***** (M)

Director: J. J. Abrams.

Cast: Joel Courtney, Kyle Chandler, Riley Griffiths, Elle Fanning, Ron Eldard, Ryan Lee, Noah Emmerich.

I'M very reluctant to give out five stars to movies. I'll happily admit that I've made mistakes in the past by doing so.

The difference, for me, between a four-star movie and a five-star movie is a certain "classic-ness". A four-star movie might be great, but it usually doesn't have that mythical quality that will lead to it being regarded as a bona fide classic in years to come.

I may be proven wrong on this (and at risk of over-hyping the film), but I think Super 8 has that quality.

Set in small-town Ohio in 1979, it's the story of a group of film-making kids who capture footage of a spectacular train crash while making their own zombie movie.

When a series of mysterious happenings occur in the wake of the accident and the military swoops in to take over the clean-up, it becomes obvious that there is more to this train wreck than first suspected.

The involvement of Steven Spielberg (as producer and early story developer) is no surprise as the film bears resemblance in tone, spirit and atmosphere to some of his older works, notably The Goonies (which he produced) and his directorial efforts E.T. and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. This is part of the "classic-ness" - there is something about all three of those films that has seen them endure.

Super 8 certainly lands in the territory of those first two movies - it has the kind of storytelling thats broadly appealling, intelligent and fun despite its far-out subject matter.

Writer-director J. J. Abrams also owes a debt to his own Cloverfield and Spielberg's Jaws in the way he unwinds his scares and unveils the tricks he has up his sleeves, which to say too much about would destroy part of the fun of this film.

On the surface, Super 8 is a mystery-thriller, with a dash of sci-fi and even tinges of horror, but dig deeper and there is so much more. It's a coming-of-age story, a musing on how we deal with grief, a loving ode to the magic of movie-making, an action-packed adventure, a dig at the military and the "violence is the only solution" way of thinking, and a throwback to innocence and first loves.

The cast is excellent, and the lack of serious star wattage means there are no distracting A-list personalities. Instead we get a bunch of great natural performances from relative unknowns (or "where have I seen him before?" faces), with newcomer Courtney wonderful as lead kid Joe.

Abrams can't resist his love of lens flares (one of the few criticisms I can level at the film) but otherwise his direction is tidy and effective, whether he's shooting a scene involving six kids in a diner or crafting one of the most incredible train wrecks in the history of cinema.

His script is the real winner - it's layered and deceptively simple, never labouring or straying into melodramatics, and it feels comfortable and fun when the kids are bantering back and forth.

Maybe I'll be proven wrong about the five stars, but if nothing else, Super 8 is the kind of film I loved to watch as a young teen and haven't seen for a long time.