Super 8

Spielberg 101? No way, this is a far more advanced class. Apart from the final emotions between parents and children, everything works in this film. What surprised me the most was how likeable the kids are, and their good performances – especially Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney. If Abrams made a serious sci-fi thriller with the same skill, I would be jumping in joy, even higher than now, but this badass E.T. phone home is just great. You won’t see hectolitres of blood flowing from the screen (though there are a couple of proper horror scenes: the attack on the petrol station and the underground liar), but you’ll get hectolitres of love for cinema. Unless you need to prove to yourself or someone else that family adventure films are below your “level”, this film can never offend you – so I don’t understand the initial displeasure here in Filmbooster. It’s a very subjective full house (I am aware of several screenwriting crutches in the second half), but also very strong. The most pleasant film of the year. (30.08.2011)

The spirit of the late seventies / early eighties and a bunch of kids setting out for adventure. And it’s good, really good. The kid actors can actually act, suspenseful at times and it simply works as it should, until an unbelievably over the top ending where the eighties feel crumbles in Abrams’ hands because the movie turns into a modern blockbuster à la Cloverfield and not what it was emulating up until then (and making reference to) in other words E.T., The Goonies, Stand By Me and It. Paradoxically, in spite of the finale, it applies here that “all’s well that ends well" thanks to the outstanding zombie credits with a typical Abrams punchline concerning the title. In any case, I am content, but not as enthusiastic as I was about Son of Rambow. That movie managed what Super 8 did. Only better, less flashily and overall more pleasantly and sincerely. Well, although... We can find this during the closing credits of Super 8 too, I’m telling you. (15.09.2011)

Abrams is a trendsetter, not a plagiarist, and this split between the creator's founding and the essence of his project can be seen in Super 8. But that's not the only schism: consider that Super 8 is supposed to be a children's movie, but it's actually much more for the "dad" generation. The current "youth with headphones on" (to paraphrase one of the film's characters) has little chance of applauding the precision of the compliments J.J. pays to the great master, and I, as a generational target suckled by Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T., was wrong about the ending, which was clearly directed at greedy audiences suckled by rather modern blockbusters. Abrams should have just made a choice - either totally consistent retro or updated modernity. I can't say I didn't enjoy Super 8 on the contrary. The first half in particular is luxurious, and when I remembered in one ultra-Spielberg scene that I was sitting in the same movie theatre where I had once breathlessly watched E.T. in the days of normalization, if felt pleasant goosebumps go over my body. Unfortunately, the goosebumps did not last through the finale, where the mysterious originator of all the phenomenon unmasks himself and looks too forgettable. And the kids are right when they say to themselves so often: "Shut up, already!" They should indeed have shut up. The version with dubbing is a clear ***, aware of the atrocious one-liners spoken by the little Czech bastards, I conditionally give to the fairly questionable project of J.J. Abrams one extra star. (25.08.2011)

J.J. Abrams uses exactly the trick that Steven Spielberg used thirty years ago to captivate audiences in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. What the children do and how they explore the circumstances surrounding the unknown phenomenon makes sense. What all the various parents do, however, feels less genuine, and suddenly, the majority of adult characters seem very unfamiliar, and the viewer must root for the children's efforts to succeed down to the last detail. This may explain why a wider range of viewers were disappointed. But after a minute, I understood that I would love the main group and had a clear view. A nostalgic sci-fi in the most positive sense. (01.09.2011)

Super 8, whose first teaser was released a year before the premiere, is an ambitious project that recycles all of the clichés of the genre and the period. J.J. Abrams is brilliant in the technical aspects, but the scope of his imagination and sense of consistency are not enough to create an equally brilliant script. This is evidenced by the film’s biggest shortcoming – the sloppy, stupid ending. Super 8 is not boring, and it has a nice 1980s atmosphere and skillful child actors, but it lacks suspense and surprises. It’s a wannabe horror (and let’s be frank – unnecessary) version of E.T., which an older viewer will watch without much excitement, while the contemporary teen audience, raised on Lord of the Rings, The Matrix and Twilight, won’t find anything of interest in it. Abrams should have paid homage to a great artist who inspired him to become a film enthusiast in the form of a letter instead of keeping us in anticipation of a remarkable film event for a whole year, in vain. (09.09.2011)