Super 8
(M), 111 minutes
Stars: 3.5/5
It's fitting that the promotional posters for Super 8 prominently display the names of writer and director JJ Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg.
This is a film which has many of the hallmarks of these two cinematic giants stamped all over it.
It's no surprise
then, that although Super 8 doesn't break any new ground what it does do, it does very well indeed.
Spielberg needs no introduction, but Super 8 covers much of the same ground as E.T. from 1982.
As for Abrams, who has made his impact on the cinematic scene only of late, it's impossible to view Super 8 without thinking back to Abrams' role as producer in 2008's hugely successful Cloverfield.
Another comparison for Super 8 is with Stand By Me, as both films centre around a group of youngsters who find themselves in the most extraordinary of circumstances.
In the case of Super 8, a group of school friends find their summer holidays taking an unexpected turn when they witness a train derailment, which sets off a series of strange events in their small American town. The derailment in itself is truly something to behold, surely one of the more impressive and well-executed action set-pieces to appear on cinema screens in recent years.
Super 8 works as a well-constructed blend of a youthful "coming of age" film and an action/sci-fi film, with just enough hints of suspense and comedy thrown in for good measure.
There are also strong performances by all the young cast members. Left with the weighty expectation of carrying the film, they prove themselves to be easily up to the task, in particular Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb and Elle Fanning as Alice Dainard.
There's nothing new about Super 8, there are a few sizeable plot holes, and the ending is as predictable as it is slightly twee, but the film cracks along at such a hefty pace that it manages to overcome these flaws and succeeds as a fun adventure film, albeit one which is slightly derivative.
