Super 8

Remember 80s films set in small town America? Sure you do. They were the best. The Lost Boys, Back To The Future, The Goonies, Gremlins, all that sort of stuff. Big city is where all the important 'stuff' happens, but in the little corners of America, when nobody's looking, that's where the magic is. I've never been quite clear on whether this is supposed to make people in small town America feel that their life is magical too, or just massively resentful that not only are the big cities more interesting, there are also small towns out there that are more interesting than theirs too.

Anyway, we're back in small town eighties America, as established by a young kid at one point amazing an adult with his new Walkman. This particular small town is home to a kid called Joe, whose mother has just died. His father is a local Deputy Sheriff, who's never been a particularly close father, and who doesn't know how to cope with his son without his wife. Joe, therefore, spends a lot of time on his own, or with his friends, who are led by his best friend Charles, who is a would-be director, and who has co-opted Joe to do his make-up and special effects, his other friends as actors, and together the lot of them are going to make a zombie movie.

They're out filming one night (having snuck out of their bedroom windows as all good American kids seem to do) at the nearby train station, which is scene to a massive train derailment. And during this derailment, something escapes. The Air Force turn up, seal off the scene, and we find that it was an Air Force train, and they were transporting something. Then there's a series of weird disappearances of people and property in the town. The Air Force claim it's nothing to worry about, but Joe's Dad and Joe and his mates aren't buying it, and so independently of each other, they decide to find out what's what.

So... we know the genre, we know it well. Is it any good? Well, yes, it really is. I mentioned four pretty big movies at the start, and this film can easily take its place alongside them. Top marks really go to the ensemble cast of kids; They're all really good. All of them. Three very classy performances from Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning and Riley Griffiths (the latter being a great performance and a great role, in that he's the fat kid of the group, but rather than the chocolate guzzling comedy relief, he's pretty much the leader, and a serious guy.) And the writing for them is pretty top notch too; these roles are written as real kids, not the kind of monstrous creatures of pure wit and sarcasm which pass for kids in many movies today.

The direction's great, there's a proper sense of mystery and menace, and the gradual reveal of what's going on throughout the film is fast enough that you don't find yourself getting bored, but gradual enough that there's enough left for the finale.

Is it perfect? No, sadly. It's J. J. Abrams, and as with Lost, he's really good at building a mystery, but not really good at endings. There's a sort of satisfying ending which mostly explains all, but leaves you with a bit of a "oh, so that's that then" reaction. I suppose in many ways, whether you like this film is based on whether you judge a film on the last five minutes (which isn't always the wrong response), but if you feel that a great film can have a merely average ending and remain great, then you'll probably think this is a great film.