With "Super 8", J.J. Abrams tries to resurrect a portion of this lost time and pays tribute to these "special films." And they largely belong to Spielberg, so in the end it's a tribute to himself Here is the feeling of the epoch, here are the familiar issues about the family (the lack of one parent, the problematic relationship with the father, a topic that is heavily covered with Spielberg), the friends, the fascination with the unknown and the nature of the alien mind.
The most personal reference, however, lies in the creation of amateur, eight-millimeter films, which is a major part of the childhood of both Spielberg and Abrams, and which plays the role of the backbone of Super 8 on which the rest of the story is built , containing elements of their favorite genres - fantasy, horror, thriller-mystery and, last but not least, "creature feature". And even more, the first film that shot Spielberg is a train crash, that is, it unleashes the fantastic events in the movie. There would usually be a small plot, but one of the wonderful features of that time was that you could go to a movie without any preliminary knowledge of what you would look at. For this reason, I will not deliberately mention details of history that is quite specific, and it will certainly affect your expectations, and we all know how poisonous the preconceptions can be, whether positive or negative. Believe me, it is a hundred times better to approach this way.
Unfortunately, not everything in "Super 8" is pink and things have not gotten into the full "blistering strength" I wanted. It seems to me that the film is a bit coarser in the techniques it uses - modern aggression feels about the approach to the material and especially the action - and I miss somehow the magical poetics she had at that time. And I would not say that the blame for it is in me (because I grew up or something of the sort) because watching the old films, I definitely can feel that innocence I miss here. Another problem is that the movie is trying to be a few things at the same time - fiction, horror (surprisingly many startling moments), conspiracy thriller, action and the so-called "coming of age" movie. By themselves the individual elements are more than well-developed, but united slightly violate the integrity of the film. Another downside is the overtly obvious and literal ending that lacks a real emotional charge.
However, there is no place for disappointment, because "Super 8" despite its flaws (which are quite normal because the film is based on a sincere childhood experience that we all have already lost and supposed to be to be imperfect) has one of the most important ingredients for a good film - heart and soul.