It's 1979 in a quiet American suburban town and a group of filmmaking youngsters become unwitting witnesses to a spectacular midnight train crash. Almost immediately, they find themselves against an invisible menacing figure and a small-town conspiracy, while coming to terms with their coming-of-age issues.
Written and directed by J.J. Abrams (with Steven Spielberg as executive producer), Super 8 clearly aims to entertain in a nostalgic fashion, meant to bring back warm memories of Spielberg classics and good ol' blockbuster thrills from the Pre-Digital Age. The charming--and winning--element of Super 8 is its intentional simple story structure; not crafted as a profoundly complex sci-fi, but as a refreshing "blast from the past" movie experience. It's funny, heart-warming, and edge-of-the-seat suspenseful. The film's objective was to be simple, Spielbergian, and nostalgic. And Super 8 has succeeded.
Conspiracy, adventure, the classic menacing villain, the small-town charm, and the timeless lure of a close encounter of the third kind make Super 8 a refreshingly entertaining cinematic experience.
