Review - Super 8

Super 8. A title that is quite misleading, unless you’ve watched the movie and know what the title was referring to. If not, then you would get the impression that this movie is about 8 superheroes or something, especially this summer where we get comic/superhero overload.

This is what my friends were thinking. And I have a sneaking suspicion that this was why they felt the movie was not enjoyable. At least a part of the reason why they did not enjoy it. Yes, 7 out of the 10 people watching it did not like it. Me? I loved it.

Super 8 is about a bunch of kids who were filming a zombie movie in the summer of 1979. While they were filming at a train station, they witnessed a train crash and after that, mysterious things started happening at their town, such as being overrun by the military, dogs disappearing, power failures and such.

But for them, none of those things matter. The only thing that matters was the movie they were making. And for one of them, the movie was really important because it gave him the chance to get close to a girl he was crushing on.

Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse when the object transported on the train turns out to be a huge alien and it started rampaging in town.

This movie was written and directed by JJ Abrams, the writer/creator/producer/director behind TV’s Felicity, Alias and Lost as well as movies such as Mission Impossible, Star Trek and Cloverfield.

Speaking of Cloverfield… if you enjoyed that movie (which Abrams produced), then you’d enjoy Super 8. Cloverfield was a film about New York under sieged by a gargantuan creature but it was told from a small group of people’s point of view. The fact that they were living their lives and trying to survive was the main focus of the movie instead of showing the monster on a rampage was a pretty good angle in my opinion. You can relate to them better, which is always a good thing because once they perish, you feel something… or you’d get worried about their safety.

Super 8 is the same way. It focuses on the teenage children as they live their lives and try to make their movie, at the same time, facing a extraterrestrial attack. And here is another reason why some of my friends might have gotten turned off by the movie. A normal monster movie would have you seeing the monster rampaging from beginning to end. Super 8 did not really show the alien until after more than half of the movie.

For me, this is the better way of storytelling. It is far scarier when you do not see the scary thing like what The Blair Witch Project had done… than showing the monster every other frame like what Karak: Laluan Puaka had done…

Anyway, the cast of this movie are young and relatively unknown, except for the supporting cast. But then again, the most prominent actor in the supporting cast is Kyle Chandler of TV’s Early Edition and Friday Nights Lights. He plays the main character’s almost absentee father.

Joel Courtney has the burden of playing the main character and this is his debut in a feature film or any sort of acting actually. He did a really good job of making you feel for him and his pain, sorrow, joy and happiness.

Helping him with a solid acting is Elle Fanning, playing Alice Dainard, the object of his crush. Yes, Fanning. Dakota’s younger sister. Guess acting runs in the family, but Fanning, the elder Fanning, needs to be careful coz she is starting to get stoic as she matures… she was a fantastic young actress and I do hope Elle doesn’t go Dakota’s route. Not that Dakota is really bad though. There’s still hope…

Anyway, in case you did not know, this movie was produced by Steven Spielberg. So flashes of The Goonies and ET was evident in this movie. Guess you can say Super 8 is like The Goonies meets ET meets Cloverfield. For the three of us, this was an enjoyable movie anchored by strong performances by the two leads.

Stick around for after the ending because they actually show the zombie movie that the kids were making, using 8mm cameras and entering it in a movie festival. It’s really hilarious! Yup, that was what the title was referring to. The film that was used to make the zombie movie.

New Moon

Finally saw New Moon yesterday! It was released last Thursday but that was the day before Raya Haji and I was leaving town that night. Did not get a chance to watch it in Kuantan...

Anyway, my colleague asked me to go and watch it with her so we went.

For those who haven't seen Twilight, here's a brief recap of the movie (courtesy of Wikipedia):

Bella Swan moves from Phoenix, Arizona to live with her father in Forks, Washington to allow her mother to travel with her new husband, a minor league baseball player. After moving to Forks, Bella finds herself involuntarily drawn to a mysterious, handsome boy, Edward Cullen. She eventually learns that he is a member of a vampire family who drinks animal blood rather than human. Edward and Bella fall in love, but James, a sadistic vampire from another coven, is drawn to hunt down Bella. Edward and the other Cullens defend Bella. She escapes to Phoenix, Arizona, where she is tricked into confronting James, who tries to kill her. She is seriously wounded, but Edward rescues her and they return to Forks, having killed James.

So now, in New Moon, the story continues as Bella is dating Edward... but during her birthday celebration, she got a cut and the scent of her blood caused one of the members of the Cullens family to attack her. However, she was saved... but Edward now thinks being in her life is/will cause Bella harm so he packs up his family and left. Bella, in all kinds of hurt, turn to Jacob Black, for comfort.

Jacob Black

In the mean time, the surviving vampires from James' coven, Victoria and Laurent is back and trying to take revenge on Edward and Bella.

Lucky for Bella, Jacob also happened to be a werewolf, or in this case, a shapeshifter that turns into a wolf. The wolves in Forks have been guarding the land from invading vampires.

Also, with her recklessness, Bella sees Edward's spectre so she decides to do all sorts of dangerous stuff just to see him again. This leads to a misunderstanding with Alice, Edward's vampire sister who gets premonitions. Alice thought Bella had committed suicide and so did Edward. Edward decided to die because Bella's dead.

Enter the Volturi, like vampire royalty or vampire police. Apparently, there are rules to vampiredom. The number one rule - vampire's existence must be kept a secret. Edward has broken the rules and Bella was ordered to be killed or turned into a vampire. A fight ensued for Bella's life but Alice settled it by having a vision that Bella would be a vampire in the future.

Also, here is where Bella's powers are further explored. She has the ability to resist most vampiric mental powers, which makes turning her into a vampire all the more attractive to the Volturi.

That's basically the movie. Phew!

So, here's the breakdown... New Moon is slightly superior to Twilight. Yes, not a lot of sequels are superior to the original movie (which should be a post on its own)...

Twilight did not have much to offer, except to introduce us to the characters and the courtship of Bella and Edward. It was a good movie, but the lack of vampiric action was its ultimate downfall. Plus, The Twilight Saga actually deviated from the popular vampiric lore AKA cross, stakes, garlic, holy water, sunlight... Twilight vamps do not burn in the sun, they just glow... which turned off a lot of people... :P

Anyway, New Moon has shapeshifters and the shifters brought in the action. Edward was missing for much of the film but it did not make a difference. Guess the movie is really about Bella... and although some say the scenes between Jacob and Bella's too long-winded, I enjoyed watching the two of them... which makes me officially Team Jacob... hehehe...

So, the bad... some of the acting could have been better... Taylor Lautner is definitely the breakout star of New Moon and his body is near perfect but his acting is sometimes off and it's not good when the wolf's emoting better than the actor... same goes for Robert Pattinson... Kristen Stewart's acting was not bad... but some of her dialogues are very corny...

The Volturi's Jane as played by Dakota Fanning had a very interesting power... but watching her in this movie made me realize something about Dakota Fanning... don't get me wrong... I am a huge fan of hers, ever since her I Am Sam days... she was excellent in that movie but in all her other movies, she's basically portraying the same person but with a different name... that's not exactly acting... hmmm... maybe it's just me...

Anyway, I am super excited for Eclipse, part 3 in the Twilight saga... which would be released June next year...

Which are you? Team Edward...

or Team Jacob...

The full scoop on Twilight at Wikipedia