SUPER 8 Review: 80's Spielberg By The Way Of J.J. Abrams!
While there may be some who dislike it, the films’ sincerity and self confidence and charm mean that they will be in the minority. See it.
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rating: 4
2011 has been a bit of a retro year at the cinema. In May Joe Cornishs Attack the Block tipped its hat to 80s gang flick The Warriors; last months Captain America felt so much like an Indiana Jones film that it even made a number of not-so subtle reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark; not forgetting Red Riding Hood, which we all expected to be a partial remake of 1984s Company of Wolves, but turned out to rip off Twilight. And then theres Super 8, a film so steeped in nostalgia for a bygone age of cinema, that it even has Steven Speilberg on the credits, albeit in the capacity of producer rather than as the director. With Super 8, director JJ Abrams is clearly trying to create something that sits alongside the films that he grew up watching, and in most ways, he pulls it off. Part ET, part Close Encounters and part The Goonies, Super 8 is pure homage and nostalgia, with barely a beat of originality in the entire film. Consequently your enjoyment of the movie will depend on your regard for the properties that inspired it. It goes without saying that if you feel the need to run out of the room every time an early Speilberg flick comes on the TV, you should avoid Super 8 like the plague. Its probably worth being equally wary if you consider the work of The Beard to be a sacred cow, untouchable by human hands, as Super 8 does, at times, feel a lot like a cover version of a selection of 80s greatest hits. That said, this sort of skilled, slow-build storytelling - allowing characters to breathe, grow and become fully realised on screen - is often absent from modern movies. For most audiences, this should offer a welcome break from the regular summer fare of overloaded, frenetically paced explosion-fests. Also, the semi-autobiographical story of a group of slightly awkward children making a short film an experience both Spielberg and Abrahams had as young teenagers offers an interesting, if non-specific insight into what it was that drove both men to become the hugely influential directors/producers they are today.![](https://cdn3.whatculture.com/images/2011/08/sfss.jpg)
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