Stupendous disaster/coming of age/action/horror/thriller/romance/comedy movie

Rating: 10/10 (5 August 2011)

I love sci-fi. And I think J.J. Abrams is a genius. So this review might not be the most unbiased one I've ever written. If you're expecting objective help here as to whether you should see this movie, look elsewhere because this is just gonna sing its praises.
It is awesome.
I've never given a film 10/10 before because surely that would indicate that the film is perfect. But watching this has made me reevaluate the scoring system. Is it perfect? No. Did it provide me with two hours of perfect cinema? You're a darn tootin'.
Oh, it's so awesome.
From the initial scene where a steel worker resets the "Days since accident" board, through to the final scene I was hooked. The slow unravelling of the story, getting to know the characters, gaping slack-jawed at the sheer disastrousness of the train disaster made me want to cry with joy. And giggle with gladness.
Have I mentioned that it's awesome? I don't think I'm too old to remember how my childhood summers felt. I would have been nine in 1979 and we lived about a hundred yards from a disused train line, and this film sent me right back there.
Some people. Horrible, ignorant people will say that the movie is riddled with clichés and the penultimate dénouement is lack lustre, but I say pooh to them. The sheer love and reverence that went into making the film seeps out of the celluloid (whether its Super 8 or high tech digital film) and embraces us with a carefree abandon that makes us want to be children again. Or is that just me? Anyway, if you've read to the end of this review. Go and see the movie. It. Is. AWESOME.