(Photo Courtesy of www.super8-movie.com)
I had the pleasure of experiencing a Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams classic this past thursday with Super 8. From all of the films that I have seen in he past month, I witnessed countless amounts of previews for this movie that I just felt I had to see it to see if it lived up to the hype. It felt as if I was going to see ET allover again for the first time.
After viewing so many previous for upcoming films, I was finally able to begin my journey into Super 8. We enter the fictional town of Lillian, Ohio (yes I checked to see if it was an actual city) and see 13 year old Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) sitting on a swing in his yard just after a funeral for Joe's mother, whom was killed in a steel factory accident. After a brief incident between Louis (the man who took off from work due to drinking causing Joe's mother to pass away) and Joe's Father, we jump ahead four months later. Joe has settled back into his regular routine of life and his love for filmmaking.
Along with his pack of young, foul-mouthed, and hilarious friends (Charles, Tom, Preston, and Martin), Joe decides to make a horror film to enter into a film festival. Joe and his friends, along with Louis' daughter Alice (Elle Fanning), drive to an old train station to continue filming. While filming, Joe notices that a truck has jumped onto the tracks and is heading towards the ongoing train that has begun passing them. After the massive derailment of the train after colliding wit the truck, the kids discover that the person driving the truck is their high school biology teacher Mr. Woodward (Glynn Turman) and is still alive. He warns them to forget what they saw and to never speak of it to anyone - otherwise them and their families will be killed.
After the kids evade being captured, the Air Force and their commander, Colonel Nelec (Noah Emmerich) they secure the train crash, Dr. Woodward, and discover that their were others at the crash.
Strange occurrences take place such dogs running away, missing microwaves, missing car engines, as well as missing people. The Colonel and his crew stage a hoax by setting a wildfire and forcing the city's population to retreat to a local Air Force Base. While there Joe runs into Louis who informs him that a creature has taken Alice.
Joe and his friends find a ride coerce a person to give them a ride back to town. After reaching the school and breaking into Dr. Woodward's collection of confiscated items, the crew find a stash of informative films, tapes, and documents. After reviewing all of the information, especially one particular film and tape, they discovered that the Government has captured and imprisoned and alien that crashed on earth in 1958. The alien was treated poorly when the only thing it wanted to do was simply return home. The film also showed an incident where the alien grabbed Dr. Woodward, which bonded the two; causing him to run the truck into the train earlier in the movie.
Colonel Nelec and his troopers storm the school while the kids are finishing the review of Dr. Woodward's materials and capture them. On the bus ride back to the base, the bus is attacked by the alien and turned over on its side. The alien kills Nelec and his men, while Joe and his friends escape the bus through a broken window. The kids return back to the city which is now under fire. They dodge through the city avoiding the incoming fire of military weapons, which seem to be out of control.
Joe discovers that the alien's hideout is located in the cemetary. After climbing down into the alien's subterranean lair, they rescue Alice and others and retreat to escape. The are captured and few are killed by the alien. I will end it here because I really feel that you should see this modern classic that J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg have brought to us. I am very refreshed to see a new idea among all the remakes that we have coming out presently.
What you have to appreciate is the classic horror format of the film. We are constantly left in anticipation of villain at hand and what "IT" looks like. We are given the backstory half-way through the film to alter our perceptions and begin to feel as sense our sorrow for what we actually thought was the villain. This is (AGAIN) a classic since of horror and science-fiction and a definite reason to get out of the house with your mate or friend and sit down to a box of favorite concessionary food and enter another world for 2 hours.....ENJOY!!
I give this film a definite 5 Reels and hope to see more films of this caliber coming out soon!!!
[Source: www.super8-movie.com; www.super8-movie.com/sneak; www.imdb.com/title/tt1650062/; http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/super_8/]
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