Super 8 (2011)
Directed by J.J. Abrams
In late 1970s Ohio, a group of friends filming a homemade zombie movie witness a devastating train derailment. Soon after, their quiet town is gripped by unexplained disappearances, strange phenomena, and a growing sense of fear, as they uncover that something terrifying has been set loose.
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Like a conjurer who can technically copy his hero's trick but fails to find the "magic," Abrams objectively understands and gathers many of the narrative elements that make Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. memorable, but puts his heart more into the references to Dick Smith's Do-It-Yourself Monster Make-Up Handbook than into telling a story that, like those of Spielberg, feel real.
Sure, by technicality, the story is original, but when the entire picture is an homage to ’80s Spielberg and borrows heavily from Steven’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T., and more than a share from Rob Reiner’s Stand by Me, it’s hard to really call it original.
"Super 8" not only pays homage to pictures like "E.T.," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," and "The Goonies," it acts as a tribute to a time when all you needed to make a movie was passion and ingenuity, rather than $200 million and the rights to a hip comic book.
The effect of such a modus operandi is initial coziness quickly giving way to disheartening familiarity, with Abrams’s own preoccupations (if he had any to begin with) becoming subsumed beneath the root themes, dynamics, and imagery of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and, more fundamental still, E.T. Set in a small Ohio town in 1979, this is a trial-by-fire tale of middle school kids falling in love, strengthening relationships, and reconciling with distant parents that’s so clearly modeled after the work of its spiritual godfather (and producer) that, though Abrams’s comprehension of his chosen genre tropes is exhaustive and his technical skill is impressive enough to create stirring atmospheric déjà vu, there’s little genuine heart to his drama.
Though you could also detect echoes of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and even The Goonies in Super 8.
Produced by Spielberg and reminiscent of E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind and even War of the Worlds, it also has some of the coming-of-age quality of Rob Reiner's Stand By Me.
If it deliberately recalls films from the 1970s and '80s -- "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" and "The Goonies" especially -- then it also powerfully evokes its own distinct sense of time and place.
From familial discord, the death of a parent, and the like “Super 8” channels these themes from classic Spielberg fare like “Close Encounters,” and “Jaws” with a sprinkle of “Stand By Me” and “The Goonies” for good measure.
In a way, Super 8 is as derivative and familiar as anything in theaters today, only the movies it’s copying are all over a quarter of a century old: Spielbergian fare like The Goonies, E.T., Gremlins and Close Encounters, with echoes of earlier and later films.
The Bigger Picture: We hate to say it, but while Abrams was trying to channel E.T. , The Goonies , and The Monster Club , he accidentally ended up reminding us of M. Night Shyamalan instead.
Less obviously, the rowdy and uncool boys who accompany Joe and Charles through much of this adventure recall Spielberg’s The Goonies, not a comparison you generally want to inspire.
It's clear right from the get-go that Abrams is looking to evoke the feel and tone of such similarly-themed fare as The Goonies , Poltergeist , and, especially, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial , as Super 8 hits on many of the touchstones that one has come to associate with the youth-oriented blockbusters of the 1980s - with the scrappy kids at the narrative's core certainly standing as the most obvious example of this.
What they're trying to do is evoke the innocence of an “E.T.” while introducing a more recent level of special effects.
And if you grew up watching E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, you’ll appreciate the references, but a flat-out nostalgia-fest isn’t really enough.
You only have to compare “Super 8" (unfairly perhaps, but inevitably) to the Spielberg film it most resembles, the impeccably entertaining “E.T.,” to see the ways the earlier movie felt fresh and inventive while the new one has the aura of stuff we’ve already seen.
The movie is a touchingly self-conscious homage to early Spielberg, to Jaws and Close Encounters and E.T., and if it's not at the level of those films, neither does it embarrass itself with the comparison.
Without giving too much away, let's just say there's a lot of "ET." here (albeit in a fairly modified form), along with obvious material related to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," and even some bits of inspiration from "Jaws" as well as the boy group dynamic from "The Goonies" (that Spielberg didn't direct, but did produce and obviously similarly inspired way back when).
From its mysterious otherworldly presence with unknown motives to the late ’70s suburban kids whose vast imaginations are swept up in its path, “Super 8” contains echoes of “E.T.,” “Close Encounters,” “Jurassic Park” and even less essential entries in the Spielberg canon, like “War of the Worlds.”
From familial discord, the death of a parent, and the like “Super 8” channels these themes from classic Spielberg fare like “Close Encounters,” and “Jaws” with a sprinkle of “Stand By Me” and “The Goonies” for good measure.
Sure, by technicality, the story is original, but when the entire picture is an homage to ’80s Spielberg and borrows heavily from Steven’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T., and more than a share from Rob Reiner’s Stand by Me, it’s hard to really call it original.
Besides Richard Donner’s Spielberg-produced “The Goonies,” the scenes with the kids most directly recall Rob Reiner’s “Stand by Me.”
Produced by Spielberg and reminiscent of E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind and even War of the Worlds, it also has some of the coming-of-age quality of Rob Reiner's Stand By Me.
That starts with the central characters, a group of young teenage misfits who may remind you of the kids from The Goonies or Stand by Me .
It definitely feels like an homage to great movies past, particularly E.T. , Stand by Me , and Close Encounters of the Third Kind .
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From familial discord, the death of a parent, and the like “Super 8” channels these themes from classic Spielberg fare like “Close Encounters,” and “Jaws” with a sprinkle of “Stand By Me” and “The Goonies” for good measure.
There are also elements of his "darker" efforts - Jaws , Jurassic Park , War of the Worlds - and nods to some of the titles Spielberg leant his name to in a production capacity - Poltergeist, Gremlins, The Goonies.
“Jaws,” that other touchstone of Spielberg-directed summertime thrills, no doubt taught Abrams the importance of nothing giving us a good look at the Something until the time is right.
The movie is a touchingly self-conscious homage to early Spielberg, to Jaws and Close Encounters and E.T., and if it's not at the level of those films, neither does it embarrass itself with the comparison.
Without giving too much away, let's just say there's a lot of "ET." here (albeit in a fairly modified form), along with obvious material related to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," and even some bits of inspiration from "Jaws" as well as the boy group dynamic from "The Goonies" (that Spielberg didn't direct, but did produce and obviously similarly inspired way back when).
Abrams wisely evokes Jaws and refuses to reveal his creature too early, leaving the fierce brutality and strength of his monster to speak for itself.
There are also elements of his "darker" efforts - Jaws , Jurassic Park , War of the Worlds - and nods to some of the titles Spielberg leant his name to in a production capacity - Poltergeist, Gremlins, The Goonies.
From its mysterious otherworldly presence with unknown motives to the late ’70s suburban kids whose vast imaginations are swept up in its path, “Super 8” contains echoes of “E.T.,” “Close Encounters,” “Jurassic Park” and even less essential entries in the Spielberg canon, like “War of the Worlds.”
Spielberg himself might have been able to weave this into something coherent (indeed, strong elements of Close Enounters�, The Goonies, Jurassic Park, E.T., Jaws, and Poltergeist can be detected here), but the combination never gels.
The thing is, J.J. Abrams adored the same Steven Spielberg classics that we all did, and if youâ??ve seen E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Jurassic Park and Jaws, then you have a rough idea of whatâ??s in store.
The train scene is one for the ages, and the bit in the bus is this generation’s “Jurassic Park” moment.
It’s like Abrams wanted to make Jaws (or Jurassic Park) and E.T. at the same time.
In a way, Super 8 is as derivative and familiar as anything in theaters today, only the movies it’s copying are all over a quarter of a century old: Spielbergian fare like The Goonies, E.T., Gremlins and Close Encounters, with echoes of earlier and later films.
Yes, many classic Spielberg-produced kids’ action adventures also had domestic drama (The Goonies, E.T., and Gremlins come to mind), but it somehow never detracted from the awe and wonder that got you into your seat to begin with.
Toss in a healthy measure of Rob Reiner's bonding classic "Stand by Me" and passing winks at "WarGames," "Independence Day," "Gremlins" and even "Duel," and you've got one grand mash of a movie that's trying to capture the innocence and energy of an earlier time while bringing it into the right here and now.
While cast in the mold of late-Seventies/early Eighties films such as , E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Gremlins, and The Goonies, Super 8 has a sense of being the most personal of all Abrams’ projects (which include his creation of the popular TV shows Felicity, Alias, Lost, and Fringe).
Going back to the style and structure of films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Gremlins and The Goonies to create engaging narratives that rely on a developed build-up rather than a series of quick gratifications is an outstanding way of making engaging mainstream family entertainment.
Hopefully you recognize him from Gremlins.
When he notices a train unexpectedly approaching, the excitable Charles yells "Production value!" and sets the camera to include it, little knowing that a pickup truck will pull onto the tracks and be deliberately positioned to create a collision that will far exceed the spectacle of the train wreck in Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth, Abrams' and Spielberg's acknowledged inspiration for the sequence.
After a while, the film references – Goonies, E.T., Close Encounters, Cloverfield, Aliens, Poltergeist, and The Greatest Show On Earth - seem to be more important than the story fused together from all these various parts.
Our young, undersupervised heroes are filming a cheesy zombie movie one night at a closed Ohio train station when they are nearly flattened by a train wreck straight out of Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
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What we have here is a clichéd combination of just about every hulking, goopy, multi-tentacled creature seen prior, made even more disappointing by how similaryet inferiorit is to the alien in 2008's " Cloverfield ."
Abrams adepts will recall a similar story, of young people banding together to face a ravenous monster, from Cloverfield, the 2008 alien-invasion film he produced.
But I didn’t like Cloverfield and unfortunately, Super 8, your period piece tribute to the Spielbergian era of sci-fi optimism feels at times like it has more of the Cloverfield emptiness, action for action’s sake, than Spielberg’s patented emotional connection with his protagonists.
Abrams also includes offhand references to Alien, Transformers and his own Cloverfield.
As written and directed by J. J. Abrams ( Star Trek ), Super 8 comes across more like a creative combination of Goonies and Cloverfield .
This being 1979, their movie—about a zombie cover-up—is being filmed on a Super 8 film camera, with the intention of entering a Super 8 film festival (hey, just like J.J. Abrams did with Cloverfield director Matt Reeves, in their early teens!).
But Spielberg, when he did his homage to those films, brought his own almost preternatural sense of innocence, his unparalleled ability to entertain, and he made "Raiders of the Lost Ark." J.J. Abrams, a far more self-aware citizen of the movie jungle, isn't Steven Spielberg, no matter how much he wants to be.
Abrams’s now-standard pre-release veil of secrecy does the movie a massive service, and going in cold gives you the chance to experience a movie as pre-internet audiences would have seen Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Jaws, ET, Close Encounters and all those other Spielberg gems – in blissful ignorance, ready to be amazed.
So when contemporary filmmakers who were raised on Raiders and other films in the Spielberg/Lucas ‘70s/’80s blockbuster canon attempt homage of their own – even in generally good films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Super 8 and Midnight Special, or promising efforts like the forthcoming Stranger Things – they’re in a much trickier position.
The kiddie-filmmaker stuff in Super 8 feels like the stuff Abrams was most interested in � the kids, particularly the flick�s director (Riley Griffiths), are passionate about what they�re doing, and it reminded me of the real-life teens who spent most of the �80s making a shot-for-shot remake of Spielberg�s Raiders of the Lost Ark. Anyone who�s seen the results of that seven-year experiment has found it completely charming.
Whether it's fair to Abrams or not, we've come to expect a little more from him, and as likeable as both the movie and the characters were, the film still failed to connect for me on the gut emotional level of a Close Encounters or a Raiders of the Lost Ark.