Nor was there, in this instance, no big alien coming out of the sky.
It was something simple, relatable, and that the vast majority of us could root for.
Go through lots of other strong blockbuster movies, and a similar theme emerges.
The Goonies wanted to save Mikeys house, and thus stick together.
The aim of theJurassic Parkcast was to escape a theme park, and not die.Terminator 2?
To protect John Connor, one boy, albeit one with ramifications for the future of mankind.
But how the world has changed.
Well, that and, inevitably,Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice.
But what was disappointing aboutSuper 8is that it didnt have to go down the CG finale route.
It wasnt a massive sequel, it didnt have a studios summer party riding on it.
Thats what people, it seems, want to see.
And didnt this stop working in the 1990s?
And, in truth: who cares?
But as movies have got bigger, so outcomes have been blindingly obvious within minutes of a film starting.
This started a while back, of course.
Only then would there be reasonable doubt as to the guilt or otherwise of the lead character.
Of course, things didnt turn out that way, and Harrison Ford was the man accused of murder.
But did anyone ever think that his character did it?
And the heart of what he says stands very much to this day.
Yet nobody from embryos to corpses is really buying that for a second.
The film didnt need its last two seconds as the soil on his coffin started to rise.
That could have just been lopped off the 151 minute running time instead.
That were expected to believe that hes gone?
Marvel hasnt helped here, in making us buy into blockbuster movie stakes.
But even then, most of us will approach that if it happens with some degree of scepticism.
But that doesnt mean it still has to be like this.
Heck, one of its best is done with inside ten minutes.
Even better: look atToy Story 3.
Andy was going away: would they have a future of their own?
I cared up until the frame of the last reel.
Could two Judges both escape the dangers of a block out of control?
This is not a new problem, then.
Over 30 years later, his words cant help but resonate.
One caveat, though: he does sell comic books themselves short.
Theres not one answer to those questions thats, in my mind, even slightly in doubt.