Review of Super 8 (2011) by Briggsay — 13 Jun 2011

"Yikes. This movie's kind of a mess. I was looking forward to it, and halfway through started to wonder why I was bored. There's very little actual suspense. Just a few loud scares. I appreciated the casting of the kids (particularly braces-firecrackers kid), and their early bantering scenes felt real.

El Fanning's face will melt your adolescent heart. Certain moments gave me small chills, but mostly just hinted at the more fully realized movie that this could have been. Kyle Chandler is wasted on an underdeveloped father figure.

The beautifully-shot final moment involving the locket would have been more resonant if the story / characters had actually built towards it - as in the the father/son actually learn to understand each other and come to terms with the mother's passing.

Instead, Chandler's character just says "I got you!" at the end, semi-randomly. The only other Abrams vehicle I've seen was Star Trek two summers ago - and that was smart, slick, breezy fun compared to this.

I just can't fathom that Spielberg was standing around on set or watching an early cut thinking, "Oh yeah. This is great. It's all working." P.S. - only laugh line: "I could get back into disco.