Reivew of 'SUPER 8'

SUPER 8

JOE LAMB and his friends, teenagers in a small town, are filming a zombie movie in super 8 film (from whence the title) for a competition. They shoot a scene in a railroad station while a train passes by, but a truck drives onto the tracks and causes a crash. They rush to the site and discover that their biology teacher, DR. WOOWARD, caused the crash. Woodward then warns them at gunpoint not to tell anyone what they've seen or they and their parents will be killed. The train was a military transport with unknown cargo, and the military becomes quite active in the area but won't tell the townspeople why. Strange things happen in the town; dogs all run away and electronic equipment disappears.

All this is set on the background of interpersonal conflicts. Joe recently lost his mother due to a work accident. Joe's father, JACK, is a deputy sheriff who apparently wasn't active in parenting Joe, and who has difficulty relating to him. The accident happened because the mother was covering for a co-worker, DAINARD, who missed his shift at the plant because he was drunk. Consequently, Jack hates Dainard. But Dainard has a pretty daughter, ALICE, with whom Joe is smitten, though both fathers forbid both children from seeing each other.

There are two major black people, and both of them end up being killed. Though the setting is 1979, when that kind of crap was common, this movie was released in 2011.  For that matter, why does the action take place so long ago. It wouldn't be hard to write essentially the same story in a modern setting.  The movie got favorable reviews for its nostalgia, but I don't agree.

Wondering what causes the bizarre events and what will happen to the characters makes for an interesting first half of the movie. Unfortunately, the second half degenerates into a simple chase after a scary-looking monster (who turns out to be mistreated rather than evil--oops, that's a spoiler, but who cares) while trying to avoid the evil military people. It's boring, especially as you can predict the ending easily, and the conclusion is sappy.

As a cinematic effort, the second half makes it a POS. Steve Spielberg produced the film, but I don't know why. As a workout movie, I give it ++++ for the first half. That will get your pulse up to a run. If you want to know how it ends without sitting through the cliché's at the end, leave me a note.