Gets the spirit of those throwback family sci-fi films just right, but takes the weaker aspects with it

Rating: Null/10 (28 August 2011)

I'm not adding anything to the discussion by noting that Super 8 is deliberately and professionally a throwback to those family-friendly sci-fi films of the 80's. Explorers comes to mind, as does Flight of the Navigator and The Goonies. However, for as many people observing this, not enough of them appear to be happy to accept some of the weaknesses that Super 8 also carries forward into 2011. The story here is that a group of high-school students are making an amateur short film on a friend's super 8 camera when a massive crash occurs and they flee just as, for some reason, the military move in to take control. Shortly it transpires that "something" may have been in the train and is now loose in this small town community.
The set-up is classic and by choosing to set the film in this time period it works even better because it is able to be mostly free of modern cynicism or reference points and manages to capture a sort of image of childhood and small-town life that may never have existed but certainly a lot of people of my age will have already been sold on since we grew up on the films this one is referencing. In this regard I can understand why the main love for Super 8 appears to be from a certain age-group, not to suggest others do not enjoy it, but certainly the nostalgic sense of familiarity with the tone and approach did add a bit for me on my viewing. The gentle comic bantering between the characters is great stuff and it frames the film and provides enjoyment and colour around the sci-fi action.
This action is not quite as good but again it hearkens back to days where seeing the creature is less important than seeing what it does. It worked for me and I was more than happy to see the destruction played out in a teasing way as it was. Those expecting Cloverfield 2 though, will be disappointed as it is not that type of film. Although it is a throwback, it is impressive how well Abrams captures the spirit and content of these films of that period. I'm not a massive fan of his because at times he seems all about the hype of the moment rather than the lasting substance, but here he does a solid job. The downside of this is that he also captures the sentimentality and rather pat endings of these films. I accepted this as being a genre thing but the ending still is a little weak as a result. I also thought he overdid the lens-flare effect, it is a nice touch done sparingly but here it seems to be in almost every scene and it got on my nerves.
Overall though Super 8 is a great little throwback film that will play best with those of us of an age to no longer fancy another noisy and hollow effects films this summer but rather something that benefits from a nostalgic warmth. It does really well at catching this spirit and content and for that it deserves credit even if the downside is that it captures the weaknesses as well. Fun and engaging if you let yourself get in an 80's frame of reference.