Super 8

Recently I was able to watch the movie Super 8, written and directed by J.J. Abrams. The movie was a good sci-fi flick, with cool effects and an altogether engaging story.

The movie starts with a backstory that serves to both (a) mention the main plot and (b) drive SEVERAL character relationships and subplots. The movie is about a train crash that occurs while a bunch of local kids (our stars) are filming a movie, and develops into a conspiracy-like mystery. It's almost like a dark Scooby Doo, though it touches on things much deeper than some guy in a suit who wants to keep kids off of his lawn.

The movie, the first central point of the plot, fades slowly into the background as the circumstances surrounding the train crash become more pressing, and the interplay of movie and said circumstances drive the exploration and evolution of many character relationships. In some cases, this works to be a sort of "Um, guys, the boat is on fire, stop kissing and making up and get moving," but it's never excessively drawn out like that. It's just that, in some instances, it seems a little out of place.

Contrary to the darker tone of the movie, the ending is surprisingly fairy tale-like -- and I'm saying that with the full knowledge that we are talking about science fiction. The ending made a viable, though improbable, resolution, tying everything up in a neat little bow that shouldn't be quiiiite possible when you're dealing with oh, I don't know, A FLAMING TRAIN CRASH. I can feebly try to justify the way it happened, but my attempted reasoning doesn't really have much power.

Overall, the movie wasn't bad, though.