Super 8

As a train loaded with mysterious cargo derails and devastates an abandoned rural station, the extended sequence of flying cargo cars and explosions takes on an almost operatic air that provokes gasps that slowly turn to laughter as the sturm und drang keeps banging and banging on. It’s pretty damn cool. Unfortunately, it’s the inciting incident and Super 8 never really matches that energy for the rest of its running time. It’s set in 1979, in a sleepy Ohio steel town where a young boy is recovering from the death of his mother and emotional distance from his father by focusing his attention on filming a Super 8 backyard zombie movie crewed by his Goonies-esque posse. While shooting late at night at the aforementioned abandoned train station, they witness a truck deliberately plow into the train, and the subsequent carnage. And then, folks from around town start to disappear … A collaboration between writer/director J.J. Abrams (Lost) and producer Steven Spielberg, Super 8 is an affectionate homage to the latter’s oeuvre. But despite the velocity of that train crash, Super 8 never really displays any forward momentum. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG-13