Posts tagged review
I really enjoyed October Sky (the book and the movie). It was a film set in a time where kids could run around doing whatever they wanted, engaging their own creativity as they went. The world was their oyster and whatever they wanted to do or see, they created it. That is what Super 8 is to me: a world where cinematic wonder is captured through the eyes of kids. I wonder what life would be like if kids did that now, instead of playing with iPhones? I also wonder why I’m already griping about “kids these days” at the age of 20. Then I remember that I just watched a film about kids making a high-quality movie—about zombies no less—in the year 1979. Also, there was a massive alien. I don’t know why.
In all honesty, this movie would have worked without a government conspiracy and a 30-foot alien creature that resembles a Machamp crossbred with a Venus flytrap. In fact, it just made it better. As “scary” movies go, this one won’t terrify you. You might jump a few times or get a little nervous, but you won’t find yourself checking dark corners for monsters. I personally like that. I don’t understand why people want to see movies that make us even more terrified than we already naturally are. Isn’t the condition of the world enough? We’re two paragraphs into the review and I’ve already gone on two morality rants. Apologies. Back to the film.
Child actors are sometimes a bust or sometimes pure gold, and I think everyone of these kids was solid. Their voices might squeak a little and they might overact, but really nothing sets off the “obnoxious” bell here. These kids have chemistry that works on screen, and they are written to be quirky and lovable yet totally believable, which is both impressive and endearing. The adults in the film are almost completely ancillary, and the film is as much a story about the joy, innocence, and energy of youth as a story like this can be. Side note: why is Noah Emmerich always a crazy person bent on one thing? And why does he keep showing up in random places all over my television?
I guess it’s time to talk about the 800lb. monster in the room. It seems appropriate, because you really don’t see the thing until the last quarter of the movie. Some people complain about this, I think it’s a nice touch. The Super 8 alien reads as a great metaphor for our human fear of the unknown. We fear what we don’t understand and we sometimes overreact to the fear without gathering information first. I don’t want to ruin the little twists and turns—nothing major, but a few enjoyable little details—so we’ll leave it at this: Super 8 is a beautiful intertwining of several complex stories. You can either wade in the good, old-fashioned monster-movieness of it or you can dive in and explore the time and effort that was put into crafting this little town and its cast of characters (Super 8 did come with its own viral campaign, which is less necessary to follow than Cloverfield’s for full enjoyment, but rumor is that it helps). Also, stick around to watch the kid’s finished zombie movie during the credits. It may be the best part of the film.
For a potent and possibly dangerous combination of nostalgia and the power of mystique, I give Super 8 a (super) 8 out of 10.
Review Written By: Steven Jones
If I told you that there was a film about a super hero whose power was a glowing piece of bling and whose sworn duty was to protect the universe from a sentient cloud of fear-induced space diarrhea, you might think that movie would be pretty awful. But Green Lantern shines through despite its relatively low selling points. For a movie about a hero that only die-hard fans really care about, I expect this one to go over pretty well.
Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is not the most dynamic character in history. He’s your cookie-cutter skilled-military-guy-with-a-shattered-past-and-his-hands-on-some-sweet-new-tricks. (Check the archives; I think that’s my record for most words connected by a hyphen.) At any rate, Jordan is not the most compelling story. There’s no real redemption and he’s not quite the same level of snarky as Tony Stark. But Reynolds, who I’ve always liked, does an admirable job of making us care about him. From the film’s triumphant opening dogfight against the military’s new AI super jets to the intense training on the Green Lantern Corps’ homeworld of Oa (yes, non-nerds, there is an entire Corps of Green Lanterns), we get to see Hal trade clever enough dialogue and do interesting enough things. But the film misses out on chances to shine.
Why is the idea of humans being replaced by machines, although clichéd, not explored? Why does the training sequence on Oa only last about ten minutes, long enough for one flying sequence and a few quick skirmishes between Lanterns? And why did we throw away Hector Hammond’s (Peter Sarsgaard, who I wish we’d seen do more) potential to be anything other than a bridge from training to fighting space-diarrhea? Ok, let me clarify this now: The central villain, Parallax (holding back an ex-lax joke), is a being that absorbs and sustains itself on fear. You’d think they’d have taken some of the CG budget away from changing Reynolds’ eye color and projecting a suit onto him and made their villain look a little less like… alright, I’m done with low-brow comedy. Does anyone wonder why a villain whose sole power is to devour you once you’re afraid of him is actually scary? It’s like a defeated paradox… he can only eat you if you’re scared and you really shouldn’t be scared if you know that.
Let me spend the last paragraph of this review stitching together all the pieces I just tore apart. Green Lantern is solid. Not great, but solid. The idea of a guy who can create anything he can see in his mind and sustain it with sheer will power is pretty sweet. For those of us who knock GL for not really having a super-power, let me just throw this out there: what is Harry Potter without a wand? Not much. Why do we love the world of Harry Potter? Because it’s fantastic enough to dare us to dream and separated from us by barely anything at all. Given the choice right now, I’d love to carry a Green Lantern ring. There are a lot of moments where we are just in awe of the creativity on display visually in the film, and the action is top-notch. Fans of the series will also get a little reward if they stick around long enough into the credits (don’t bother staying all the way to the end though).
Overall, for shining some creative light on an otherwise bland plot, I give Green Lantern a 7 out of 10
