Finally, a reprieve from the summer of the sequel, prequel and faithful adaptation. This weekend brings Super 8, a big-budget summer movie based on, by some miracle of God or science, an original story. No superheroes. No magic hammers. No Bradley Cooper.

The stakes are high. Not necessarily high for movies with nostalgic early-Spielbergian aesthetics, or movies about train crashes (we’ll always have Under Siege II). No, the stakes are high for two stars of the small screen taking their shot at movie superstardom.

First up is Kyle Chandler, who fans of Friday Night Lights have known and loved as Coach Eric Taylor. He’s the anti-Bradley Cooper. He’d go to Bangkok and have a few drinks, but instead of getting roofied and forgetting what he did, he’d teach a bunch of teenage boys what it takes to be a man. He’s the embodiment of old-school, American community values — family, friendship and football. Does he have what it takes to be a star? That’s like asking if Blade has what it takes to be a badass. Yes. Yes, he does.

But really, the importance of Super 8 matters most to J.J. Abrams. Here’s a guy who’s been anointed as the next big thing, mostly because of his association with Lost, Alias and Felicity and his success at the helm of the Star Trek reboot and Mission Impossible III.

And that’s an impressive resume, but it merits closer inspection. Mission Impossible III was, by most accounts, a flop. It had a great scene with Tom Cruise running as fast as he can, but shooting an intensely running TC is easy.

He’s probably a normal walker, but the second he’s got to accelerate he starts Usain Bolting that shit. Just turn the camera on and you’re guaranteed gold. Good on ya J.J. but we, the people, demand more proof.

Presumably, that proof lies in Lost and Star Trek. With Star Trek, he took an existing property that hadn’t been profitable in ages and put a fresh, fun spin on it. Nothing special, but an effective summer movie.

Still, it’s Lost where Abrams really earned his stripes as a cultural tastemaker. And after directing the brilliant pilot, Abrams’ involvement was mostly limited. Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof are credited as the show’s runners, and Abrams was mostly absent during filming while he made his move into directing movies. Credit him with being involved in the show, but no one should pretend that Lost was Abrams’ baby.

Now, Super 8 is his big shot. And while it’s certainly nice to have a film based on an original premise hitting theatres, it sure does look like an early ’80s Spielberg movie.

Hopefully Abrams has put his stamp on it, but it’s odd that a guy directing his first original film — and he presumably had extensive creative control — chose to so closely mimic another director’s style. It’s not necessarily bad, but it does call into question whether he’s the creative visionary he’s sometimes portrayed as.

Elsewhere, X-Men: First Class had a disappointing opening weekend at the box office despite being the best-reviewed blockbuster of the summer. It’s possible that red-blooded American nerds don’t want fresh-faced Limeys playing the heroes of their funny books. Are studio heads questioning their decision to reboot Spiderman starring Andrew Garfield? Would Marmaduke have been a hit if the dog was voiced by Daniel Radcliffe?

It’s also possible that the aftertaste from the terrible Wolverine and X-Men: Last Stand movies kept audiences away. Or, like me, people just got fed up of X-Men movies that didn’t feature Gambit, played by Sawyer from Lost. How has that not happened yet?

The Hangover II is a massive, massive hit and the inevitable sequel is already in the works. After visiting Vegas and Bangkok the franchise’s next location pretty much has to be Rio, but the challenge for the writers will be how they go bigger without having the characters come across as genuinely evil. But if they’re going to go bigger on the drunken hi-jinks, they pretty much need to kill a man.

Unless the victim was Bradley Cooper, would the audience root for these characters if they actually murdered someone?

The writers likely don’t have the balls to go for it, but it’s the only logical way to up the ante enough to narratively justify a third

Hangover film.