"Super 8" (2011)
Steven Spielberg’s latest epic; basically E.T. go home – and it’s not taking no for an answer!
So to set the scene, mysterious train crash which 5 plucky kids (oh yes, they were plucking plucky all the way!) witness, and the air force comes in to clear up, very secretively bowling through the entire town and telling the sheriff move along, nothing to see, need to know blah-dee-blah. Obviously misfits, we have the fat kid, the geeky kid, the kid with braces and the two stars of the setting. The first is the son of copper who lost his wife at beginning of movie so now has to cope with bringing up an almost teenage boy himself, who he hardly knows and keeps at a …. Oh *yawn* you get the picture! To complete the set, there’s the daughter of the town ne’er do well drunk who was responsible for the loss of said sheriff’s wife. Oh yes indeed, we’re now all systems go – cast, plot…. very little action.
I hesitate to say it, but I’m avoiding too much in the way of spoilers in case anyone does decide to watch it, but I’m fairly sure you can fill in the plot yourselves. I wouldn’t have minded so much had the kids decided to get Scooby-doo on it all, but generally they mooched about being kids until the end, then ta-daaa – instant heroes!
I’m not sure which age group of kids this was aimed at but anyone over the age of about 10 is just going to yawn and pick holes in it, in my opinion. Spielberg was obviously feeling a little nostalgic and decided to chuck out another E.T., albeit a much less cuddly and comical one. Maybe I’m just getting a little jaded but plucky young half-orphan who convinces alien to leave him and his friends alive simply by letting it know he under *yawn* stands the anguish it’s been through from being prisoner on this backwater planet for the last 40-50 years, god knows how many light years from its home planet and any of its own species, and worst of all being held by the Americans at that. I can’t help feeling that yes, kids are very mature and self-aware these days but COME ON! Personally, I’d have bitten the lad’s head off for trying to say he understood.
One thing I can say is Spielberg does have a knack for spaceships and this one was no disappointment either, although it was onscreen for all too brief a time. The alien itself was also an amalgamation of several aliens featured in both young adult and adult sci-fi over the years, but as I’ve never met a real alien, I suppose I can’t comment on its authenticity. But think the mouth of Predator and a hell of a lot of the cockroach guy in “Men In Black” and you’re not far off the mark. However, you only get tantalising glimpses of the alien throughout most of the movie, but unlike in the original “Alien” movie, it doesn’t heighten tension at all, although it does leave you with a feeling of impending doom… but I’m fairly sure that was just because part of me realised that I was never going to get that hour and 50 minutes of my life back!
So, overall it felt a little like a regurgitation of several movies, as mentioned E.T. and also nods to The Goonies I thought, but it wasn’t actually all bad. Nope – “Don’t let Me Down” by ELO played over the end credits and then snippets of the short zombie film the kids were making. In fact, the overall soundtrack was very good, with Lionel Ritchie, The Cars, Debbie Harry, Wings … is anyone else here seeing something wrong with this picture? Well if you insist on watching it, you probably will and don’t say I didn’t warn you!
3.5/10 (0.5 for the spaceship and the other 3 for the soundtrack!)
Alli Reccomends....
.... Give it a miss unless you are very very bored AND bed-bound AND someone evil puts it on and leaves taking the remote with them!
