Super 8

[Reel]

spoilies


hey, well a monster's gotta do what a monster's gotta do. I wish it was more vicious. I don't understand how it could turn from a mass killing machine to just a lovable extraterrestrial trying to get home at the end, wtf? It also really bothers me that none of those kids died. There were too many of 'em, we can't care about 'em all equally, knock 'em off. Kill the drunky too, and the stoner while you're at it. I guess I like my movies a little more straightforward.

[socketlevel]

Spoils

Did you ever see the goonies? damn man, let your heart soar! You wanted kids to die... dark days my friend.

[diggler]

Spoilers


THe 180 thing at the end wasn't handled very well. The monster just ate two people no more than 10 seconds before picking the boy up.  Those other people weren't scared and innocent too? Everyone is sitting there watching his ship take off like it's the end of E.T., but E.T. didn't eat anyone before takeoff.

That stoner was on some strong weed.

[tpfkabi]

May be old news to most of you, but I had never heard that Spielberg let a teenage Abrams handle his personal home movies after seeing that he won a contest in the paper. Have Spielberg home movies ever been included as DVD extras? Kimmel also showed a clip of one of Abrams' home movies.

[socketlevel]

SPOILS

Spoilers


THe 180 thing at the end wasn't handled very well. The monster just ate two people no more than 10 seconds before picking the boy up.  Those other people weren't scared and innocent too? Everyone is sitting there watching his ship take off like it's the end of E.T., but E.T. didn't eat anyone before takeoff.

That stoner was on some strong weed.

He ate them? I don't remember seeing that. I thought he just grabbed them and moved them to the side.

[diggler]

Spoilers

Well, you saw the monster eating one girl when they first went down there. You didn't see him eat the cop and the girl in hair curlers, but you didn't see them get out of the hole either. I assume they were either eaten or at least dead.

[SiliasRuby]

I was touched and exhilirated by this film. Been a while since that has geniunely happened. Made me happy and the amount of sentiment won me over. I fell in love with these character cause I knew each of them growing up. They were my friends. Made me really smile. This could have been made in the early 80's and without the special effects which took me out of it for a bit here and there. But, my god, this made me happy.

[polkablues]

Thrills and chills galore!
Childlike wonder abounded!
Just don't think too hard.

[AntiDumbFrogQuestion]

SPOILERS


BTW, should people even be reading this thread now not expecting spoilers???

Okay, so I wasn't quite sure of a couple things in the writing, and that's what bothered me.   Luckily, these things came close to the third act, so I wasn't completely hurt by the film's overall choices.

A) When the kids heard the monster could read emotions on the tape, why were they still afraid of it?  I suppose you could say "people are dumb and only the kid with the dead mom wanted to take advantage of that" and there you have it.

B) The Monster's agenda was a little blurry.  Eating people for no reason while simply trying to build stuff?  What, did they find out his identity and try and tell his mom about his stealing habits or something?  "It was like an animal, though!" sure, sure.

C) How did Dr. Woodward know the train was coming, huh?  Why didn't he stop it before?  Or did he just suck at stopping it?


I did like many elements too
A) Didn't play it safe with the kids' behavior
B) The main character was peripheral to the filmmaking game, but had a connection to film nonetheless
C) it was only set a few months after the death, so the incident was still vital to the characters from an emotional standpoint

D) The fact that if a Kid saw this and the Joel character was the one who stopped the Monster with a few short, terse lines that any emo-loving scene kid will be painting on their skateboards (that they don't have the commitment to try and skate with) from now until forever? That I actually like better than I thought I would. Thanks to a Kid, the monster became less of a threat.
You see, if more kids nowadays would use their BRAINS instead of just reacting and accepted that 'bad things happen', we wouldn't have as many dumbasses with guns trying to prove something.  They'd still be around, just not as many.

The one thing I see in this film that I saw in LOST and Cloverfield that was kind of annoying but is sort of a JJ thing is the character REACTIONS to the Sci-Fi element.
Do we even know the Agenda of The Others or The Cloverfield Monster (or even what the title means) or Why the Super 8 Monster did what it did? No.  Not that it doesn't matter.
  The movies/shows in question have a powerful outside force affecting the lives of a group of characters.  We don't know the force's agenda, but the force is taking over anyways.  These pieces of entertainment assume we want to have the payoff be a strictly internal, wherein the characters matter more than the details of the sci-fi element.  That might not be true, but I can respect this shift in storytelling practices by JJ.
   (NOTE: I do know "Lost" was mostly Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, not so much JJ, but after this movie I just know he had lots of input as a producer on that show on how that show would end, and Super 8's ending reminds me too much of that show's to let it go.)

[Myxo]

Just don't think too hard.

I liked this part of polka's review.

[Mr.]

Super 8 was an experience that is somewhat rare to me these days: A movie where you´re taken on a ride and gets you more and more excited as it evolves. And a movie that is NOT a remake, sequel or prequel.

Also, how often is your childhood been portrayed up on the big screen? I remember my room to look very much like Charles´s room and who cannot identify with Joe´s love for the pretty girl at school?
I loved the dynamic between the kids. I found them all very believable and funny to a degree I don´t see very often.
How Abrams showed the alien only in glimpses was amazing and I was seriously frightened by the first encounters.

I agree with the comments on the alien. Once it was told it could sense good from evil, it was obvious that the kids was going to be OK and thus making the 3. act less exciting.
But I guess the alien had to eat something, since all the dogs ran away. (I did get quite touched by the alien when it showed its real eyes to Joe, that was a nice touch).

I have a question though...

Why did they have to move the alien from the place where they had it captured?
It would seem like an awful lot of trouble if there was no reason to do so?

[Alexandro]

I just really liked the movie, specially the first half. Weird thing is the good stuff is actually in the acting of the kids and their chemistry rather than the special effects or concept of the film itself.

[picolas]

spoils

mod almost totally nailed my feelings. basically, JJ isn't a good screenwriter. so much of the dialogue is spoonfeeding, nail-on-the-head crap, and he actually stumbles into shyamalan territory when writing townspeople. every few seconds he has to remind you that all these people are dumb. just in case you forgot. most of the humour comes from people being dumber than you are, or being kind of annoying/rude eg. "mint! mint! did i mention mint?" or "asshole, no one develops film overnight." it's exactly the opposite of the endearing/charming vibe he must've been going for. the dad is meant to be a sympathetic single dad trying to make ends meet but he comes off as a stick-in-the-mud jerk. it's very difficult to care about anyone or laugh at anything. and i'm totally in sync with the critical reaction being strange. the problem with this movie is not its spielbergian aspirations. it's just kind of a dumb movie. and yeah, the marketing was off-base, making the alien a secret. it's an alien.

what's odd to me is that the last big summer movie i saw (not my idea) was transformers 3, and i enjoyed it as a callback to exactly what i wanted when i was 12. never thought i'd defend that over this, but there's an honesty about transformers 3. (for the record i abhorred 1/couldn't make it halfway, never saw 2.) i wouldn't call the characters in transformers 3 stupid. more like very eccentric, and written for children. super 8 doesn't have half the charm because it has no esteem for its characters.

[Alexandro]

how's the dad a jerk? he was mourning, he was supposed to be distant and cold towards his son.
i bet the film development joke is based on a true incident.

I never saw any marketing or trailer for the movie, I avoid that shit at all costs with most movies. It's much more rewarding.

[picolas]

spoils

how's the dad a jerk? he was mourning, he was supposed to be distant and cold towards his son.

yeah but he doesn't even TRY.. there's not one moment of warmth or understanding between them until the very end when it's too late and comes off as unearned/weird.

i bet the film development joke is based on a true incident.

then it's truly lame. not that i hated that moment, but it's a pretty good example of the overall tone of the film. it's not charming, it's like.. why are you being a jerk? this happens so often, even when they're trapped in the cave and the police officer's like "shaddup! damn kids!" even though they clearly know something and he's woken up in the cave of an alien!

I never saw any marketing or trailer for the movie, I avoid that shit at all costs with most movies. It's much more rewarding.

yeah my point is purely a criticism of the marketing, not the movie itself. although i think we should expect more than JUST an alien these days unless you have something special to back it up. especially when you cloak the alien in secrecy for most of the film.