What a pile of crud. Worst sci-fi movie I have seen in years. The original teaser was totaly misleading as to what the movie was about. I will think twice before going to any JJ Abrams or Spielberg movie again.

Just really underwhelming from start to finish. Tried too hard to be this generation's ET which was not the way it was marketed. The alien design was lame and the CGI poor. 1/2 ET + 1/2 middle school romance = Super 8.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Worst alien movie since...Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? War of the Worlds? Was JJ Abrams working on the script while simultaneously watching Goonies and Jaws? This was NOT an homage/tribute/reference to Spielberg. This was paint by numbers without any original ideas. ET had kids trying to save an alien? This should too! Jaws had a sheriff/father trying to save the town? This should too! Steven and JJ both roped their friends into making films as kids? Guess what? This should too. Unfortunately the only thing about this movie that makes sense is WHY they made it: $$$. And I fell for it again. Sigh. Never again, Steven and JJ.… Expand

Underwhelming just like everyone else who has any sense or passion for films. Why I keep buying into the trailers it another issue. First off the characters are not really very engaging and like some others users have said the monster has no purpose really through the whole thing. I can see how they were trying to capture that magic of the 80s..like ET, Close encounters, etc..but just fails to do so. CGI runs abundant in this and turns into a sort of B film with a loose plot. Sure some of the scenes of CGI were spectacular..like the train explosion and the aliens ship but was it worth the ten dollar admission (at night)? no way..best to rent or avoid. 2 for effort for some great CGI effects..otherwise another run of the mill film. Best to wait for the next Batman flick.… Expand

Godawful ! The monster was stolen from Cloverfield. I stopped caring when the train crashed, and that was at the very beginning of the movie. No way either one of those kids could have survived that mess, but miraculously, they all escape completely unharmed. Spielberg should stop making movies, it just gets embarrassing. This was a cheap attempt to revive the E.T. saga from the 80's. The fat kid should have been the first to be eaten by the monster, clearly every parent's worst nightmare.… Expand

Super 8 is simply bad. Despite reading what official reviewers said, I found myself cringing as the kids delivered awkward unconvincing dialog, and that's not even mentioning the rest of the cast. If Super 8 were a drinking game and the only rule was to take a shot every time someone said something nobody would ever say in real life in all seriousness, you'd be drunk before the first scene was over. The story has no redeeming qualities. It has all been done before, and done better. Maybe if the story spent more time developing the characters instead of rushing from scene to scene to keep the ADD crowd from getting bored I might have cared a little when people started dying or going missing.… Expand

To say this was a disappointment is an understatement, the story was boring and so was the camera work. It seems to be an ongoing theme with US films in recent years, dumping loads of cash on effects and fancy camera work and somehow that will make up for god awful stories. As others have stated it's basically a rip from The Gonnies which is a far better film. I can say that the acting of the young cast was very
good and considering how bad the script it's the only plus part of the
whole film.

I think we will see the same thing happen to J.J. Abrams as we have
seen with M. Night Shyamalan, basically it seems they were lucky with
the first few projects they directed and now they are just trying to be
clever with pointless stories.

Hey you guys! Surely there must be better material out there, your
audience isn't as dumb as you might think and we expect better!… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I am going to try and be concise and keep it short. This movie hurt my life, my relationship, my wallet, and my brain.

Let's start by analyzing why it hurt my life. When we live, we want pleasure. Sexual, psychological, culinary, we simply want things that fulfill our needs and hopefully give us a little of what we want as well. As far as movies go, we want something wonderful, entertaining, fun, original, and skillful. Without those five things, I can't imagine someone enjoying a movie. This movie gave us none of those things. It was two hours of low-level suspense with children acting scared, excited, and adventurous. This movie was constantly loud, muddling any chance of becoming engrossed in its story or characters.

What was so endearing about the characters? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There is no development at all. One has a mother who died, wow, now we care about him! One has braces and likes fireworks, what an interesting character! One's a fat director, oh wow, that's truly something special! Nothing about the cast works. It's one thing to pay homage to someone (in this case, Steven Spielberg), but it's another to just mish-mash everything you've seen together into one movie and hope for the best.

How did the movie hurt my relationship? It put me in a bad mood. After two hours of watching mind-numbing acting and a horrible story about a murderous alien who kills off people while building his spaceship, I was drained and unable to relate the way I normally do with my girlfriend. Rarely does a movie suck the life out of me like this. This alone should indicate that this film is trash, life-sucking trash.

How did it hurt my wallet? Movies never make me think about the ten dollars I just spent on them. Even if it's just a fun comedy like The Hangover 2, I don't mind shelling out hard-earned money to see it. This movie made me remember that I had used money for it. That and the gas to go see it (easily two dollars worth of gas). What movie makes someone remember that money was taken from them? This one.

Now, the most beautiful part, how the movie hurt my mind. At the end of the movie, roughly five people started clapping. I believe three of them were over-weight, Hispanic women, and the others I couldn't locate in the theater. I was thoroughly confused, beyond any confusion I've ever felt in my life before. I'm twenty-eight and I've seen a lot of things, this clapping phenomenon was one of the more bizarre. Why were they clapping? This wasn't sarcastic clapping, either, that I would've detected immediately and joined in on. This was genuine, "this movie was extremely good" clapping. What on Earth? Were they happy the alien had finally escaped Earth? Why were they happy for this alien who had killed several human beings? Were they happy for the town who now was free of a deadly alien who kept stealing their car engines and making their dogs run away from home? My god, why were they happy? People who watch "Lost" are possibly so enamored with the TV show that they force themselves to love this movie. Or maybe people who love Star Wars are so enamored with it that they force themselves to love this movie. I don't know what it is or what it was, but as an objective human being, this movie was trash. I suppose my biggest mistake was seeing the film at all -- especially having the ability to read about it beforehand, which I didn't. The movie must be more geared towards the 10-to-15-year-old crowd. Being over the age of 18 will not help you enjoy this film, I'll warn you now. Stay as far away from this film as possible, it can only hurt you.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Cloverfield meets ET meets Friday Night Lights. Not a big disappointment, but also formulaic (lots of teasers re: actually seeing the "monster.") Most of the kids did a good job, but Elle Fanning is badly miscast.

And I want the lipstick franchise.… Expand

Super 8, at its core, is Cloverfield starring kids. The editing, acting, and special effects are top notch; but they all become exaggerated and unreasonable as the movie progresses. Near the conclusion, we see copy-pasting editing trying to tie it all together amidst heavy, labored classical music with completely unnecessary and over-the-top explosions. What starts with a resounding BANG! ends with a neutered whisper.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Oh, man. Where do I start?

The kids were well written and excellently acted, but the adults were waaaay too stupid to even make for a reasonable backdrop. There's not a moment in the film where they aren't embarrassing themselves. The military is trying to contain the most incredible and dangerous secret in history, something that would change civilization as we know it. They have an ALIEN. So putting it on an unprotected train makes a lot of sense. And they know that the only thing this creature wants is to get these little devices that they found with it so it can go home, so natch they've opted to put the devices on the same train. This pickup shows up and runs head first into the train...and the driver is mildly wounded. Wow. But hey...good for him I guess. He only lives long enough to be lazily killed off in a later scene without ever mattering in between, but okay.

The residents of this small town are mildly interested at best (not pooping with excitement, which is what small town people do anytime ANYTHING happens) about this train crash. Suddenly, every dog disappears, thousands of devices vanish, power is fluctuating, and then PEOPLE are disappearing...but it's sort of treated as an irritant. We get incredible lines like "What about my microwaves," instead of the correct line, which is "OH NO AM I NEXT?!" Nobody seems to be really all that worried, just kind of frustrated by the inconvenience.

At this point, the army decides to step up operation "Supersecret" by pissing off local cops, driving huge convoys through town on a daily basis, letting little kids film their every move, and ultimately starting a huge fire as an excuse to relocate the entire town. Because its not like people are going to add one and one together and start asking questions (don't worry, friend, they don't!). They'll disappear anybody who knows anything at all....but having the aforementioned camera pointed at their operation for pretty much the ENTIRE TIME they're looking for the alien is not concerning. I'm assuming that they're aware enough to actually notice it. As they ransack the truck driver's house, the kids stand about 15 feet away and film them for like ten minutes before the guy in charge turns to his friend and utters the amazing line, "Do you see that?"

Oh, wow. Do I ever.

But what to expect? This is the same military that knows this creature is subterranean, and knows that it is popping up in various locations and then disappearing into thin air, but never once bothers to look for any of the multitude of gigantic craters that therefore must be (and are!) pockmarking the area, or try to locate any underground tunnels. They're also the people who angered one of their top scientists on the most secretive operation of all time and then fired him, never followed up on what he was up to, and decided it was probably okay to drive the alien right by his back door.

And at the end? They destroy an entire town because they can't stop shooting. Literally. "Our weapons are constantly misfiring! That must mean we're constantly reloading! Maybe we should reevaluate that!" Nah. Don't worry about it. You're good.

I'm really just at a loss as far as the town people go. I wanted them all to die. I laughed a lot, and mostly at them. The gas station scene was ultimate generic horror movie death shot anyway, but then the guy the next day looking at the TOTALLED building and going "Nah, this here's a bear attack," just took it to a very special place for me. And the electrician alone in the dark raising his little cubby up higher because he wants to try and glean a look at whatever just HURLED A STOVE IN HIS DIRECTION? I had to wipe a tear away. God bless his curious little heart.

These people earned death at every step. Even Sheriff Dad just sort of wandered around the second half of the film doing nada until he almost accidentally finds his son at the end. This is the same hero who figured, "Hey, buddy, your mom just died. Except for me, you're all alone in this world. I'm gonna send you away from me so I can have the summer to myself. Also, I'm gonna spit on your friends." It doesn't take a struggling and lost but redeemable father to do these things. It takes an ass.

The stoner guy turns out to be the hero in this one. He starts off stupid..."Hey, the military is all over the place, stuff is on fire big time, people have disappeared right and left, but this hot girl just said exactly three sentences to me. Of course I'll risk my butt for her brother!"...but then he gets really high and sleeps through the rest of the film. Exactly like I should have done. More the fool me, I guess.

Like I said, the kids were all outstanding. They were well written, fun characters. Their acting is top shelf there. And while they did some unbelievable things it was all sold well and it worked. It's just too bad they weren't in a better film.… Expand

Gee whiz, nostalgic romp, but the story is so messy and frustrating, with holes an alien could fly his spaceship through. Super 8? Where, Why? Nice concept wasted, with a few wonderful moments like the opening expository sequence, but about 30 mins in, no one seemed to care about the plot. Kinda hated it for falling so far below my expectations.

It's no wonder that I walked into the movie theater to see Super 8 with nothing but optimism. J. J. Abrams has created some fantastic films, so it only added to my disappointment when I walked out of the theater unimpressed. I felt like they chose unknown actors specifically to suspend reality in the film. Unfortunately, the actual effect was poorly acted secondary characters that I felt no compassion towards, or even really cared about. While the main characters seemed to be well thought out and acted, most of the other characters were just plain underwhelming. Certain elements of the story seemed completely unnecessary, such as the white cubes, the rivalry between the fathers, and the protagonist's mother's locket. The whole movie seemed to be a simple way to show off that trademark J. J. Abrams cinematography, and not character of plot driven at all. This movie is good for anyone who wants a shiny version of E.T.… Expand

Super 8 is one of those movies that seem very promising at the beginning and are a total disappointment at the end. The start of the plot is very attractive and has a mysterious aura that surrounds it; and this feeling of understanding nothing gives the movie an expressionist atmosphere. So is a challenge to solve the problem and connect all the clues. Among the details are reveled, you start perceiving a huge conflict that involves the humankind, worthy of the greatest masters of cinema. This wide situation never stops caring about little human issues; in Super 8 the children are anxious to create a short film, no mattering what they have to do and when the accident occur they take it as a production value, totally delightful.
All of the above suggest an epic ending, but there was no way that J.J. Abrams could have done it worst. This finale is like the queen of cheap sentimentalism, with a weak screenplay, poor performances and an awful direction; this is an ultimate piece of crap.… Expand

Unengaging from start to finish. The human drama aspect of this film is a broad-strokes schmaltzy portrait of childhood and reconciliation in suburban 70's America. The most annoying thing about this is the plucky/bratty kids in the main roles. It's really difficult to feel anything for aspiring film-makers/actors (filming on Super-8 film, duh), especially the chubby kid who keeps harping on about "production values". Please, kids, go fishing, camping, paint a picture, just do stuff kids do, please. Of course the main kid is just dull enough to be the lead. The sci-fi aspect is dull too - and the big bad that's wrecking everything is revealed in predictable fashion - "oh look, it's in the background but out of focus so we still don't know what it is!". In essence, ET multiplied by Lost plus Stand By Me minus any charm, suspense or thrills you might find in a half decent film. Don't waste your time.… Expand

I messed up the rating on my first review, so this will even it out
extra characterssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

I was expecting much more from Super 8, primarily due to the fact that it is an Abrams and Spielberg film. Hoping that there would at least be some originality worth noting to the film, I was left fairly disappointed. A large number of science-fiction clichés were incorporated with what felt like little shame. The positives would have to be the loose moral message of the film and the ending, which I will not discuss. It is easy to understand what was trying to be achieved with this film, and its similarities to E.T. and The Goonies, but it just did not come through. A rather outdone concept is probably the overlying reason behind the mediocre impression I was given. This film is not particularly worth seeing.… Expand

1. Take The Goonies, Stand by Me, E.T., Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds and Close Encounter of the Third Kind
2. Stir, don't shake
Voilà! Don't complain if you get sick with that very bad drink.

Half way between The Goonies and The Faculty, Super 8 is a mostly tedious slog through the usual Spielberg territory. It's saved from the scrap pile by one or two delightful monster-movie money shots (It's inside the bus!) and a descent final reel, but Super 8 is only inconsistently entertaining at best.

This is your basic summer monster movie. A little better than average, but not by much. It borrows a lot from other films of the genre and there is really nothing original here. The plot is simplistic and full of holes and inconsistencies. Special effects and CGI are on par with similar films. I'm not saying its a bad movies, it's just not very good and certainly does not live up to the hype.

This movie promised to be a suspenseful, wacky, and exciting hit due to the powerhouse combination of Abrams/Spielberg, and then it went and proved us wrong. I wish I could go as far as to say that the movie was at least fun, but it wasn't. The action, plot, and story felt like something we've all seen a hundred times, and the action was dull (to put it nicely). A serious disappointment.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This movie was boring. Wait to rent it on a DVD. You do not see what was in the train till the end and it was not even that interesting. The character development felt like a children's soap opera. Very very silly.… Expand

Goonies Part 2 or E.T. part 2. With the tagline "THIS TIME HE'S P.O.'d. It didn't help that I saw it a week after the hype. So I was let down. But let's be honest, everything you see in the previews tells the story. The 70's nostalgic era grows tiresome. FNL's Coach can't save the dragging. And I was just waiting for the chubby kid to do the Truffle Shuffle.

I have to be honest, I have not truly enjoyed a Spielberg movie in a long time...Crystal Skull anybody? This was better than most of his efforts of late. And Abrams is style over substance. Cloverfield was good in the theaters and this movie is like a prequel to that in a way.

This movie grows tiresome. And the ending was awful. I was very let down. Now all that being said, I think this would make a great movie for some kids to cut their sci-fi horror teeth on. It's got some quick easy scares and some fun old time sci-fi ideas.… Expand

DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU PLAN ON GOING TO SEE SUPER 8 !!!!!!!!!
BUT, COME BACK AND READ IT AFTER YOU SEE THE MOVIE.

I can't believe that I just watched the same Super 8 that all the other people who wrote reviews about this movie watched. This was the worst movie that I have seen since Bobby Deerfield ! Abrams would have done better making a movie about a chain of motels.First, how the hell does the teacher survive a head on collision with a mega-ton , high speed train and come away with just some facial cuts ????? WTF. Then, can anybody explain to me why and/or how the deputy sheriffs wife died and why did the young girls Dad feel guilty about it? From here (about 7-8 minutes into the movie) , it got more absurd. The alien, referred to as HE, goes through the better part of the flick tossing cars, trucks , stoves , busses and whatever around like he's flipping pancakes, but at the used car lot, he meticulously removes all the engines from all the cars without not even putting a scratch on any of the cars. Now, throughout the movie, HE, collects some humans and stores them upside down in his batcave or whatever you want to call it, for what reason?? Never explained! I just read a review where the reviewer had commented on the " Teary-Eyed Ending".......ARE YOU F*****G SH*****G ME ??????? I felt more sympathy for Momma Alien when Sigourney dispatched her permanently. And as far as the ENDING ending......PUHLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ. HE, either magnetically or telepathically sucks up cars, trucks, rifles , stoves and the like to form what is supposed to be his escape ship. But, some of the soldiers still had their rifles and amidst this sucking up of everything metallic in sight, the deputy sheriff pulls up in a Jeep that for some strange reason must have been sprinkled with some magic military dust, because it was not affected by this magnetic sucking upness. I don't know, maybe I should have burned one before I watched this piece of utter trash. I left with the feeling that my intelligence was questioned. 100% disappointed.… Expand

This movie is boring, dull, and uninteresting. The plot is unimaginative and plain dumb. Hard to believe Spielberg signed his name to this. Initially, I thought of scoring it one, but then I thought... NAH!

This movie was terrible, but a huge accomplishment for Abrams and Speilberg. This film proves that they have a fan base that will support anything they make. It's puzzling how Abrams makes these trailers where you have no idea what the movie is about and people react with "this is gonna be awesome." A story about children and an alien...Let's just say if I made the exact same movie, metacritic would give it a 12.… Expand

Blast it to.... I mean .. I didn't know HOW to do that score thingy for my bad review of SUPER 8 so I demand to change it now! Here 'tiz ONE. Terrible movie experience rated by this handsome hunk of a 71 year old movie, wide screen, 3D, Technicolor, Cinemascope, VistaVision, RealD, THX Dolby ever lovin' Celluloid junkie!!!

This movie did nothing for me. I didn't like the characters, I didn't find it exciting. I suppose that they were trying to emulate ET in some ways--it wasn't in the same solar system.

More like asiNINE. Dull characters, a trivialized emotional core, overdramatic narrative amidst random explosions. The plot had more holes than swiss cheese, and the dialogue was even cheesier. I had to suspend disbelief so often, I almost got vertigo. A train wreck of a movie.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Long time user but I finally decided to sign up here just to voice my opinion on what a piece of garbage this movie was. It was entertaining for about 30 minutes until I realized this crew of kids reminded me of something I had seen before long ago. Then it hit me, The Goonies. I could not get the comparison between the stories and characters out of my head for the remainder of the movie. Take the Goonies, add in a ton of loud, unnecessary, over the top Spielberg special effects and swap out Sloth for some homesick, pissed off alien being that best connects with a 12 year old boy from the middle of Ohio and you've got your movie. Save yourself the $10 and the 2 hours, pop in The Goonies, and watch a much better version of the same story.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Super 8 is a very bad movie, and when i say "bad" i mean BAD, probably the worst sci-fi movie I have seen in years. The script is ridiculous (a pack of boring cliches), the acting is poor and i still thinking about a pick-up that destroys an entire military train. Unbelievable. Please don't waste your time and money on this piece of crap.… Expand

How can people actually like this movie that much? Sure, it had its moments, but thats not enough to make this a good movie. After seeing the trailer me and my friends were thinking "oh boy, this looks like an awesome movie!", and it started off promising. But the more we watched the worse it got... After leaving the cinema we all had this deep feeling of disappointment, that this movie had potential, but didnt quite reach there... The second half ruined it for me. You might like it if youre seeing it as a tribute for other Spielberg movies, but if you're like me and think of this as a "standalone" movie you might be disappointed...… Expand

Overall. I'm not a fan of the genre, but I found this movie to be mostly predictable and in some parts downright boring. It was saved from receiving a lower rating by allowing me to reminisce on how good E.T. was.

Disappointed +++. I took my wife to watch this movie based solely on Metacritic reviews. The user reviews I can still understand, given that almost anyone nowadays has access to the net. But how on God's earth do serious reviewers, journalists, for F***s sake give this film such a high rating. This is not a good film, at least not for an adult. I think that it probably deserves a 4 but am giving it less with the hope of reducing the average and hopefully saving some poor schmuck from parting with his or her cash. Oh, have I mentioned...do not watch this movie, at least not in the cinema with no remote or easy escape.… Expand

awfull movie!!! don;t look it! there is nothing interesting..exept u are ten yars old!
2 hours under cat's tail! u better watch breaking bad all seasons again..