72
Metascore
41 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100TimeRichard CorlissTimeRichard CorlissThe year's most thrilling, FEELING mainstream movie.
- 100Orlando SentinelRoger MooreOrlando SentinelRoger MooreJ.J. Abrams, with Steven Spielberg producing, has made one of those jaw-dropping out-of-body summer entertainments that kids old enough to swear and see PG-13 films will remember on into adulthood.
- 80Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanA big-bang demolition derby, J.J. Abrams's much-anticipated, greatly enjoyable Super 8 seems bound for box-office glory.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyLike an old airplane (or spacecraft) jerry-rigged from scrap pieces and made air-worthy again, Super 8 has been patched together with 30-year-old spare parts to provide an enjoyable ride of its own.
- 60New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinIt would be easy to dismiss as 100 percent ersatz if it didn't rekindle at least some of the old excitement - and if the magic of Spielberg's older movies didn't filter through, like light from a distant galaxy.
- 60Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfHad the big boy himself, Steven Spielberg, made his directorial debut with this slam-bang sci-fi thriller set in suburban 1979 (and not merely produced what amounts to an homage), he would have been celebrated as a gifted bringer of mayhem: a Michael Bay before there was one.
- It's in the moments Abrams attempts to combine emotional payoffs with popcorn-style thrills that the film rings most false.
- 50Slant MagazineNick SchagerSlant MagazineNick SchagerJ.J. Abrams's latest puts a modern spin on classical material, though here reinvention isn't the goal so much as slavish duplication embellished with muscular CG effects.
- 50ObserverRex ReedObserverRex ReedThe best thing about Super 8, by far, are the kids, all perfectly cast. The script does a much better job making them believable and real than the adults...The rest of the movie steals shamelessly from...