If you don’t care too much for bad endings, do yourself a favor and watch super 8.  This movie is, from head to feet, a tribute to the classic sci-fi genre made popular by the likes of Steven Spielberg.  In fact, J.J. Abrams, in his movie Super 8, captures kids and their little nuances so well that you will find yourself smiling at the screen recalling fond memories of your good old times with your friends.  The dialogues between the kids are so well written and the story so well maintained (till the end) that you could forgive Abrams for getting lazy with the ending. 

There are two parts to this movie.  Let me first talk about Abram’s muse with monsters.  Without giving away too much, Abrams, as expected has created a situation where there is an unknown monster/alien/robot thing that is in a little town in Ohio and this monster is literally power hungry.  It is gathering all the engines and mechanic parts of the town for some unknown purpose. For most of the movie we don’t see the monster we just see its havoc on the little town.  And when we do see it, we come realize that all the pre-tense and build up and rather weak story provided for the monster falls apart and is actually inconsistent.

The other part of the movie is the real winner:  The kids.  The kids are in summer break and are making a zombie movie.  The appearance of the monster makes for a great set for the movie and that is how the monster is connected to the movie.  Some kids are falling in love, some are dramatic, and some are crazy…but all are adorable and their characters are an homage to our own childhood filled with curiosities and the desire to achieve something great, to be loyal to our friends, and to just do fun things during a lazy summer.  This part of the movie, a new avenue of exploration for director Abrams in both writing and directing, is handled very well and actually helps keep the movie entertaining and fun.  The climax is actually not the ending of the movie but actually when the credits roll because this is when we get to see the movie that these kids have made: a B-rated horror zombie flick.  It is amazing and this par of the movie alone makes Super 8 a great film.  This movie is an exploration of childhood and all of its ‘complicated’ relationships with other kids and their fascination with the unknown.  Easily a 3.5/5!