New Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams Movie 'Super 8' Gets Good Early Reviews
by Scott Nye
Everything is an event when it comes to a J.J. Abrams movie. The posters, the trailers, the interviews...everything is very exactly timed. So it was no surprise that, when it was announced that all reviews would be held until June 1st at the stroke of midnight (that is to say, last night), the '80s nostalgia contingent was clicking away at that refresh button all night long. So were their prayers answered? Is it a new movie that actively feeds back to them everything they grew up with, or is it something new? And what about that monster?
No spoilers here, but obviously if you click through to the full reviews there is going to be some discussion of the film. Because that's what a review is.
Let's start with the king of forced nostalgia, Harry Knowles of Ain't it Cool News. He says, "To look at this film without nostalgia is to entirely miss the point." For some, that statement will be a good thing; for others, you have to wonder how much of a movie can be built on pure nostalgia. For him, it was enough - "I love 'Super 8.' Love it. Love it."
For Drew McWeeny, who used to write for Ain't it Cool, "even with the influences as clear as they are, I think it's lazy to dismiss this as just nostalgia. Much of what's going on in the film feels very specific and honest," but concedes that "the alien half of the movie...feels a little undercooked." But he praises the film for being a great, low-key summer film instead of a constant attempt to outdo everyone else's spectacle.
For those who don't know, "Super 8" began as a story about kids making movies in the late 1970s, and writer/director J.J. Abrams merged that idea with an idea he'd had for a monster movie. Sounds like, perhaps, those two halves don't necessarily work together as well as they'd like.
Devin Faraci of Badass Digest certainly thinks so, saying "what could have been a really wonderful coming of age story gets swamped with an utterly pointless alien rampage movie..." before getting into some spoiler territory I won't repeat here. He gets into the film's script problems as he sees them, and sums it up by saying, "I don't think 'Super 8' is visually perfect, but it is often beautiful and nicely put together. Abrams knows how to work with actors and get great, human performances out of them. But these elements need a frame upon which to hang, and 'Super 8's script does not give that frame."
At the other end of the spectrum, Leah Zak of The Playlist thinks "Super 8" "delivers an edge of your seat thriller with heart and humor that we predict will have audiences buzzing." Zak goes on to note that "[Elle] Fanning and [Joel] Courtney shine in the leads; bringing a genuine heart to the love story at the center of the film."
Katy Rich of CinemaBlend might sum it up best, though - "'Super 8' is better than 90% of the blockbusters Hollywood makes, in that it is good, entertaining, sometimes emotional and often inventive, but not perfect...it's got many of the same story issues as Abrams' 'Star Trek.'" She goes on to note, "Because so much of it works, though, 'Super 8' is still a blast to watch, that kind of well-oiled summer entertainment that both surprises you and gives you exactly what you want."
Sounds exciting. Most seems to agree that the script is a problem, but the degree to which that bothered them varies greatly. "Super 8" comes out next Friday, June 10th, and you can decide for yourself if it's a pure nostalgia bath or something a little deeper.