Super 8 (4 Stars - 4 Stars)

            Super 8 is more than a summer blockbuster monster movie. This movie brings forth the child within us, like it did in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, it has the same mystery as it did in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and it's a proper mainstream movie. J.J. Abrams pulls off the ideal Spielberg movie that we all loved as a little kid. The movie hits me at a personal level because it brings me the nostalgia of being a kid, as well as watching the old Spielberg movies.

            The movie starts with a death in the family. Joe's mother died in a steel industry accident and four months later, Joe still has her plagued in his mind. meanwhile, Joe's friends wants to finish Charles' zombie movie and they got, Alice, a girl on the team. They shoot at a train stop where an intentional train derailment occurs and a thing escaped from the train. After this, there has been some weird occurrences, such as dogs running away, electronic equipment being stolen, electricity being tampered with, and even people disappearing. Joe and the boys, along with Alice, try to uncover the mystery of these occurrences, whilst also trying to finish their movie.

            The movie was really fast paced, because of J.J. Abram's style of choosing chaos over order. This was why Star Trek was good, because instead of sitting down and planning an attack, they're running around all over the place. In Mission Impossible III, Ethan is chaotic because he has to diffuse something. In this movie, there are kids running over the place, there are scenes where there are three different conversations going on, and there are scenes that have frantic, yet unique camera moves.

            Like the trailer, the movie never shows the thing in the train for a very long time. Most of the time, it's hidden, like the shark from Jaws. This adds to two great effect. One, it boosts the suspense by ten folds, and two, it doesn't detract from the story, because the movie is really more about Joe's life after his mother's death and his way of coping life and not the monster itself. The little moments, especially the scenes involving the locket, are essentially the best parts of the movie.

            I loved the story of Joe and what it was like as a kid in that movie. This movie worked, like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and, The Goonies. What made it great was that most of the movie was told in their point-of-view. Joe and Alice are wonderful characters with a real sense of chemistry to each other that slowly works up to the ending. It's realistic and there is even a zombie scene in the movie that's actually really touching. Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney both do a wonderful job as the two main characters. I like Joe's connection with his mother and how he kept the locket of his mother all this time for safe keeping. As the movie progresses, the safe keeping becomes obsessively protected, thus providing an inner conflict for Joe. There are those child like moments that reminded me of how great it was to be a kid. Their primary mode of transportation was the bike, they used walkie-talkies, and they made movies using a home camera and cheesy film equipment. Again, most of these objects are the symbols of what kids have, and that is the freedom and happiness of being a kid. They are also the ones who really seem to have a sense of compassion and gratitude towards life while the adults have a destructive side. The adults seem to enforce and enact rules in order to silence them, but the kids seem to go against it.

            The movie is an innocent sci-fi that's funny, witty, scary, action packed, adventurous, and mysterious. It has everything that a good Spielberg movie has and it still has some of J.J Abram's remnants left behind. This was a nostalgic trip to the past and it will entertain the old folks, as well as the young folks. It has a wonderful emotional story that kept me guessing until the end. The kids and their stories worked really well as they make their bad zombie movie. I love and appreciate kids who try to make their own backyard movies. I even did a short film once by taping a microphone to a stick once.

            Even though it's technically a monster movie, the movie has great characters and conflicts that all tie up together. The movie is about child innocence and how a child character matures as the main character with a character arc would typically do. This a great movie because it reminds me of how great it was to be a kid, oblivious of the mundane adult world. Steven Spielberg made it famous with an in your face movie, Jaws, and later matured for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Because of this, he's gained fame as a great director. Now it's J.J. Abram's turn for his shot at fame. He's made an in your face movie, Star Trek, and now he's matured and made this movie. Although the boy's zombie wasn't exactly mint, I would say that Super 8 was mint.