Genuine movie magic for the first time in a long time.

Rating: 7/10 (6 August 2011)

There are many reasons why I was destined to really hate Super 8. I have lost practically all interest in summer blockbusters. I have a deep hatred for Steven Spielberg. However, J.J. Abrams does something absolutely magical here. He creates a genuine spectacle, an experience that somehow feels familiar yet entirely unique. In a time where every other week we're seeing some diluted $150 million blockbuster, nothing feels genuinely epic anymore. Entire planets can be destroyed and it's hard to even fake interest, because it's all done over and over again. Each week is an attempt to up the ante from the last massive explosion-fest and at this point they're all just boring to me. People get confused when I claim that things like Transformers and Iron Man 2 just genuinely bore me to tears, but how could I not be bored when nothing can be a spectacle anymore. Somehow, some way, Abrams has done the impossible and made movies...magic, again.
This picture is basically the epitome of the summer blockbuster, but Abrams makes it unique by essentially bringing it back to basics. He strips away the superheroes and the explosion after explosion peril and actually builds a film around it's characters. He creates this human drama, a coming-of-age story in the most interesting of circumstances, and then builds this alien blockbuster around it. Whereas all of these other big pictures are starting off with the explosions and then trying to add character filler to keep it going, Abrams starts at the ground floor by building real people and working outwards from there. In doing this, he creates an emotional drama with the kids in the picture and as a result all of the enormous action sequences actually feel epic because they feel so out of the ordinary. We're just focusing on the story of these children, first love and tested friendships, and then the unthinkable happens. And this time it's actually unthinkable, not just a run of the mill expectation.
The train crash near the beginning of the film is the perfect example of this. When huge explosions of this nature occurred in films like Terminator Salvation or Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, I didn't blink an eye. I was legitimately bored because there was no surprise or out-of-this-world extravagance to it. But here we are just focusing on these kids telling a story and then this huge explosion occurs and they are thrust into the middle of a terrifying accident where their lives are on the line. I honestly can't remember the last time that I actually sat with my eyes open and my mouth dropped, stunned by the intensity of such an exciting action sequence. This film brought to me things that I never thought I could experience again; it made me feel like a kid one more time.
It's obvious that Super 8 draws a lot from the Steven Spielberg pictures of the '70s and '80s, but I think Abrams is a much more skilled director than Spielberg ever was. Yes, he's only directed three films so I'm sure this comment will get a lot of flack, but I firmly believe it. This one film is a better creation than anything Spielberg has done, and I think the primary reason is because of what Abrams does with these characters. In building the story around these kids he makes it all feel so real. The sentimental moments don't feel like typical Hollywood schmaltz like they do with Spielberg's work, they feel genuine and therefore hit my heart pretty strong. Some of the moments between Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning (who gave two extraordinary performances for any actor, let alone children) honestly brought tears to my eyes. He creates real people here and therefore the stakes are genuine, the emotions are authentic and everything is a real life spectacle.