There was a time that M. Night Shyamalan was compared to Hitchcock, suggesting that the former has the latter’s flair for suspense. While talk has come to an end – The Happening happily deflated that comparison once and for all – Lost and Alias creator JJ Abrams is now being compared to Spielberg, all on the basis of his latest directorial effort Super 8. The film is a clear homage to one of the greatest American filmmakers of the past 35 years. Homage is one thing; a straight comparison between two filmmakers is another. While Abrams knows the content and some of the style that 1980s Spielberg exhibited, he does not achieve the balancing act that Spielberg made to look so effortless.
Spielberg regularly deals with family issues against a fantastical backdrop – the father who is made to look batty in Close Encounters, the sanctity of family in E.T., even the attempts at familial integration in War of the Worlds. This is the balancing act: the family issues and the fantastical (usually aliens) exist, in Spielberg’s universe, in perfect tandem. Abrams doesn’t quite get the balance right.
Set in 1980s middle class America, Super 8 introduces a group of young friends who spend some of their time making a zombie movie for a low-budget film festival. They’re an interesting group, as clearly differentiated as individuals as the guys from The Goonies. One night during the shoot, they witness – and are almost killed in – a train accident at their local railway station. One of the kids, the movie’s central protagonist Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), also sees something else: there was something in one of the carts, and it has escaped. Soon after, the US military shows up, and not long after that, the dogs seem to disappear from the town. What is the mystery of whatever was in the train, and what business is of the military?
Much like E.T., Super 8 shows us a coming of age story where adults, particularly those in positions of authority, cannot be trusted, and where it’s up to the youth to save the day. It is the children who are inquisitive and interested; the adults have their own problems, and who believes kids’ stories anyway? The film has a superb first act, which sets up the characters, their relationships and their personal challenges in an involving and affecting manner. In this and in the second act, where the mystery continues to deepen, young love burgeons between the debris. There are two scenes connected by their ‘zombie’ content that are emotionally unexpectedly strong, both featuring Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning (as Alice).
But in the third act, Abrams doesn’t keep things together as all sorts of tensions and conflicts come to a head. There is much bombast and resolution and definitely too much of an E.T. echo to be emotionally and narratively authentic in its own right. It’s a pity that while so much of Super 8 works, it goes for the familiar easy way out when it should be pushing the envelope.
Spielberg regularly deals with family issues against a fantastical backdrop – the father who is made to look batty in Close Encounters, the sanctity of family in E.T., even the attempts at familial integration in War of the Worlds. This is the balancing act: the family issues and the fantastical (usually aliens) exist, in Spielberg’s universe, in perfect tandem. Abrams doesn’t quite get the balance right.
Set in 1980s middle class America, Super 8 introduces a group of young friends who spend some of their time making a zombie movie for a low-budget film festival. They’re an interesting group, as clearly differentiated as individuals as the guys from The Goonies. One night during the shoot, they witness – and are almost killed in – a train accident at their local railway station. One of the kids, the movie’s central protagonist Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), also sees something else: there was something in one of the carts, and it has escaped. Soon after, the US military shows up, and not long after that, the dogs seem to disappear from the town. What is the mystery of whatever was in the train, and what business is of the military?
Much like E.T., Super 8 shows us a coming of age story where adults, particularly those in positions of authority, cannot be trusted, and where it’s up to the youth to save the day. It is the children who are inquisitive and interested; the adults have their own problems, and who believes kids’ stories anyway? The film has a superb first act, which sets up the characters, their relationships and their personal challenges in an involving and affecting manner. In this and in the second act, where the mystery continues to deepen, young love burgeons between the debris. There are two scenes connected by their ‘zombie’ content that are emotionally unexpectedly strong, both featuring Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning (as Alice).
But in the third act, Abrams doesn’t keep things together as all sorts of tensions and conflicts come to a head. There is much bombast and resolution and definitely too much of an E.T. echo to be emotionally and narratively authentic in its own right. It’s a pity that while so much of Super 8 works, it goes for the familiar easy way out when it should be pushing the envelope.
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