Super 8, Spielberg’s new Sci-fi movie is reminiscent of Blockbusters such as ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Although, not quite as spectacular, Super 8 will keep you glued to the screen until all is revealed at the end.
Five Ohio school friends decide to make a monster movie on an 8 mm camera, in the summer of 1978. Filming one evening at a remote railway station, they witness a catastrophic train crash, whichnot only interrupts the sequence they are shooting, but almost ends up killing them, as carriages derail and fly into the small wooden station building. Luckily the six manage to escape physically unscathed, but soon realize, to their dismay, that the train wreck was not an accident.
Soon afterwards a series of strange disappearances and unexplained events in town, lead the children, and the town Deputy, to investigate and uncover a terrifying military conspiracy that rocks the very fabric of this close-knit community.
The central character is Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), who is struggling to come to terms with the death of his mother and trying to make sense of the relationship he now has with his grieving and bitter dad. His friends are Charles (Riley Griffith), the chubby, and hilarious, movie producer; Cary (Ryan Lee) who is a certified pyromaniac: Martin (Gabriel Basso) and the beautiful and wicked Alice (Elle Fanning, who is the sister of Dakota). They are a typical bunch of happy-go-lucky American kids, amusing themselves during the summer vacation, until the train wreck changes their lives forever.
Brilliant performances by all five make this movie funny, sad, scary and nail biting until the last credits roll!
Very young kids won’t get it, but everyone else will love it, especially if you are a fan of Science Fiction movies.
The movie opens on 29 July, so make a point of taking the older kids to see it this weekend.
Note: If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the uniquely detailed free weekly newsletter for parents in Gauteng – Jozikids – or KwaZulu-Natal – Kznkids
