Thrilling "hommage" to Spielberg/Alien/Lost

Rating: Null/10 (15 August 2011)

I seem to have watched a different movie from everybody else on this site - or maybe I approached it with a more "popcorn-picture" mindset? For me SUPER 8 looks like being the best of this summer's blockbusters. It begins with a more spectacular train-crash than the one in THE FUGITIVE and ends with a space-craft that is wonderfully silly but as thrilling, in its way, as the one in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS. In between we get a group of charming young teens who help the police and the military deal with a mysterious "creature" that escaped the wrecked train.
The marauder is unmasked a bit at a time, which builds up the suspense in this well-paced story with its characters that are believably fleshed-out and well played. There's a bit of "hommage" to director J.J. Abrams LOST series on TV and a bit more to the ALIEN series, but there are also some E.T. moments to dilute the scariness factor. Spielberg co-produced SUPER 8 and his influence pervades the movie. I loved it. The rest of you are simply wrong!