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Memorable, crazy movie

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Despite being a fan of J.J. Abrams and what he does with his Bad Robot productions, I'll be the first to say it: At its core, "Super 8" is J.J.'s homage to his childhood cloaked in the storytelling techniques of Steve Spielberg. However, because JJ imparts so much of his own flare and personal charisma into the film, it ends up mostly transcending its "copycat" label and producing a result that is quite enjoyable on a number of fronts.For a basic plot summary, "Super 8" focuses on Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), a young teen growing up in the 1970s who loves making movies with his Super-8 camera and building miniature models. When viewers are introduced to Joe, he has just lost his mother in a factory accident, and father Jackson (Kyle Chandler) struggles to be a single father while also serving as town police deputy. While filming a movie scene with his buddies, and notably crush Alice (Elle Fanning), Joe witnesses a train derailment in which some sort of creature is released and the military intervenes. With the film in Joe's camera being the only evidence of the incident, "Super 8" unspools into a race against the clock both for the military (to destroy the evidence) and Joe's crew (to figure out just what exactly is going on).I think the hallmark of "Super 8" is that it's a film that has a little bit of everything. It features tremendous action/adventure sequences, emotional family/character drama, and a mystery plot that keeps things moving forward. There is not one wasted scene in the entire film. Though it clocks in at about 2 hours, it doesn't feel "that long" because the action is always moving forward (a trait of Abrams films).The use of the child actors in the movie are also spectacular. They carry long (and most) stretches of the film with absolutely no qualms or drop in performances that adults may have given. In a way, JJ was kind of ahead of the curve here on the "kids riding bikes around the neighborhood" type film that "It" & "Stranger Things" would later bring firmly back into fashion.Oddly enough, the only reason I can't give "Super 8" an even higher ranking is a big part of the reason why it gets the 8 stars to begin with: The film is so slick and filled with relentless energy that I felt, at times, it doesn't take quite enough time to stop and savor the character moments (the highlight of the film by quite a bit). This is especially apparent in the ending, which should be even more touching than what ends up transpiring. This isn't a huge fault, but I think stems from the film coming from a Spielberg/nostalgia place instead of one of complete originality.Overall, though, "Super 8" is a fun and compelling film that can be enjoyed by a wide swath of audiences. No one will ever be bored watching the film, and it dips into enough genres to find some nerve in every viewer. Not quite at the top of my "favorites of all-time" list, but certainly in the tier right below it.

JJ is a monumental hasidic genius and even if he is not, as the member and son of the tribe he deserves to be given more than his fair share of projects to produce and direct. Is it his fault that the bad guys (anti-semites) don't like his reboots, remakes and sequels? No. He does the script the accounting guys give him. Is it his fault the scripts are not good or original or creative? No. He donates to the synagogue and Israel so he needs the money.All hail JJ, he is there every Sabbath! You should be there for him.

This movie could have been really good but there are major, major problems. The train wreck was way over done. For one thing, at one point early on in the train crash the train was wrecking behind where the kids were running but they were reacting to something in front of them, which I guess was the train wrecking, but then how could it wreck on both sides of them? Then there is the fact that the guy that drove the pick up into the train caused the train to crash in such a dramatic way. It would take a train running into another train head on to create anything even remotely similar to what we saw (even then the way the trains were flying was probably 20 times more spectacular by far than any real train wreck in history). Then how does the man in the pick up not only survive running his pick up into what must have been an extremely fast moving train for it to have crashed the way it did, his vehicle also was shown to explode into a large ball of fire on impact. And so not only does he live, he is well enough to talk and move his arms around? Incredibly unrealistic. I also have major problems the intense contrasting in volume in this movie. You have to turn the TV up loud to hear what they are saying then something designed to startle the audience happens and the volume suddenly becomes a thousand times louder. Its annoying as heck. I won't blindly like what should be a good movie with so much nonsense thrown into it.

I know everyone says this but literally the only reason I made an account was to write a review for this movie because there are many reviews on here that haven't thought about how this movie could actually be a lot deeper than the surface ideologies show........ Perhaps Abrams did this on purpose?One word - WOW. It has taken me 3 times watching this movie without falling asleep (because at first I too thought this film was a bit of a flop) to finally understand the true depth this movie holds.I absolutely love JJ Abrams' movies because I always walk away completely and utterly mind boggled. The surface ideologies normally suggest endings with overcoming fear, love, reuniting with loved ones etc., but the passive ideologies suggest something much farther beyond the surface other than just the story about how a boy lets his mother go (when perhaps he really didn't need to?) and reunites with his father. I know IMDb suggests not to include links in reviews but I literally cannot plead with you enough to read this analysis. ----> https://super8secret.wordpress.comIt could not have summed up the same theory I have any better and I am so glad someone else feels the same way I do. I love how JJ Abrams doesn't want to give anything away in the movie and I think he is far more clever than people give him credit for. After the end of the movie I sat for a while and thought about how Joe was an extremely mature character and realized that he was much smarter than it seems. This was when I discovered something more was going on. There are many criticizing comments on IMDb about this movie and it is great that the analysis I have linked was able to see outside the square and realize there is a deeper story than the one that is shown. This is one of the reasons why I admire JJ Abrams as a director so much. Well done Abrams - 10/10.