Super 8 Review

Rating: 4.5/5

Nostalgia is a funny thing. On one hand, I still play my old Nintendo and buy vinyl records. On the other hand, I can't stand the notion that because certain pop culture nic-nacs are old that makes them better than new stuff. In simpler terms, I will play Super Mario 64 all weekend with my brother, but I don't that it's better than Mario Sunshine. Luckily, Super 8 doesn't portray the obnoxious kind of nostalgia. In fact, it's the best movie I've seen so far this summer.

Joe (Cara Bailey) is a preteen living in Lillian, Ohio in 1979. He just lost his mom, and is sort of at-odds with his dad (Kyle Chandler), a cop in the town. The summer has arrived, and Joe is helping his friend Charles (Riley Griffiths) shoot a zombie movie with the other kids in town. One night while shooting a scene with Joe's crush Alice (Elle Fanning), the boys and girl barely survive a catastrophic train crash, during which something punches it's way out of the train. Suddenly, the air force is taking over the town and people are disappearing, and it's up to Joe and crew to solve the mystery.

If you couldn't tell based on the trailer or my plot description, or that Steven Spielberg produced the thing, Super 8 is made to look and feel like a kids movie from the 80's. And it succeeds magnificently. Everything from the amazing direction and composition to the wonderful child actors makes Super 8 feel like The Goonies or ET. It's seriously uncanny how well JJ Abrams pulls it off. The story is unique, the dialogue is super well written, and the special effects are a perfect mix of real and CGI.

Honestly, I don't know what else to say. Super 8 is just the first movie this summer that's really enthralled me and brought me into the world of the film. I remember making bad monster movies with my friends with a VHS camera and some ketchup, and when I could have secret hangouts with my friends. This film was nostalgic to me in a beautiful way, not a way that exploited my childhood like Transformers. It's just a really, really good movie that is absolutely worth seeing more that once.