Disappointing, plain, predictable story

Rating: 4/10 (11 June 2011)

I expected a lot more from an Abrams film. Maybe that was my problem.
Anyone who has seen Abrams' other movies or TV shows knows what to expect. Twist endings every episode, surprise character revelations and cliff hangers. Super 8 delivered absolutely none of that, instead replacing it with a very normal, predictable ending that most people will figure out after a short time into the film.
The movie tries to pull off what Cloverfield did: an obscured, unidentified alien that nobody sees and lives to tell about. However, it falls flat on it's face for two reasons; this time, the alien has an agenda instead of just being on a rampage, and the military proves to be a much bigger threat than the monster does.
Another gripe is that - and this surprised me, because, again, an Abrams movie - were plot holes you could drive trucks through (or, in this case, trains). For the sake of not having this tagged as containing spoilers, I won't go into detail, but I'll just say they are obvious if you think about it after the movie.
However, the children were (mostly) interesting characters that I liked. Other than the "lead" character, all of them had quirky little problems that made them fun to listen to and watch. In addition, all the children are amazing actors and I look forward to seeing them in better movies sometime down the line.
I understand that this movie is less about the monster, more about the characters but that doesn't save it because the actual development behind the characters is boring and as predictable as the monster plot.
Overall, I was disappointed. The plot lacked any real substance that mattered and beneath all the hype and speculation was a plain alien movie that everyone has seen before. Definitely not Abram's proudest moment, and anyone expecting to enter Super 8 and find the usual things that Abrams brings to a movie will be extremely unsatisfied.