Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.

Rating: 5/10 (6 August 2011)

I loved the trailer for this movie. The way it was put together, the mystery, the music... What a let down the actual film was! It seemed to me like one giant ego stroke for Spielberg with Abrams trying to replicate what made Spielberg's Amblin films so unique back in the day. Even his camera shots were trying to be Spielberg but without the panache or iconic creativity the former had in his prime.
It's like trying to trace the Mona Lisa – it'll always be second rate. And everything here is. The kids, while good, are pale imitations of the kids in the Goonies and not quite as believable and real as the kids in E.T. The music tries to echo John Williams but Giacchino cannot even touch the master. Even the music from Cocoon used in the trailer exuded a magical awe that Giacchino fails to echo. His music even tries to give the military the same sound and feel as the military is given in Close Encounters but again it just feels pastiche and not homage. Speaking of the military, they couldn't have been more cartoonish if the filmmakers tried. At least the military and officials felt real is E.T. There the officials are an unspeaking presence as our characters try make sense of what is going on.
All in all it felt overly conscious. Even moments like a little kid slamming the table was a direct take from a moment in Close Encounters, as one of the children of Richard Dreyfuss character was doing the same thing with a doll. Abrams uses it as background stuff not realizing it served a thematic function in Close Encounters.
This is my main problem with it, it seems too focused on jerking off on Spielberg that it fails to become a unique and memorable film onto itself. Spielberg was a contemporary filmmaker who made contemporary set films back in the late 70s and early 80s. He wasn't making 'nostalgic' films set in the 50s and jerking off about a director he admired. That's what Abrams should have done. The super 8 was a pure Mcguffin and did nothing more than show the characters something they would see for real 5 minutes later and I feel that there is no reason why, with a bit of thought, this film could not have been set now and made into a movie kids today could make their own the way kids of my generation owned and connected to E.T, Goonies etc.
It's sad in one sense. I applaud anything that is new (like Inception) in a movie land that saturated with sequels and remakes and reboots. But is this really new? Isn't it just another form of reboot? We need new stuff for these times. Come on Hollywood, get the finger out!