It's hard to write about a film like Super 8, whose marketing strategy and hype and audience-draw so strongly rely on the secretive nature of its story and production, without risking ruining the movie-going experience for someone who hasn't seen the film yet.
So early on I'll say two things. First, I'll try not to give that much away. Second, just in case you're concerned I can't pull off the first thing, Super 8 is an all right movie. Not great, but fine for a summer afternoon, and I recommend it. You can stop reading now, if you'd like.
Super 8's main creators are J. J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg. Their fingerprints are all over this film, from the Cloverfield-like marketing to the Star Trek reboot visuals (complete with modern-day unnecessary lens flares!) to the E.T. homage storyline.
Two of those three movies are great. E.T. is a classic, and I quite liked the re-imagined Star Trek. Cloverfield was a deep disappointment, and its Cinéma vérité style made me throw-up (literally, in the movie theater's men's room sink).
My main criticism of Super 8 is that the film combines elements from these--and other--films, and the result is a movie that doesn't quite get to be anything special on its own. In fact, my guess is that though Super 8 will be the highest grossing movie in the theaters for a week or two, ultimately it will struggle to have any staying power because I'm not sure what kind of audience it's aiming for.
Here's the big spoiler, as far as plot goes: Super 8 is basically E.T., if the alien is not so gentle, not so cute, and no so reluctant to straight up kill people. Super 8 has the same anti-military message, the same cute kids as heroes who realize before most of the adults what's what, and the same sweeping score that clues us in that we will all understand each other a little better now that the spaceship has taken off. Super 8's got the kids and the message that make E.T. so (deservedly) enduring, but the violence and copious amounts of swearing that will ensure it never gets the same type of legacy.
So that's what Super 8 is not, and though the film makers are obviously recalling those classic films, perhaps I am being unfair to compare Super 8 too strictly.
Super 8 gets some really fun performances from its young cast. They are believable as this band of misfits who come together to make movies. Elle Fanning, who plays the ingenue / muse / love interest, has been getting a lot of press declaring her to be the next great young actress. There's nothing in Super 8 to dispute that claim, but nothing to really support it, either. Ryan Lee, as the pyromaniac Carey, gives the most-memorable performance, 1970s-style braces and all.
Visually the film is striking, perfectly capturing the rough and dignified aura of a 1970s steel town. The cars and costumes are delightful.
If you're going to see Super 8 because the trailer promised a monster, you're going to be disappointed the same way I was disappointed in Cloverfield and, to similar extent, in Transformers. When you do finally see the monster, it's often only in sections and poorly lit, or with odds and ends and body parts so haphazard that you never get a chance to register what part is what. Eyes, nose, mouth: I want to know how the monster works.
In the old days, directors concealed the monster because the technology wasn't ready to really show beasts in all their glory. It doesn't need to be that way now. I remember seeing Jurassic Park for the first time. When we see our first full-size dinosaurs, we see the brachiosaurs in full daylight as the camera slowly pans their entire length. When the movie ends, T-Rex roars in for the last-second rescue:
Pixels can act, if you ask them to. Anything less is a disappointment.
I'll give Super 8 three and three quarter stars out of five.