J.J. Abramshas spent an entire film career attempting to resurrect the blockbuster storytelling of old by putting them in a lens-flared new package.
From his debut film,the underratedMission: Impossible III, to the respective thrilling hope andcrushing disappointment of his twoStar Warssequels, Abrams barrels his way through pyrotechnical wizardry with the proficiency of a windup toy.
The downside to his approach is that it often leaves you wondering where his heart actually is, as his whizz-bang speed often leaves little room for true emotional exploration.
If any of his films came the closest to a true engagement with his sentimental side, it wasSuper 8, theSteven Spielberglove letter that included a shoutout to aTwilight Zoneepisode that isn’t just a favorite of Abrams', buta hint at the crux of Abrams' approach to storytelling.
J.J. References “Walking Distance” to Pay Tribute to ‘The Twilight Zone’
A film thatNetflix should be eternally grateful for existing,Super 8features a group of kids in smalltown Ohio who are scrambling to make their amateur zombie filmwhen they witness a truly spectacular train crash.
Their curiosity gets the better of them, and they witness an unidentified creature escape from the train, leading them to go full espionage mode to uncover a conspiracy to keep knowledge ofextraterrestrial lifea secret.
Part of their plan involves the need to communicate via walkie-talkies and use code language, just in case they’re being spied on by the feds.
When discussing their mission, the kids refer to their plan as “Operation Walking Distance,” which serves as an apt description of how much footwork they’ll have to do to get around, but is also a reference toone of the greatTwilight Zoneepisodesthat J.J. himself has stated is deeply important to him.
“Walking Distance” is about an existentially unhappy businessman named Martin (Gig Young), who walks back to his nearby hometown while waiting for his car to be repaired.
Unexpectedly, when he arrives,he realizes that he’s traveled back in time to his own childhood, with the town exactly the way it used to be and his parents still alive and him as a young boy.
In re-experiencing all the joys of his youth, he must also accept that he can never truly go back to that time in his life, and he must appreciate it while still moving forward.
The episode underlines this point by throwing in a nice twist where Martin accidentally causes his younger self to break his leg, which permanently disables the older Martin, serving as a physical reminder of the psychological damage that comes with holding on too tight to the past.
It’s that quality that J.J. found so appealing,and he told Time Magazine in 2009that “its a beautiful demonstration of the burden of adulthood” and that he laments that you could’t go back to your younger self and tell them to “be alive, to be young, and to enjoy that.”
It’s a touching sentiment, equal parts practical and whimsical, andit’s the perfect summation of Abrams' approach to storytelling, for better and for worse, andSuper 8is the ideal film to demonstrate that.
Abrams' Filmmaking Refuses to Grow Up
It’s clear that Steven Spielberg is one of the profoundest influences on Abrams' filmmaking style, with Abrams adopting many Spielbergian tricks and making them his own, like elaborate moving one-takes, zoom-in close-ups of actors looking off-camera, and attempting to marry heart with big spectacle.
But whileSpielberg has always had a genius touchfor remixing old tropes and conventional storytelling with newly imagined angles and a generous heart, Abrams is often far too indebted to being respectful to what has come before and forcing himself to go pedal-to-the-metal.
His reverence for the art he loves leads him to blindly copy what came before, be it in formal construction or flagrant Easter eggs.
That’s howThe Force Awakens, while critically praised and generally liked, is routinely criticized for feeling like a photocopy ofA New Hopein its plot, or howStar Trek Into Darknessshoehorns cringy references to olderStar Trekfilms that made little sense.
Furthermore, his incessant need to zipline through plotpoints and provide maximum “fun” while forsaking deeper intellectual or emotional exploration limits his films to being dumbed-down roller coasters that leave a lot on the table.
That’s how he makestwoStar Trekfilms that, while critically praised and financially successful, tend to be disliked by hardcore fans of the franchise because he avoided the philosophizing and debating of the original shows in favor of huge space battles and melodramatic character fighting.
This leaves J.J. Abrams feeling perpetually stuck at a crossroads between evolving his own mature ideas and feeling secure in the media that formulated his love for films.
Why get mired in the muck of scary and complicated adult feelings when you could instead recreate the fuzzy feeling you got from seeingStar Warsfor the first time?
Abrams may have understood the notion of not being able to return to his childhood, but his films keep displaying his desire to provide simulations of what codified his childhood.
That’s why including the “Walking Distance” makes so much sense to be placed inSuper 8, as in many ways,it’s the quintessential J.J. Abrams experience.
It boasts some of the best craft of his career, witha bangerMichael Giacchinoscore, a star-making performance fromElle Fanning, and a number of sequences that truly do evoke that same rush of intrigue and earnestness that Spielberg mastered.
The downside is that it’s repeatedly so devoted to the Spielberg vision that, if I were more cynical, I’d wonder if we had another(alleged)Poltergeistsituationon our hands, with daddy Steve shadow-directing.
TheTwilight Zoneinclusion makesSuper 8feel like both the closest we’ll get to seeing J.J.’s true heart on the big screen, but also an admission that deep down, he really just wants to come home.
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Super 8is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
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