Excellent homage to Spielberg classic

Rating: Null/10 (27 July 2011)

Super 8 plays out like a glorious mash-up of The Goonies, Stand By Me, ET and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.
Set in the 50's, a group of friends are making a zombie film for a school media competition when a government train crashes and things start to get weird around town.
It is refreshing to see a crop of young stars being born when in truth we have been devoid of such talented child actors since Stand By Me. The lines are punchy, full of youthful exhuberance and child-like wit and the setting is so brilliantly painted that you could be excused from thinking you were there.
Abrams set out to make a "creature feature" or B-Movie homage and hit the nail on the head. You hang off every word, slide forward to the edge of your seat with every little pocket of action and really empathise with the characters which is rare these days.
A wonderful film that will be forever engrained in my list of treasures