For these filmmaking youngsters, it's lights, camera...alien!

The summers of the late '70s and early '80s can be considered the golden age of the summer blockbuster. Master directors such as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas delivered on several occasions with one-of-a-kind spectacles such as Star Wars, E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jaws. You knew the summer season was approaching when you couldn't wait to sit inside a movie theater to see something on the screen that you haven't seen before. The same could be said now with J.J. Abrams's latest whack at sci-fi, Super 8. The film that has been shrouded in mystery for over a year has finally had its veil lifted, and you'll like what it has to reveal.

For young Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), it feels as though his childhood is at a standstill. He has lost his mother in a factory accident, and his father is rather neglectful towards him. Joe spends the time with his friends, including Charles (Riley Griffiths) and Alice (Elle Fanning), a girl who Joe begins to have feelings for. The group decides to film a zombie movie for enter in a competition. In the process of doing so, they witness a horrific train derailment that unleashes an extraterrestrial life form. It is then up to Joe, his friends and his deputy father (Kyle Chandler) to figure out why the monster is wreaking havoc on their town and why the Air Force is trying to keep it a secret.

Some of the younger cast members have refreshingly mature acting for their age. Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning are reminiscent of a young Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore from E.T. Joel's role is a perfect example of childhood innocence placed in a backdrop of uncertainty and mayhem. Although his character is young, there is nothing childish about him. When staring in the face of certain danger, he doesn't flinch, but channels his bravey to save those that he loves. When watching Elle Fanning, it's clear that she inherited talent from her sister, Dakota. There is one particular scene with Courtney and Fanning that stands out. As they are watching home movies of Joe's deceased mother, there is a great deal of tenderness and emotion that emanates from these two, and it's a marvelous thing how the director was able to extract these powerful feelings from actors who are so young. Kyle Chandler is excellent as Joe's deputy father who is trying to balance keeping both the town and his son away from harm.

Abrams has a trained eye for visual effects. He wowed us two years ago with his Star Trek reboot, and he succeeded in doing so here. The train derailment is one of the most exhilerating scenes in cinema that you'll watch this year. With the boxcars flying and crashing to the ground every which way, it's enough to send your heart racing. The segment of the film with Joe and his friends running through their town-turned-war-zone echoes Spielberg's War of the Worlds, where peril and adventure merge into one to make for an eye-popping indulgence. As for the alien, the director doesn't give it all away at once. He waits until near the end to expose it, just like what was done in Cloverfield, which Abrams worked on as a producer. So we're not sure what we're exactly afraid of until we come face-to-face with the beast. It looks a little too much like the monster from the aforementioned film, but it's an impressive visual nonetheless.

The screenplay by Abrams is a tribute to the classic Spielberg sci-fi movies, and deals with some of the same plot elements; but not with the purpose of copying it. He does it out of respect for Steven's filmography. When the two work together, they create a dream team (Spielberg helped to produce the film). These collaborators have a personal connection with the child characters, in that they all got involved with film at an early age. These children are committed to making their creature feature, and then are ironically thrust into a situation that deals with an actual monster. The film turns out to be more than just about that. Super 8 is a story about letting go and forgiveness; and in the end, it's a monster movie with a very human center.

Final grade: A-