I'm going to admit off the bat that the first time I saw JJ Abram's Super-8, I was only quietly entertained. I left the theater thinking that would be the one and only time I watched this film, and that would be all I would get out of it.
Then a couple of years later, a close friend texts me and asks if I've ever seen it before and I admit I saw it in the theater but never felt a reason to view it again. He tells me about how much that film took him back to growing up, and what it meant to be a kid again. That was enough for me to plop down $8 for the Blu-ray and give it one more whirl. The second time was the charm indeed.
This is a movie that would and should tug on the emotional connection to your childhood. Making you long for the days when hanging out with your friends was an event, and usually an all-day one. You're only job, outside of school during the year, was to play outside and use your imagination as much as possible in creating your own fun. It also may even tug at you a little more if you've ever lost a parent at a young age growing up, and knowing what it's like to be parented by one parent who has to try shouldering the weight of two. Overall, this is a well made film, and a lot of the critics who felt it was too much like E.T. or The Goonies are wrong. It's very much it's own film, and has it's own sense of wonder and fun.
The story centers on the character of Joe Lamb, played by Joel Courtney, as well as his father, Jackson Lamb, played by Kyle Chandler. Joe has recently lost a mother, and Jackson lost his wife. The arc of the story truly centers around the process of emotional stress the father and son feel in trying to truly let go of their loved one. Add to it, Joel still an adolescent, as are his group of friends who love to make short-films with a Super-8 camera. This is the tie that binds their friendship and also provides a needed escape for Joel as he heals from losing his mother. Jackson is a small-town cop in the town they live in and is very much reeling from not just losing the love of his life, but the extra stress of being a single parent, and primary cop in town. Things inevitably begin to change when on a night Joel and his friends shoot a scene for their zombie movie at a train station, they witness a truck smashing into a train carrying some very important cargo owned by the military. This sets off a chain of events in which the kids realize what they saw was out of this world and ultimately things begin to happen in their small town that get not just the police involved, but also the US Air Force as well.
I won't spoil the rest of how the story unfolds, but I can assure you there's a certain charm with this film that stands out from start to finish. I also won't spoil the mystery of what was in the cargo hold of the derailed train that serves a catalyst to complete the emotional healing of Joel and his father Jackson. Director JJ Abrams did a masterful job capturing the magic of what it means to be a kid again, and the excitement associated with a group of friends having to overcome some major obstacles together. Special mention to the films composer, Michael Giacchino, for hitting all the right notes that truly connect the audience to the emotion on screen.
Watch this movie, or if you need a second go around like I did, either way, you won't be disappointed!
The Films of Steven Spielberg: Jaws
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