The film begins in late winter 1979 as a factory worker changes the number of days since last accident from 784 to 1 day.
13 year old Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) and his Dad (Kyle Chandler) attend the funeral for his mother, who was crushed to death in an industrial accident. She was not supposed to have been working that day but Louis Dainard (Ron Eldard), an alcoholic who had been drinking that morning called in sick. Louis's daughter, Alice (Elle Fanning) is a classmate of Joe's.
Four months later, just as summer break begins, unlicensed Alice uses her father's car to take Joe and his friends Charles (Riley Griffiths), Preston (Zach Mills), Martin (Gabriel Basso), and Carey (Ryan Lee) to an old train depot to shoot a scene of Charles' low budget zombie movie using a Super 8 camera.
During the production, Joe witnesses a pick-up truck drive onto the tracks towards an oncoming train, causing a massive derailment. The kids approach the truck and discover Dr. Woodward (Glynn Turman), their biology teacher, behind the wheel of the truck. He instructs them to never talk about what they saw - otherwise they and their parents will be killed.
Soon the kids find themselves caught up in an adventure beyond any that they could have thought up on film...
Anyone growing up in the late 70's and early 80's as I did will key into what Abrams does with the film. Super 8 does indeed take you back to the time when Spielberg's genre fare--notably Close Encounters of the Third Kind E.T., The Goonies, ruled the box office and sparked our imagination
And while there's plenty for those in my generation to savor--The film is savvy enough and allows younger folks of today to get in on the fun as well. Not an easy thing to do for sure....There is a mystery/monster for the young leads to deal with that drives the story forward and is necessary. But I think the film succeeds as a character piece as much as it does as an alien flick
The kids in the film have great chemistry with one another and thankfully Abrams made sure to write most of the adult characters as full characters rather than authority figures who only serve to be outwitted by the kids.
Scenes between Chandler and Courtney for example showcase a genuine sounding father/son relationship Much the same as Spielberg did between mom Dee Wallace and son Henry Thomas in ET. As a mirror the father/daughter dynamic with Fanning and Eldard in the film is handled well too
The film does have some issues with pacing during its second half but that's really a minor quibble...Super 8 is a throwback that everyone should enjoy...
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