Review: 'Super 8' is sort of revisionist 'ET' with a scary crash and an alien

Super 8   PG 13          

            JJ Abrams (Star Trek 11, Cloverfield), directs an old style Steven Spielberg like film, not an ET remix so much as Goonies meets Close Encounters meets Alien (with some Ridley Scott vibe). Because of its predecessors, an lens flares, it does not get a fifth star for originality. JJ did go by way of shaky cam (because try doing that with a Super 8 and see what it does, as I had when I was 12, as you will get a blurred mess), They actually got the feel of an action thriller with the human element of the dysfunctional small town where the kids are smarter than the adults. Hopefully there will not later be a 'special edition' where he removes all the guns, like Spielberg did to the special edition 2002 version of ET. (One of his worst moves). JJ seems to know character and convey their story better than action directors like Bay. Some might argue, kids don't swear like that, but I disagree, they do and we sure did. If we had sound in our early super 8 movies we'd be cussing like sailors, or space marines. The story centers on a train wreck in a rural town in the heartland of America, derailed by a scientist who is trying to expose a military secret, an alien imprisoned for years who needs to get back to his ship. It's a little like Indiana Jones 4 without the crystal skull and vastly better. Thankfully for the action scenes and most of the film it is not shot like a super 8 movie, but rather like a big summer event movie. Nepotism also works, as Dakota's little sister is in it and is actually an improvement over her elder sister's early roles. We can excuse War of the Worlds as that story remake was a stinker. That was Spielberg also but Tom Cruise ruined it. It's been a while since we've seen a decent homage to the late 70s early 80s done right. I loved the part when they try to develop the film 'in an hour' and the photo place guy says, 'heh, like that will never happen'. The zombie movie imbed in the credits is great. Stay for that too. Older super 8 did not have sound and they used 8 track until early 1982 but we still can forgive them for that. Maybe they channeled it through a sound camera or on a stereo. But really it was good and entertaining.          
Review by Adam Browne