Made it a mission to see this movie on opening night. Though I had zero expectations about it. Nothing from the trailers could tell me what this movie was. Came into with only one concern: is this another Cloverfield?
I mean, perhaps Abrams wanted to go retro and shoot a monster film on an 8mm camera?
Turns out it’s way better than that. In fact, it is no Cloverfield. This movie stands on the same level as E.T., only not as adorable or family friendly as that extraterrestrial. No-no, might find the thing in this movie is seemly far from friendly. Abrams certainly knows how to run a monster movie. Show very little and terrify the hell out of everyone with sound and jumpy effects, while not giving us all motion sickness in the process.
Super 8 is about a kid named Joe Lamb (played by Joel Courtney) who is dealt with one disaster after the other. He can’t seem to catch a break, yet his life is never down but not out. He is ever dependable to his friends.
Those friends have an unusual hobbyl filming a monster movie. Yet they seem the most real out of every character on the screen. How they talk and what they do allows you to suspend belief about what is happening around them. Other monster movies would have had a hyper focus on the military and their bizarre secret. Only when the kids stumble upon it all does it seem to matter.
While I’m not sure I’d see it again in theaters, I will definitely put this on my buy list. Going on blu-ray for sure. There’s a scene in the credits that you can’t miss if you don’t bolt fo the exits right away. At least a treat to see what they were up to during the movie.
