Summer of '84

WOW. Just WOW. I could literally feel the star rating grow in my head as this movie went on. I was pretty sure it would end up a 4 or a 4 1/2, and then that ending. But first, let's talk about this movie in general. The boom of 80's nostalgia is everywhere, and it can be rather cloying. There's a fine art to using and appreciating nostalgia and getting masturbatory about it. I know this is unpopular, but Stranger Things is very much the latter about it. It cannot stop shoving in your face what you remember and how much you love it, all so it can hide its paper-thin plotting, hoary cliches, and slavish adherence to a style and aesthetic (namely Spielberg). It does nothing with nostalgia; it just shows you Ghostbusters or Atari and says "DO YOU REMEMBER THIS? WE DO!". Summer of '84 understands that nostalgia for the sake of it is empty. It USES the setting of the mid-80's for a reason. The anodyne suburban setting, the "it's morning in America" Reagan-fueled optimism, even down to little things like the proliferation of outlandish tabloids, it's all to serve a purpose. If you were a kid in the 80's, you remember stuff like "stranger danger" videos in school and in afterschool specials. This movie taps into that fear and paranoia kids had, where a kidnapper in a van lurked around every corner and at every city park. And it marries that to the feeling of endless adventure and opportunity that can only be felt during summer vacation. It's The Goonies meets Rear Window, but it's so much more than that. I can't think of a weak link here. The cast of young men they have playing the four leads are spot-on wonderful; they feel like a band of buddies. They hang out in a clubhouse, they lust for the former babysitter who lives next door, they look at stolen porn magazines and talk and think in that way only kids do, in bold, dramatic ways that seem logical only to them. And the parents are perfectly real too, capturing that potent mix of being aware of the real world, but defiant that it could happen in their backyard. The mystery is also well done. You're given a suspect pretty early on, and the boys scheme and plot to find evidence, and at every turn, the evidence collapses, or there's an explanation. You begin to doubt the kids, and you wonder what twist the movie's gonna throw at you to resolve everything. It's done over a nice pace, slow, yet involving and engaging. It's never overtly horrific. That sense of adventure permeates, even though the kids are trying to prove their neighbor is a serial killer with 15 victims to his credit (13 of them children). And then the twist hits. The final 15 or so minutes of this movie ... I'm not gonna spoil it. It would be unfair of me. It would let the air out of the tire if I did. Just know that you are not ready. This ending is bold, it is ballsy, and it will stick with you. I literally shouted "NO!" at one point and was saying to myself that they couldn't end the movie the way they were up until the credits rolled. And I'm still in shock they did. But I'm glad they did, because I will never forget this movie. This is one hell of a ride.