Director: J.J. Abrams
Rating: Loved It
This movie was a melting pot of some of the greatest movies you can remember. It was one part Goonies, one part Stand By Me, one part Close Encounters with a dash of Cloverfield and E.T. The film captures your imagination and plays off the long lived Spielberg line of thinking that what you don't see is scarier than what you do see that he formulated by accident in Jaws. The movie isn't just about a government train wreck that throws a small town into a whirlwind of insanity. It is a story about loss and letting go wrapped up in all those trimmings.
The story is simple. A group of young friends are filming a movie for a film festival/competition. During the filming of one scene, the camera captures a train wreck...that was caused by a truck driving head on into said train. The USAF soon swarms in to clean up the accident and the plane parts that the train was hauling. At the same time, strange things begin to happen in the close by town where local officials begin to look at things on their own.
The acting in this film was great, especially from such a young cast. I'm sure that some of these kids have big careers ahead of them. In particular leading actor Joel Courtney that plays Joe Lamb was really good, delivering a line like "I'm just doing the best I can to save you" in the perfect inflection for a kid of the 70s takes the cake. The 70s play a big role in the movie as well.
The movie couldn't have taken place at any other point in history. Set it earlier and you don't have the technology to capture the happening on home video. Set it later and you'd capture it, post it on YouTube and everyone would know about it within the hour.
Beyond acting, Abrams does a great job with the story, both writing and directing it. Honestly, this wasn't exactly the film I was hoping for when I saw the first teaser trailer of the train wreck, but he knew what he was doing after all. He crafted a story that we will be talking about for years to come. There are characters here that you'll always remember. There are scenes you'll never forget.
The creature in the film also looked pretty impressive. The CG was really good. Some people will probably argue that point, but I'm not a huge critic on the CG aspect of a movie. Of course it can only look real to a point because it's not! I very rarely go to the movies, but I was really happy that I spent the money for this one on the big screen. The image of the creature (when we finally get the reveal) wouldn't have had the same impact at home.
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