Super might be a Stretch

Rating: Null/10 (20 September 2011)

Super 8 is one of those movies that you are going to see on TBS on some rainy Sunday and end up watching. It's a rainy Sunday nothing else to do kind of movie. Super 8 isn't a horrible movie but it's about as vanilla as they come.
The story revolves around a group of teenagers who are working on an amateur film. While shooting at night they inadvertently film a train wreck. The military shows up to clean up the mess and it soon becomes clear that the kids may have filmed something they should not have seen. Various pets and members of the town start to disappear while the military scrambles to cover up the accident. I don't want to give too much away to those who haven't seen the film so I will let you discover the rest on your own.
This movie is largely derivative. Most of this movie was taken from other much better films. While watching this I couldn't help but think of ET, Stand by Me, and even The Goonies. The parental conflicts are hackneyed at best and they are hurriedly and awkwardly resolved at the end of the film.
On the plus side there are some great special effects. The train wreck scene is definitely memorable. I was also impressed by some of the child actors. Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning were stand outs for me.
I don't really think that Super 8 is a bad movie. It is entertaining and will keep you watching to see what happens but it's just not really good either. It takes no risks and tries to stick to a pretty standard formula that has been done in a lot of other movies.