A great film overall, much better than Cloverfeild

Rating: 6/10 (10 June 2011)

Walking into this film, I figured that this would just be "Cloverfield in the '70's with kids", but I was totally wrong. The film exceeded almost all my expectations The plot is very basic: a train wreck with mysterious cargo crashes in a quiet, rural town. 5 children witness the crash and run off in fear. The town is then tormented by a mysterious creature from the train. I don't want to give any major details away, so I'll stop there. What I will say, however is that the film has the tension and excitement that Abrams fans have come to expect from all his latest films. The acting in this, however, exceeds all that I've seen this year (and I've seen a lot this year). The child actors SHINE compared to the adults in the movie (and in some other films this year: Pirates 4 for example).
Abrams really got rid of all the negative qualities of Cloverfield and replaced them with audience-friendly traits: the most important being ANSWERS!!!!! Many (including myself) walked out of Cloverfield with questions about everything: what happened to the characters, what is the monster, where did the monster come from, etc. ALL of these are answered in Super 8. Some could argue that the lack of answers added to the mysteriousness of Cloverfeild, but others want to know backstory about the film's characters (myself included). However, Abrams still sticks to the Cloverfeild formula; giving the audience little glimpses of the monster to keep everyone interested Abrams stuck with his editing team from Star Trek for Super 8, lens flares and all. The lens flares weren't as annoying in this as they were in Star Trek, but you still notice them as they fill the screen with a bright light. I found it really annoying (I wear heavy prescription glasses and have to put up with lens flare all the time) and at some times it was worse than Star Trek. Abrams really toned it down, all considered.
In close, I really have to say that this has been my favorite film this year (and putting up with trash like Fast Five, it's not a surprise). The acting is superb, especially from the children. It's a must-see