Celebration of E.T. and Close Encounters comes with mixture of humor and horror that works brilliantly.

Rating: 8/10 (18 June 2011)

Review Score: 8.5 – Go see it.
Super 8 is the story of a young group of kids who are trying to make a zombie movie in the summer of 1979. They're filming when they witness a terrible train wreck that causes their small town to become the hot spot of an Air Force Military Investigation. It quickly becomes clear that the military is attempting to keep something secret from everyone else and when people and mechanical items from around town begin disappearing things get even more hectic.
First off, if you couldn't tell by the trailers, Super 8 is a celebration of old school films Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and E.T. (1980) and mixes it with J.J. Abrams' two big secret dangerous monster staying off camera until further and further into the movie, a la Cloverfield (2008) and Lost (2004). This ultimately makes for a unique blend of sad child hood misfortune and scary dodgy monster movie tactics, which is a great mixture and works very well.
While I have a few quips with the movie, there is nothing particularly negative to say. The movie has brilliant development and revolves around a central theme of loss. The pacing seems appropriate and nothing seems terribly out of place. It does seem to have a love of needless explosions, though this seems more like a tactic to draw in the less enthusiastic action blockbuster crowd to see a movie that is ultimately more mystery and drama than action and explosions.
Which brings me to my one major quip, the train wreck scene and some of the plot developments around it (a stolen car that would at least be a bit dirty after a thousand explosions go off around it) seem to be ignored for the sake of letting the children get away with it. A few other plot points never seem to pan out, and really just seems like the director wasn't entirely sure they could control the plot lines (like say the children being arrested by the Air Force). Also the ending is unfortunately thin and easy to see coming.
But, as I said, any quips I have are minor. Another great thing is that its filled with quite a bit of humor, particularly the character and relationship of all the children making the film together blends together perfect and none are left without real character development by the end of the movie.
Great movie, catch it when you can.