Title: Super 8 (Paramount Pictures)
Genre: Mystery/Science Fiction
Personal Rating: 6/10
"If you're asking me if we have dangerous persons on board this train, I can assure you the answer is no." -- Colonel Nelec
Set in a 1979 town, a group of friends witnessed a military cargo train derailed and crashed while trying to film scenes of their amateur super 8 film.
After the incident, mysterious happenings begin to plague town - and the military began searching for something. The only clue left to what really is causing all the unusual events is the amateur video recording of the kids who unintentionally filmed the cargo train crash.
The Super 8 caught 'something'.
PLOT
The first hour, everything was unusually entertaining -- you get glued to the scene not wanting to miss anything. And at the back of your head you would want to know what was going on, what was inside the cargo train that got loose, what does it really want, and what the hell is a Super 8? All these questions are tantamount to elevated anxiety and curiosity.
Then the 'monster' is revealed. And it's purpose. And the elevated entertainment dies down with it. Damn. The next scenes become predictable.
ACTORS
The child actors here are all unknown to me. Joel Courtney as the main child actor did good. The other child actors made good comedy scenes, but for some reason these scenes were presented dull (in short, I am blaming the Director).
Everyone should watch out for child actress Elle Fanning, younger sister of famous Dakota Fanning (from HBO series Taken, War of the Worlds, and Hide and Seek). She has potential, really runs in their family I guess. I'm placing my bets she's going to be something in the future. She has a pretty face, too. Say hello to Kyle Chandler, portraying as the father of Courtney and town police officer. He has always been a great actor, and this film is not an exception. But looking at him, though, I always remember him as the guy who gets tomorrow's newspaper today (honestly, I was an avid fan of that TV series!).
PRESENTATION
Cinematography and Special Effects were all great, you won't think less of Steven Spielberg. It's the story that has a problem. So it's the kind of movie that hypes you up while watching, and then leaves you unsatisfied when you go out of the cinema.
'That's it?'
...
So why Super 8?
I don't know if it's a marketing strategy, since almost all moviegoers don't know what a Super 8 is, and that peeks up their curiosity to watch the film.At first I counted the kids and they were only 5 of them, so that doesn't count as a superhero team. My other guess was that the 'monster' (okay okay it's an ALIEN! Damn I don't wanna be a spoiler) is Super 8 because it looks a lot like a spider, LOL. Stupid me.
Honestly I have no idea, until Google answered it for me. It's a motion film format. In the movie, the Super 8 film revealed the ghastly image of the 'monster'. They could have made the Super 8 film a star, the focus, the main object of the movie, but didn't.
Super 8 was a bad title. Well it could have been a good title if they focused more on the Super 8. They could have made a story out of the movie reel, revolved all the characters' scenes around that significant object, but didn't. I am being redundant, I know.
Overall it's watchable. Special effects commendable. Good actors. Bad director. Bad story.
Seriously the alien looks like a spider. And it eats people, jeez..
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