Super 8 Review

I acknowledge that I have a bit of a weird sensibility when it comes to movies. (And when it comes to…anything, really.)

For example, I’m the guy who goes to see a monster movie and comes away thinking that the monster was, by far, the least interesting thing in the movie.

Yet that’s precisely the case with “Super 8,” the modestly-budgeted, “J.J. Abrams-does-Steven Spielberg” spectacle.

It’s too bad because I basically loved everything else about the movie.

“Super 8” follows a group of middle school-age kids — Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee, Gabriel Basso and Zach Mills (they were so good they each deserved to have their full names included, damnit!) — in fictional Lillian, Ohio as they try to make a low-budget zombie movie.

While filming one night, they witness a catastrophic train crash. The train was carrying…something that I won’t spoil here, but which gets loose and starts running amok in Lillian.

Of course, you can argue that the movie’s throwback/nostalgic vibe was just as big a draw as the “monster movie” aspect. “Super 8” is equally inspired by the movies director J.J. Abrams and executive producer Steven Spielberg made when they were young, and by some of Spielberg’s own movies from the late 1970s and early 1980s. (Which happen to be some of the most popular movies of all time.)

This isn’t the first time Spielberg has exerted his influence on a younger filmmaker. In fact, I saw it very clearly in (of all places) the first “Transformers” movie, which Spielberg also produced. Sure “Transformers” was loud and dumb, but the core human story of a boy and his robot was positively Spielbergian. (On the other hand, the fetishistic shots of the military and Tyrese yelling was all Michael Bay.)

Obviously, Spielberg and Abrams make for a more comparable pair than Spielberg and Bay.

The most impressive thing Abrams does — besides staging a spectacular train wreck that seemed to escalate and go on for about 10 minutes — was the way he conceived (Abrams also wrote the script) and handled his young, mostly inexperienced actors. The characters aren’t unrealistically wise beyond their years or overly cutesy. They’re funny, scared, immature, and loyal. In short, they’re real.

Joel Courtney is a real find as Joe Lamb. He’s got an incredibly expressive face (which serves him well when he’s not saying anything) and he easily carries the responsibility of playing everything from dealing with a petulant best friend, running away from a monster, having a crush on a co-star and trying to connect with his well-meaning, distant father (Kyle Chandler, who is terrific with relatively limited screen time.)

Elle Fanning (the most well known young actress in the cast) gives a star-making performance as Alice, the initially brusque object of Joe’s affection. Alice projected a maturity and a hint of otherworldliness which rightly separated her from her young male co-stars, but still managed to connect brilliantly and believably with Joe over time.

The rest of the kids — especially demanding director Charles and budding pyromaniac Cary — mostly provide comic relief, but each plays their part in a wonderfully specific way.

Much less specific is everything having to do with the creature in the train.

I understand that the references and elements from “E.T”, “Close Encounters of the Third King” and “Poltergeist” are intentional. I guess I was just hoping Abrams would give us his own inspired twist on these tropes (misunderstood creature…humans who are more monstrous than the monsters…a-hole who will most definitely die by the final frame) instead of playing it straight. (There's even more than a hint of "Jurassic Park" during the monster's assault on a bus.)

Basically, if “Super 8” had been a movie about a bunch of kids sneaking off to make a zombie movie (stay through the credits) while dealing with their distant parents (Ron Eldard is also strong as Alice’s dad), I would’ve been perfectly happy.

Except that I would’ve missed that spectacular crash.

Super 8…B+