SUPER 8
JUNE 9, 2011
The kids find the victim in the truck and are astonished to find out it is their biology teacher, Dr. Woodward (Glynn Turman). At first they believe he has died because no one could have survived such an impact but shockingly he is alive. He tells them that they must never tell anyone what they have just witnessed. If the children speak, their parents as well as themselves will be in emanate danger but does not fully disclose to them his reasoning. In the distance flashlights appear and the children soon discern that they should not be found near the site of the destruction. The following day, Joe pays Charles a visit and the two watch the aftermath of the train wreck on the TV news program.
This is a good children's story that adults can appreciate through the fast paced writing. Several times throughout the movie the audience will laugh out loud, but the movie is more suspense science fiction than comedy. The young actors were well picked for their parts as well as phenomenal in every scene. If this were a more adult filled movie the kids would steal the show. Since they are the main characters their time screen is tremendous and they were able to bring uniqueness to the movie. Children are asked to be smarter beyond their years and these kids deliver. The director (j.J. Abrams) seemed patient, allowing the children to slowly open themselves up to what their characters are feeling inside.
The graphics do not end following the train wreck. Throughout the movie, there are metal objects that will fly through the air without notice. Some of it seems small but these scenes have incredible attention to detail. The town begins to find that car engines are missing, microwaves have disappeared and the power will abruptly shut down for short periods of time. The town holds meetings while the military begins to gather items from the crash scene. Joe had picked up a small white object that resembles a rubics cube the night of the crash and has kept it as a souvenir. It soon becomes apparent that this object has been awakened and starts moving around on his dresser.
The animosity between Joe’s dad, Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler) and Alice Dainard's dad, Louis Dainard (Ron Eldard) is evident when the two kids are caught talking. Louis confronts Jackson and tells him to keep his boy away from Alice. Jackson quickly informs Joe that he will be sending him to camp for the summer. Joe is sweet on Alice and does not want to go away for the summer. He does not understand the implications surrounding his friendship with Alice and the impact that their friendship will have on the adults in their lives. The movie begins when Joe's mother, Elizabeth Lamb (Caitriona Balfe) has been killed in a terrible work accident during a shift she was covering for Alice's dad. Louis was too drunk to go to work and Elizabeth, who has always stood by Louis through all his drunken endeavors, agreed to fill in for him at the plant.
Charles is the ring leader who writes, directs and acts in the amateur movie. He is also smitten with Alice and later revealed to Joe that she is the reason he is doing the movie and asked her to participate. He acknowledges that he sees the chemistry between Joe and Alice in turn will not expose his feelings to her. They decide to continue shooting the movie using the aftermath and the military presence as backdrop. In the meantime they have dropped off the film from the camera that was running the night of the crash to a local photo store to be developed. This becomes a key discovery as the kids find they have filmed a creature emerging through the wreckage. The kids break into the school in order to rack through Dr. Woodward's files to find out what else he may know about the creature. To their surprise he has been documenting this monster for many years. Dr. Woodward had an encounter where the beast had touched him. When this happened, he had full understanding and sympathy for the creature and realized the only thing it wanted was to go home. The military had kept the alien locked up to study it. Once it had a chance to get away it began pulling all the metal it could to build a machine to take it home.
Jackson lamb, who has taken over the role of the sheriff since his disappearance, confronts the head of the military investigating the crash site and agrees to meet him privately to discuss what is really happening to the town. Upon his arrival he is quickly taken into military custody. While inside a temporary cell he waits for his opportunity and when it comes he takes full advantage of the situation. Delivering a hard blow to his captor, he changes into military uniform and began to flee the scene.
After an argument between Alice and her dad, he tells her to leave. When she does, Louis immediately regrets his decision and begins to chase after her. During the chase Alice is kidnapped by the creature while her dad watches helplessly. Joe finds Louis in a makeshift hospital spouting propaganda that his daughter had been taken by aliens. Joe believes him and promptly devises a plan to rescue her. In the meantime, Joe's dad has escaped from the clutches of the military, grabs Louis and begins to implement his own plan to find the truth behind what has happened in his town since the train derailment. The two steal a car and head down the road. Unbeknownst to them, they have just passed the kids driving in the other direction.
Charles swayed his older sister, Jen (Amanda Michalka) to convince the young Stoner Kid, Donny (David Gallagher) who works at the video store to drive them on a mission to save Alice. He agrees in hopes of furthering his advances towards jen. The end is in sight but can the children overtake the alien, rescue Alice, and live to tell about it?
I wish not to give the ending away so there is still something left for the viewer when hitting the theater. Just remember to not get out of your seat during the credits, or you will miss the completed version of the movie within a movie. The film resembles an updated version of “ET” or “close encounters” and even sets the movie in 1979. The acting, directing, and visual depiction far surpassed the story and even add credence to it throughout the 112 minutes. The script could have used a little puffing up to give equal value to the graphics.
RUSTY
6/10/11