![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Elle-Fanning-and-Joel-Courtney-in-Super-8.jpg\" "\\"Elle")
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A loving homage to the early work of Steven Spielberg<\/a>, Super 8\u00a0mixes genres to create an unusual but enjoyable summer movie experience.<\/p>\n Set in Ohio during 1979, it tells the story of a teenage boy named Joe (Joel Courtney) and his group of friends who accidentally discover strange things happening in their small town whilst making a movie using a Super 8 camera<\/a>.<\/p>\n After witnessing a spectacular train crash, quickly covered up by the US army, Joe has to deal with his lawman father (Kyle Chandler), his filmmaking buddies led by Charles (Riley Griffiths), a classmate named Alice (Elle Fanning), and a series of increasingly mysterious events.<\/p>\n In a summer filled with remakes and sequels, this singular project sees director J.J Abrams<\/a> blend his love for the original series of The Twilight Zone<\/a> with the Spielberg films that enchanted him as a young man.<\/p>\n For a major studio like Paramount, this is an unlikely summer tent-pole release as it isn\u2019t based on a pre-existing property (or is it?) and there are no star names attached.<\/p>\n With a relatively cheap production budget of about $50 million<\/a>, it is being sold on the central concept of \u2018what if Steven Spielberg made Cloverfield<\/a> in 1979?\u2019<\/p>\n The end result is an entertaining love letter to the era in which Abrams grew up but also to the movies and TV shows which inspired him to become a storyteller.<\/p>\n Spielberg is a producer on the film and reportedly had significant creative input into the script and final movie (it is even co-produced under his iconic Amblin\u2019 banner<\/a>), which is kind of like Paul McCartney teaming up with a Beatles tribute band.<\/p>\n Indeed, Super 8 is so intentionally marinated in Spielberg tropes<\/a> that it is almost difficult to categorise.<\/p>\n Is it a homage? A cinematic mashup? Perhaps one analogy would be to say that it is a filmic remix of Spielberg\u2019s greatest hits by Abrams.<\/p>\n It certainly draws deeply from Spielberg\u2019s early blockbusters<\/a> but also on other films he wrote and produced in that period when he established himself as Hollywood\u2019s boy wonder.<\/p>\n Like Jaws<\/a> (1975), it deals with a sinister threat to a small town; like Close Encounters of the Third Kind<\/a> (1977), ordinary people are caught up in extraordinary events; like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial<\/a> (1982), innocent children are contrasted against guilty adults; like Poltergeist<\/a> (1982), a family struggles against dark, underground forces and like The Goonies<\/a> (1985), a band of friends bond on an adventure.<\/p>\n (Spielberg fans will have fun spotting many other little details and references to his work)<\/p>\n Some people might level the accusation that Abrams and Spielberg have combined to just rip off and revisit the latter\u2019s movies, but it is to their credit that they have actually crafted something new, whilst remaining respectful to those original works.<\/p>\n Perhaps the neatest trick of Super 8 is that it remembers that despite their spectacle, Spielberg\u2019s early films had a rich vein of emotion that flowed from memorable characters.<\/p>\n Opening with an scene of eloquent sadness, the film is grounded in real life and even if some fantastical things later happen, it is all about how these events affect the characters and their relationships.<\/p>\n A good deal of this comes from the two young actors who anchor this film\u00a0brilliantly.<\/p>\n Newcomer Joel Courtney<\/a> has just the right amount of innocence and spirit in what is essentially the lead role, whilst his chemistry with Elle Fanning<\/a> is both believable and charming.<\/p>\n She too is really quite something, conveying complex emotions with an ease rare for actors her age. One sequence early on, as she rehearses a scene for the Super 8 film-within-the-film, has shades of Naomi Watts\u2019 audition<\/a> in Mulholland Drive<\/a> (2001).<\/p>\n The other actors round out the film nicely, with Riley Griffiths, Zach Mills, Gabriel Basso and Ryan Lee making up an engaging patchwork of friends and budding filmmakers.<\/p>\n In the token adult roles, Kyle Chandler as Joe\u2019s police officer father and Toby Emmerich as the military commander are OK without bringing the house down, but perhaps that\u2019s a by product of having so much focus on the kids.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Super-8-UK-poster.jpg\" "\\"Super")
<\/a>Whilst the bedrock is a coming-of-age tale, it also mixes sci-fi and family drama with the kind of mystery and wonder that Abrams and Spielberg have both specialised in during their careers in film and television.<\/p>\n