Super 8
This is the rarest of things this time of year: a summer blockbuster that's completely earnest and irony-free, not filled with cheeky pop-culture references or cheesy product placement. The effects, while spectacular, also happen to be germane to the plot, and they have an intimate, tactile quality, rather than seeming too glossy or removed from reality. So all you're left with is ... story...and strong performances...and well-developed characters...and a believable emotional arc..and genuine thrills...and that's apropos, given that it's a love letter to the man who skillfully wove together all those elements in inventing the modern blockbuster.
J.J. Abrams has crafted a loving, meticulously detailed homage to Steven Spielberg, who's one of the film's producers specifically, the director's work from the late 1970s and early `80s but it never feels like a rip-off, and it certainly never lapses into parody. As writer and director, Abrams effectively conveys a mood a mixture of innocence, fear and ultimately hope that Spielberg managed to create again and again. He also captures a familiar sense of childhood loneliness a need to escape and belong and the adventures that can spring from that yearning. And the kids at the center of this small-town, sci-fi thriller (Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths and Elle Fanning), many of whom had never appeared in a feature film before, are total naturals and bounce off each other with effortless, goofy humor. PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, language and some drug use. 112 minutes. Three stars out of four.
Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic
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