Before "Stranger Things," J.J. Abrams did his own 80s/Spielberg love letter

Rating: 8/10 (8 April 2018)

Before "Stranger Things" was ever a thing, J.J. Abrams did his own love letter to early Steven Spielberg, a nostalgic and spot-on homage to films such as "E.T.," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," or "Poltergeist." Sure Tobe Hooper directed the last one, but Spielberg produced and left his mark all over it and the horror elements of that film are embraced in "Super 8". Spielberg also produced "Super 8" and it contains many early Spieberg-ian hallmarks; childhood innocence, broken families, government conspiracies, the sense of wonder and faith, parent-child relationships, etc. Set in the summer of 1979, a group of middle school boys and one girl are filming their super 8 zombie movie when they unexpectedly film a train crash transporting a secret cargo. To reveal more would spoil the plot, but the plot isn't what make "Super 8" memorable. Just like the best Spielberg films, it's the characters and their relationships that have endeared those film to us and made them classics. "Poltergeist" is a perfect example of this. The plot is a fairly straightforward haunted house story that is basically a riff on "The Twilight Zone" episode "Little Girl Lost," but the believability of the characters and the realistic portrait of a typical suburban family connect the audience so much more to the plot (and the scares) than would a similar haunted house story with lesser defined of characters. Even strong haunted house films like "The Entity" or "House by the Cemetery" are nowhere as immediately identifiable to audiences as the family depicted in "Poltergeist," which has the impact of making the scares all the more scary. "Super 8" manages to capture that same type of middle America feel, but does so steeped in nostalgia, in very much the same way the Duffer Brothers have done with "Stranger Things." Now despite the well drawn characters and the warm nostalgia the film generates, the story about the mysterious cargo on the train and the kids investigation is nowhere as interesting or compelling as Spielberg's best films. "Super 8" is probably on the same level as "Explorers" when it comes to story, which isn't bad, but the plot is just not up to ET or Close Encounters levels of greatness. Back to the film's strengths, it boasts a strong cast of unknown child actors, with the exception of Elle Fanning who I think at the time was more famous because of her sister, Dakota. The always reliable Kyle Chandler is also a standout as a deputy sheriff looking into the train crash against his superior's wishes and who's also the father of the main boy of the group, both who are grieving the recent loss of the boy's mother. Also of note is a fine score by composer Michael Giacchino, which manages to be nicely evocative of the John Williams/Jerry Goldsmith type of scores that frequently accompanied Spielberg films of this era. Overall, J.J. Abrams does a terrific job of capturing the innocence and wonder of early Steven Spielberg, which is a real treat for anyone who grew up watching these film.