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Adam Pivirotto
Mrs. Dengler
Movie Review Essay
12 February 2012
Movie Review
The movie “Super 8” was beyond expectations. This movie was directed by J.J. Abrams
and starred Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning. The very popular Steven Spielberg produced it, and
it was released on June 10, 2011. This movie was a collaboration of Amblin Entertainment, Bad
Robot Productions, and Paramount Pictures. The movie ran for approximately one hour and
fifty-two minutes, and was rated PG-13 for language and drug use.
“Super 8” is about the crash of a train carrying a dangerous secret cargo protected by the
military. Six teens witnessed it while using their Super 8 camera to film an amateur movie. The
movie takes place in 1979 Ohio, and begins following the death of the main character Joe’s (Joel
Courtney) mother. The setting and beginning of the movie give it that desolate and gloomy
feeling foreshadowing to the spookiness and science fiction part of the movie. The Characters
are just average fourteen year old kids in the 70s who are at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The kids get closer to the truth about the train crash as the movie continues. They discover that
the air force is related to the mishap and discover that an alien was on board during the crash.
The movie is also a romance with the characters Joe and Alice (Elle Fanning). In the
story these two are forbidden from liking each other due to their fathers’ rivalry, making it
similar to the bit amazing plotline of Romeo and Juliet. Then of course there is some fighting
going on between Joe and his over-working father, Kyle Chandler. Joe’s father has always been
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distant with his son and with recent events has become even more distant. The bottom line is the
movie is basically about family, love, and courage.
The acting in this movie was exceptional. Even though the main character, Joe, had only
a little acting experience, he did a great job in the lead role. The other main character, Alice, has
had many other acting jobs some include “We Bought a Zoo” and “The Nutcracker”. She has
been nominated for numerous awards and won actress of the year in 2011. This movie had many
nominations in the 2011 Teen Choice awards, 2011 Scream awards, Hollywood film awards,
Phoenix Film Critics award, and 2011 BAM awards.
The story was phenomenal. The story line wasn’t too confusing like the movie
“Inception”, but it wasn’t an easy storyline. It kept you guessing till the end which made it
interesting. It held your interest to the end. They used the mystery to boost the audience interest
in sci-fi. It appeals to who people don’t like science fiction, because J.J. Abrams put this movie
together so well that the old idea of an alien crash landing was interesting and new.
This movie is great for all ages. Many other reviewers agree this was a great film. It
scored on the top ten in The Buffalo News, The New York Post, New York Daily News, and The
Republic. This movie was a great science fiction film so it is decided that it gets two alien
thumbs up. Cheers to J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg.