Super 8 - Movie Review

A sci-fi thriller written and directed by J. J. Abrams, Super 8 follows Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) and his friends (Riley Griffiths, Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning) who are making a movie using a super 8 mm film camera for a contest in a small Ohio town in the summer of 1979. While filming at train station at night, the group barely escapes a catastrophic train crash. Strange occurrences start to happen around the town shortly after and as Joe and his friends dig deeper, they discover that accident may not be an accident after all and some thing has escaped from the wreckage. Things get stranger still when the military arrives to execute a coverup and a hunt for the creature.

Super 8 has a great story that is mainly centered around its characters. The acting is superb and completely natural. As for action though, besides the train wreck in the beginning, the middle of the movie goes at a relatively slow pace. We are only shown glimpses of that is causing the strange disappearances of people and metallic devices. However, this is super successful in building up uneasy and chilling atmosphere during that time - there were a few times where I jumped. The action doesn't pick up until the ending. Being that Super 8 was produced by Steven Spielberg, it is not a surprise that the ending is slightly reminiscent of E.T. Compared to the rest of the film, the ending seemed too happy happy to me. A lot of set up was done throughout the movie to give the viewer an emotional happy ending. It is nice that this film is so focused on the relationships between characters. It's not bad but it seemed just slightly over the top at the end. Still, besides the awesome dynamic of the characters, the movie is amazingly choreographed and train crash is spectacular and there are lot of explosions towards the end. Highly recommend watching it in theatres.

Super 8 is coming out in theatres and IMAX on Friday June 10, 2011.



Want to win tickets to see Super 8? IMAX is hosting a facebook contest here. Good luck!

Entering 'MINT' at super8secret.com will also give you a chance to RVSP for an advanced screening in select cities in Canada and the US.