Super 8 - An Amblin Entertainment Production, a J.J. Abrams Film (1 Viewer)

[Gary Hightower]

Didn't care for this at all. The train crash scene and

subsequent survival of the guy who crashed head on into it


were so absurd that I wanted to leave the theater immediately afterward. I didn't because my friend bought my ticket, but it didn't get much better from there.

 

[Citizen87645]

Like many of you I'm firmly in the demographic this movie is targeting, but its attempt to tap into my nostalgia for that era just didn't happen. With my 20th high school reunion coming up next week, you'd think I'd be especially sensitive to call backs to my childhood, but there was nothing. I completely understood what the filmmakers were trying to do, but like Dustin described, I've seen it before and better.

 

[Brett_M]

I saw this on Sunday in a packed matinee showing. I loved it. My kids loved it. My wife loved it. I can't ask for anything beyond that.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Wow, so disappointed. It came across like a Mad Lib version of a Spielberg film - fill in the noun (or movie scene) and verb as needed. There's nothing wrong with the direction, and some of the suspense sequences are quite exceptional. But the script and payoff is pretty weak and so derivative of E.T. (alien's psychic touch) and Close Encounters (everyone staring in awe watching ship leave). Okay, I get it; it's an homage, but Abrams the director should have relieved Abrams the writer of that role to find a better third act.


And this has the classic Spielberg manipulation of emotion rather than real emotion coming from the storyline. Sure, give the main kid a dead mother from the start to build instant sympathy rather than letting the sympathy develop from time spent with the character or real interactions. "Stand By Me" shows how to evoke empathy for characters without major tricks or manipulation often found in Spielberg films. Technique does not trump real and touching moments in character development. Didn't want to be so analytical about this movie, but that's the technique used to create it - like a Frankenstein movie of parts put together with way too much calculation, and not some organic imagination.


What does it say when the 'amateur' zombie movie put together by the kids playing during the credits, has more genuine depth than the feature that preceded it?

 

[EricSchulz]

LOVED IT! Incredibly entertaining...a great throwback to the movies I loved growing up. Although I'm not sure how well today's kids will respond to it...

Great group of child actors.

 

[Al_S]

Saw it this past weekend and thought the acting was good but the movie felt kind of empty. It's been done before. It reminded me of the Goonies crossed with ET.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Originally Posted by Al_S

It reminded me of the Goonies crossed with ET.

Isn't that exactly what they were going for?

 

[Citizen87645]

It is what they were going for, but anytime that's done so clearly ("that" being an homage or derivation, or whatever you want to call it) it creates a burden on the new work to distinguish itself in some way or provide some insight, otherwise it's just a poor man's "whatever," carbon copy, etc. The references in the film are pretty clear, so much so that as I watched the film it did make me nostalgic for those films, but not in the way the filmmakers probably wanted. Essentially, I started wondering, "Why aren't I just watching [E.T.] [Close Encounters] [Goonies] instead?"

 

[Tom Logan]

Plot questions:




How long had the monster been living under the cemetery? What was all the equipment doing down there? And if that place was the monster's (temporary Earth) home, what was it doing on the train so close to its home?


JHMO: Any summer popcorn Spielbergesque movie that has the boy hero's dog disappearing (along with all the other dogs in the town) and then DOESN'T REUNITE THEM WITH THEIR OWNERS BY THE END is...well, let's say it's damn unworthy of its lineage.

 

[Citizen87645]

The alien started living down there the night Joe saw the disturbance in the cemetery. It was starting to dig out the cavern at that point. So part of its special super alien powers was being able to move tons of earth...somewhere.


All the other phenomena with the car engines and microwaves disappearing was it collecting stuff to build what I took to be a specific kind of electromagnet whose sole purpose was to attract the white cubes so he could reconstitute his ship and escape. Apparently this energy also created disturbances that messed with the military's weaponry.

 

[Jeremiah]

Spoiler gripes......

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I would like to know where all that dirt went from the alien digging his tunnels.


How the hell does the driver of the truck that hit the train survive?


The train crash was cool but obviously nothing like that would/could ever of happened, it's not the freaking bullet train.


I still liked it tho.

 

[montrealfilmguy]

WARNING : A spoilery kind of post.


Saw it yesterday,and for 24 hours went with my heart.Now the head is taking over and telling the heart to take it easy.


I have to conclude my view on it with the thought that the film tries too much to be a Spielbergian type of film but still fails.


Just like when the last Indy came out,i still see it this way.Someone found the Spielberg book on how to make movies and thought

"Well,now this doesn't look too hard,any Joe Schmo can do it.


The Spielberg of 1979 is not the Spielberg of 2011,but the 2011 Spielberg gave free reign to Abrahms to try and emulate the 1979 Spielberg.


Some parts do work ,( the kids creating the zombie film -points and kudos to the pyro lovin zombie actor )some parts fail.


There is a HUGE difference between not showing the creature and not seeing the creature.For the most part it was just a blurry greyish woosh of a thing


And yes,if that's the best the army can do to locate something that pretty much leaves a trail of destruction everywhere it goes,they suck.

 

[Citizen87645]

I'm pretty sure the pyro zombie kid was the kid who played the young Kirk driving the muscle car in the Abrams Star Trek.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Originally Posted by Cameron Yee

I'm pretty sure the pyro zombie kid was the kid who played the young Kirk driving the muscle car in the Abrams Star Trek.

Nope. The Star Trek kid was in No Ordinary Family. His name is Jimmy Bennett. The kid in Super 8 is Ryan Lee.

 

[Henry Gale]

I loved it, but like many others it did make me want to watch some other movies.

In my case; "Explorers" (1985) and "Invaders from Mars" (1986).


Glad to see the "movie in the movie" play during the credits.

I recall that to see "MANT!" from "Matinee" (1993) you had to own the LaserDisc; which I do.

Wonder if that extra ever showed up on a DVD??

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I agree with some of the comments here.


This movie felt all-too-familiar. If it had been done

in the 1980s when I was still in my youth, I probably

would have fallen for its charm.


However, I feel as if all this has been done before

and I have come to the point in my life where these clichéd

Spielberg-type films that don't deliver on the sci-fi level --

but try to win you over with its emotional-pulling scenes

involving kids and parents -- just doesn't cut it for me anymore.


For me, this film is 30 years too late.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Originally Posted by Chris Will I really enjoyed the kids. It must be nice to have talent. (heavy sigh).


I'm not a nitpicker so I will let go some issues of logic. Of course the professor should not have survived the wreck, but I let it go. If I could change the film, I'd add 5 minutes to get to know the alien better. The ending lacked a little punch without more involvement with him. Those that went for the story about the kids will be satisfied, those that wanted an alien film will be a little let down. A little more time with the alien might fix that.

 

[Zack Gibbs]

I don't see why anyone would be satisfied with the story about the kids. The majority of them are left behind for the 3rd act never to return. Even Fat Kid, the largest secondary character (npi), gets dropped because they don't know what to do with him.


Elle Fanning ended up being nothing but a damsel in distress.


And our main character Joe at no point in the film ever has a conflict who's resolution can be summed up as "Some times bad things happen." He hasn't had any problem 'letting go' of his mother. He's having a nice summer with friends, they're making a movie, he's mak'n on the hot girl in school. Joe was doing just fine in the movie I saw, he didn't have any problem to resolve except for his relationship with his father.


Are Joe and his Father's issues resolved? No. They just hug at the end.



Outside of the kids story, you have the stuff with Kyle Chandler and Ron Eldard. Abrams put in a mystery here too, and it tuns out the huge conflict these families have is that Eldard didn't go to work one day. Really? I was expecting at least an affair with Eldard and the Mother, even if it would have been obvious. Ultimately none of this gets explored at all, and Chandler decides to 'forgive' Eldard for no reason other than the movie is coming to an end.


Then there's the monster. Someone compared the monster to Jaws earlier. Why would you treat the monster like Jaws... if he's supposed to be E.T.? We don't joyfully watch Jaws swim-off into the sunset do we, because it would have made about as much sense as it does in Super 8.


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Slightly off topic, but recently J.J. Abrams keeps talking about how he wouldn't rush the production of the Star Trek sequel just to make a release date. Which is exactly what happened with Super 8, which in turn is why ST is so far behind. I find it amusing... and then sad.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by Zack Gibbs


Then there's the monster. Someone compared the monster to Jaws earlier. Why would you treat the monster like Jaws... if he's supposed to be E.T.? We don't joyfully watch Jaws swim-off into the sunset do we, because it would have made about as much sense as it does in Super 8.

Nice point. Abrams shows the scenes of the scientists testing/torturing the alien to gain sympathy, but in truth, he's no more a victim than the shark. The shark's not evil - he just does what sharks do. The alien also doesn't appear to be evil, but dude's still chowing on people - not exactly a sympathetic character.


I think it was a mistake to make the alien such an overt threat. If Abrams wants us to care about him, it's best to not treat him like the alien from "Alien", down there cocooning folks and chompin on them. Kinda hard to think "poor space dude!" when you see him bite off some innocent local's head.


I think Abrams wants us to subconsciously - consciously? - view this flick's alien ala ET, but he does nothing to earn it...

 

[montrealfilmguy]

Sometimes it's like people in Hollywood try to connect us with the nostalgia gene and it ends up being

a failed film.


Remember this Ben ? remember the eighties ? here you go.


Frick yeah,i remember the eighties,it's called my chilhood,and i clearly know it feels nothing

like this.In another thread,i mentioned how i vividly remember standing up ,cheering clapping and crying at the end of E.T.

with 500 strangers.I think that time is long gone.I suggest you get your beta/superbit/laserdisc/dvd of E.T. and watch that

last shot before the credits of Henry Thomas and listen to the John Williams score,and you'll know right then and there.


I always say that Star wars 1977 is a part of the 70's because of the times it was released in.Although Jaws

was,i think the first film to pass the magic number of 100 million in summer box-office and be the first "feelgood " movie

ending,i think Star wars had more of an impact because someone hadn't just made a shark explode,but had defeated an Empire.


Of course,until an Empire struck back.