Review of Super 8 (Spoilers!)

First, this is a very well made movie and I enjoyed it.  The special effects are first rate. When the train from the trailer comes off the tracks the movie really gets going.  Fans of  the TV series Lost and of Spielberg's older films should really enjoy this.  The pacing is relatively quick, and the young actors are up to the task - especially newcomer Joel Courtney and his love interest Elle Fanning, who is stepping out from her big sister's shadow with this performance.  And yes, the creature was worth waiting to see.  But when all is said and done Super 8 is at its core the tale of two families dealing with past tragedy, while a monster just so happens to be running amuck in their hometown.  A town that in one shot reminded me of the village in The Goonies. 

Scott, and anyone else who wants to see this movie without knowing specifics, please stop reading now.  Spoilers!!!   You have been warned.

The main story works extremely well, but there are finer points that worked better in Spielberg directed versions of this film.  So much of this movie had such visible brushstrokes from Steven's older films as to be a distraction at times.

The run time was just under two hours, and the film did seem rushed on occasion.  JJ could have kept some of what I am sure wound up on the cutting room floor, and the film might very well have been a little better than it already is.  It just seemed like something was missing.

The creature is not seen until the last twenty or thirty minutes of the film and we are left with questions, big questions.  (I understand not showing it till later, worked for Jaws, but, like I said in my previous post, we don't know much of anything about the creature, though we do get it's motivation.)  The main question I had was: Why transport the monster along with the cubes? Or in that case, why would you move him at all?  Maybe they explained it in the movie, but it didn't make sense to me.

In one regard this movie is like the last movie I reviewed, Source Code; they both have similarities to films that came before them - same but different. To put things in perspective, Super 8 is an amalgamate of E.T, Goonies, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the TV series Lost, plus a number of other films.  But it works.  I just have two wishes, of which only one has the chance of coming true: first, I wish I had never seen those other films; second, please release the DVD with extra footage about our rowdy, spider-like visitor from outer space.

In conclusion, this is a blockbuster children's movie that those of us who saw E.T. as a child are likely to get a nostalgic thrill out of.  Will the creature come back and visit us again?  We'll see.   

-aap