Excellently directed and great movie, even though it has some hiccups

Rating: 10/10 (30 November 2011)

Super 8 far exceeded my expectations. This movie is interesting because you either like half of the movie, or you like all of the movie. I know a lot of people who say only the first half was good and the second half wasn't, but for me: I love all of it.
I will agree that Super 8 does not have the most original plot, but that doesn't mean it isn't an original movie. Super 8 purposefully uses a plot that resembles a Steven Spielberg movie from the 70s-80s. Super 8 is like Close encounters of the third kind, meets Cloverfield, meets E.T., meets the Goonies. Some people will say that makes it a rip-off, but then you entirely missed the purpose of the movie. The movie is making homage to those classic movies from 70s-80s while still being its own movie. I will mention that the movie is MUCH better the first time than the second time, because the first time is very mysterious while the second time is not mysterious. This review is based off my first time seeing.
The acting in this movie is really good. I was shocked at how well the kids in this movie acted, and how well they actually acted like kids. They seemed very life-like and realistic, and also the kid love relationship in this movie was actually good and didn't seem lame.
The effects are very good, and the movie has this constant blue lighting theme which is pretty cool to make it look like the camera is a little messed up. The lighting is very nice. The CGI is pretty good, and the train destruction scene was over the top amazing! Some people may say that the train wreck was unrealistic, but in reality it wasn't. Train wrecks do look like that, and seeing as how the train had explosives that also adds to it. The creature (I won't give away its appearance) was cool and fairly frightening. There were quite a few jump scares but they didn't seem lame or unneeded except for maybe one time.
All in all an excellent movie that really pays tribute to the old movies, while still being great in its own sense. I am surprised at the excellent acting which actually makes up for any small problems. Good movies are usually judged by their ending, and this movie had an amazing ending... oh and the credits were quite enjoyable as well ha ha. Go see this movie if you understand that it's plot isn't original, but that doesn't make it a bad movie.
First viewing: 10/10 Second viewing: 9/10