Sometimes when you combine two iconic film makers, especially two men like Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams, you never know how much egos will clash and what the end result will be.  Of course on the surface, Super 8 is a sure fire hit, right?  The guy who made Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. and Goonies getting together with the guy who brought us Lost, Alias, Cloverfield and the newly revamped Star Trek.  Can of corn right?

The problem with Abrams is he is so good at creating hype and mystery that we as an audience tend to build on that hype and forces us to expect whatever the big secret is has to be the greatest thing since ‘talkies’ were invented.

With Super 8, that over hype is part of the problem.  The movie focuses on a group of friends who are making a sci-fi movie and find themselves in the middle of a catastrophic event that involves a secret government experiment gone wrong wreaking havoc on a small town in the early 1980’s.

This however is a movie that even if you’ve seen all the trailers and commercials, you are going to get what you think you’re going to get.  This may be a home run with some people, because after all– its better to not know going in.  But it could also hurt because a lot of people are going in thinking it’s going to be E.T. all over again.

It’s not– but it’s close.

And that is the beauty of Super 8.  It’s fresh and original but at the same time it has this “feeling” of awe and wonder that will remind you of those amazing movies we saw as kids.  That is exactly what I loved about Super 8– the movie itself didn’t blow me away, but it’s an experience that reminded me of the movies and the adventures I used to get into with my friends as kids.

Some may have a problem with the ending, which does wrap up a little too conveniently without much of an explanation as to what is going on, but the point of the movie is the relationship between the father and the son.

The cast is full actors who are either newcomers or actors not quite so famous and that helps add to the realism and emotion of the story.  J.J. Abrams is solidifying himself as this generation’s Spielberg– a film maker who will always have people wondering, ‘what is he going to do next?’.

8/10