#11 Movie - Super 8

Super 8 is a summer (US) blockbuster that has no 3D, no superheroes, no franchise, not a sequel and no well known stars.  However, this is a real cracker of a film.  Written and directed by JJ Abrams (Lost, Cloverfield, Star Trek reboot) this is a tribute to his childhood and the movies of Steven Spielberg.  Set in the summer of '79, the movie follows five 14 year old boys who are trying to make their own zombie movie on super 8mm film.  They enlist Alice, a slightly older girl from school, to appear in the movie to give it more heart.  We see the action through the eyes of Joe, whose mum has recently passed away leaving him with his Dad who is the deputy sheriff and a bit distant and obsessed with his work.

The movie-within-a-movie is going well as the boys and Alice are filming a big scene at a railway station out of town, until Joe sees a truck driving along the tracks and colliding with the train.  The train crash is pretty spectacular, but what is the special cargo the air force were carrying on the train and are now trying to cover up the loss of?  A mystery takes shape that the boys, Alice and Joe's Dad get involved in, as people start to go missing and strange things start occurring.  Something strange and supernatural is going on here.

I'm not going to say anymore on the plot as it is revealed relatively quickly for a JJ Abrams production, although still slow enough to engage you in the mystery and suspense.  Some bits are a little scary/gory so I wouldn't take any small children to see this, although it is probably fine for older kids say over 10.  It really has that feel of a Goonies or ET (it was produced by Steven Spielberg), where kids hung out with the kids in their street, rode bikes and got into adventures.  I felt the friendships were believable and a lot of humour comes out of their teasing comraderie and their dediction to "production values" in their film.  I thought this movie had it all - action, humour, suspense, fun and a lot of heart.  You really wanted to know what was going to happen next, and you wanted them to all be okay and finish their movie.  Make sure you stay through the credits to see the finished zombie flick - it's quite funny.  I really enjoyed this movie - I'd give it a 5 out of 5 except that the ending was a bit puzzling.  So a 4.5 out of 5.  Great fun.