Super 8

Cast: Joel Courtney, Ryan Lee, Zach Mills, Riley Griffiths, Gabriel Basso, Elle Fanning and Kyle Chandler.

Director: J.J. Abrams

Release Date: 2011

Running Time: 1hr 52 minutes

Genre: Sci Fi

Rating: 12

Format: Amazon Prime UK

Synopsis:

In the summer of 1979, a group of friends who witness a catastrophic train crash investigate the unexplained events in their small town. 

A group of friends in a small town in Ohio have their hearts set on making a Super 8 movie, however things soon change when they witness a catastrophic train crash! So what does the title mean? Super 8mm is a format of motion picture photography that was essentially one of the most popular formats for home movies, until video came along. I feel like filmmakers around the globe, could probably relate to this film on all sorts of levels. The idea of a bunch of friends making movies together is excellent! What causes the train crash you say? I'm not going to tell you that! You're going to have to simply watch the "Super 8mm" movie to find out! Charles (Riley Griffiths) is very passionate about filmmaking having made Zombie movies in the past with his friends, he has a new idea. Bringing his friends Joe, Cary, Alice and Preston along for the ride, they get more then what they bargained for.

I love the sense of mystery behind the film. J. J Abrams is very clever in making sure he doesn't give away too much, too soon. Very much like Steven Spielberg with "Jaws", where he makes sure you don't see the shark until half way through the film to add suspense, Abrams makes sure to only give you little snippets, to keep you wondering. What hit the train? What causes the crash? The friendship between Joe, Preston, Alice and Charles is very tight and it really shows on screen. Each child actor delivers a very good performance, the chemistry between Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney who play Alice and Joe is fantastic! I love that despite seeing the train crash they continue to make movies and take inspiration from it! It's interesting that each of them appear to come from a bit of a broken background. Sadly some of the characters do seem a little bit pointless, and have next to no screen time.

Director J. J Abrams also wrote the screenplay, the storyline is superb. Despite not knowing what causes the crash for nearly half of the film, the storyline still manages to keep you intrigued. It's a lot darker the most would probably think. There's certainly more then one twist and turn through out this film. It really has the potential in some scenes to pull on your heart strings. Elle Fanning's performance in particular really defines this movie. Her character stands out, miles ahead of everybody else. The storyline verges on the point of keeping you interested and dragging on for a little bit too long.

Visually, I was expecting a little bit more. The special effects are terrific and look very genuine, the train crash is shot beautifully! However for the best part of the film, the only thing that you actually see are numerous amount of explosions. Sadly I think the trailer makes audiences believe they are going to see a lot more then they actually do, which for most meant J. J Abrams delivered a very boring looking movie. I do however think that Abrams chose not to show his audience a great deal, he wants you to wonder what this thing is! It does add a great sense of mystery to the film, but does it go a bit too far? The production design too, sadly doesn't offer a lot in terms of what this thing is, for a film set in 1979, it seems a little bit too modern at times. Where's the seventies fashion? Sadly, that part doesn't look genuine at all. The first chapter is excellent, the second chapter...not so much! In all honesty, it wasn't quite what I was expecting. I did expect to see the "thing" a lot sooner. I found a couple of the characters a little bit annoying and slightly pointless. I was also expecting more in terms of authenticity for a film set in 1979.

3/5 stars