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Review #34: Super 8.
Small change in the above list I posted before. I’ve decided to review Super 8 instead of Gremlins.
Based on the premise of a train crash caught on camera by a bunch of school kids in the late 1970s.
A creature of some kind, being transported on the train, has now been released into a nearby town and is causing the disappearances of people and animals and even more strangely, the disappearance of electronic gadgets, from microwave ovens to air-conditioning units and power-lines.
On the creatures heels are Army and Government types who (unbeknown to the group of kids), are also after whoever filmed the crash as one of the head-honchos has found a film box left behind at the crash site.
What starts off as a promising mystery horror/shocker, sadly turns very, very slowly into a sci-fi thriller and then drops it’s clever build up and turns into full on CG sci-fi and extremely quick successions of explanatory dialogue.
The writing is pretty simplistic and the story is very linear too.
It’s a simple ABC-123-set-of-events and circumstances that grow larger as the film progresses, eventually the simplistic climax of the movie arrives and isn’t exactly as grand as the viewer would hope.
There are the usual Spielberg-esk family-life subplots going on between the characters: Broken homes and divorced parents, other parents that are dead, various kids all fancying the same person, etc, etc, with all the various different characters having to reconcile all of the various differences between them all.
There are some well-conceived jumpy bits and occasional hits of family orientated humour mixed in though, another Spielberg-esk touch.
The effects of the movie reminded me a lot of Cloverfield, keeping the creature in the shadows with only the occasional glimpse, but sadly, unlike Cloverfield, this creature doesn’t give the viewer a thrill once it’s revealed. It’s designed very much like the Cloverfield monster too, just smaller.
Don’t get me wrong, the CGI is well rendered, really well rendered, it’s just a very bog-standard creature for such a well put together build up.
The acting in the film is probably the best part of it all.
The kids used as the main bunch of characters are all non-actors. They play their roles really well too. They’re believable and carry the story and emotions fantastically. There are scenes of genuine upset and emotion that the audience can’t help but feel too. The kids’ acting is brilliant.
The adult cast all carry their various roles well too, but it’s the kids that make the film worth watching.
It’s sad really, being a sci-fi fan, I so wanted to like this film.
However it feels too much of a rip of various ideas from various other films, E.T, Close Encounters, Cloverfield etc. Even the music reminded me of J.J Abrams' Star Trek.
A lot of the homage paid to other films made me think I was watching a bigger budgeted version of Paul, only without the comedy. There's just nothing really new about the film.
All in all it’s entertaining and flashy on the outside, but feels a little too hollow and linear to make the ranks of classic film in ten years time from now. To be honest, I think it’ll be long forgotten well before then.
My rating 33%
Small change in the above list I posted before. I’ve decided to review Super 8 instead of Gremlins.
Based on the premise of a train crash caught on camera by a bunch of school kids in the late 1970s.
A creature of some kind, being transported on the train, has now been released into a nearby town and is causing the disappearances of people and animals and even more strangely, the disappearance of electronic gadgets, from microwave ovens to air-conditioning units and power-lines.
On the creatures heels are Army and Government types who (unbeknown to the group of kids), are also after whoever filmed the crash as one of the head-honchos has found a film box left behind at the crash site.
What starts off as a promising mystery horror/shocker, sadly turns very, very slowly into a sci-fi thriller and then drops it’s clever build up and turns into full on CG sci-fi and extremely quick successions of explanatory dialogue.
The writing is pretty simplistic and the story is very linear too.
It’s a simple ABC-123-set-of-events and circumstances that grow larger as the film progresses, eventually the simplistic climax of the movie arrives and isn’t exactly as grand as the viewer would hope.
There are the usual Spielberg-esk family-life subplots going on between the characters: Broken homes and divorced parents, other parents that are dead, various kids all fancying the same person, etc, etc, with all the various different characters having to reconcile all of the various differences between them all.
There are some well-conceived jumpy bits and occasional hits of family orientated humour mixed in though, another Spielberg-esk touch.
The effects of the movie reminded me a lot of Cloverfield, keeping the creature in the shadows with only the occasional glimpse, but sadly, unlike Cloverfield, this creature doesn’t give the viewer a thrill once it’s revealed. It’s designed very much like the Cloverfield monster too, just smaller.
Don’t get me wrong, the CGI is well rendered, really well rendered, it’s just a very bog-standard creature for such a well put together build up.
The acting in the film is probably the best part of it all.
The kids used as the main bunch of characters are all non-actors. They play their roles really well too. They’re believable and carry the story and emotions fantastically. There are scenes of genuine upset and emotion that the audience can’t help but feel too. The kids’ acting is brilliant.
The adult cast all carry their various roles well too, but it’s the kids that make the film worth watching.
It’s sad really, being a sci-fi fan, I so wanted to like this film.
However it feels too much of a rip of various ideas from various other films, E.T, Close Encounters, Cloverfield etc. Even the music reminded me of J.J Abrams' Star Trek.
A lot of the homage paid to other films made me think I was watching a bigger budgeted version of Paul, only without the comedy. There's just nothing really new about the film.
All in all it’s entertaining and flashy on the outside, but feels a little too hollow and linear to make the ranks of classic film in ten years time from now. To be honest, I think it’ll be long forgotten well before then.
My rating 33%
