Super 8

Super 8

Directed by J.J. Abrams

Paramount Pictures, 2011. 112 minutes. Sci-Fi film.

ISBN: 9781415759684

Reading/Interest Level: PG-13

Curriculum ties: N/A

Booktalk Ideas: When aliens invade!: Talk about how a group of teens, just doing what they normally do, discover an alien in their town that is wreaking havoc.

Challenge Issues: Sci-fi violence, language, some drug use

Challenge Response: First Defense File

Reader’s Annotation:

While filming a homemade zombie movie, a group of teens witness a train accident that releases a sinister creature. The town and their own lives take a drastic turn.

Plot Summary:

A group of teens are filming their own zombie movie to enter into a film competition. One night, they all sneak out and head to a local train station to shoot a scene. They rehearse and suddenly hear a train off in the distance. To add authenticity to their movie, they decide to film as the train passes by.

In the midst of filming the scene, Joe sees a truck heading for the train tracks and is shocked when the truck turns and drives down the tracks, aiming to hit the oncoming train. When the two collide the train derails with massive explosions and damage. The teens run for cover and abandon the video camera with the film still recording. When the wreckage finally settles the teens find each other just in time to run as air force soldiers descend on the wreckage.

It becomes clear that this was no ordinary wreckage because the air force won’t leave, and strange things start happening around town. When people start disappearing, Joe and his friends investigate the disappearances and discover the terrible truth about the train’s cargo.

Critical Evaluation:

Though the main teen actors were relatively unknown before this movie, they did an excellent job of portraying the complex emotions required, and even acting like inexperienced actors when they filmed their zombie movie within the movie. The only time when the acting failed to meet expectations was at the end of the movie as the alien grabbed Joe and was preparing to head home. Joe’s reactions felt fake, whether due to inexperience or difficulty imagining what the scene would look like after the special effects were added.

Speaking of special effects, that was a highlight of the movie. For the most part the CG effects were realistic and did well to progress the story. However, the train crash felt a little over the top. The effects themselves were well executed, but the devastation caused by hitting a truck seemed over the top. Odds are train cars would not be exploding and flying off the tracks as was depicted.

Overall the movie was a great piece of work, with only a few elements that distracted and pulled the viewer out of the story.

About the Director:

Jeffrey Jacobs Abrams was born in New York City on June 27, 1966, later moving to Los Angeles. He developed an early interest in filmmaking and, during his final year as an undergraduate at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, co-wrote the screenplay with Jill Mazursky that would be developed into the comedy Taking Care of Business (1990), starring John Belushi.
Abrams did some acting and continued his screenwriting work with films like Regarding Henry (1991), in which he had an on-screen role, Forever Young (1992), Gone Fishin' (1997) and Armageddon (1998). By the mid-1990s, Abrams had started to venture into film production work as well.

He has created several hit TV series, including Felicity, Alias, Lost and Fringe, and has also done much production and directing work. He helmed 2006’s Mission Impossible III and the 2009 revamping of Star Trek. Abrams also directed Super 8 and Star Trek Into Darkness, and is currently directing Star Wars: Episode VII.

-from Biography.com director page-

Justification of Selection:

This is a thrilling sci-fi film for teens that has won multiple Academy Awards and BAFTA Awards. It has received several positive reviews for the story and visual effects.