Reviews: Star Trek 544
The movie is a total reboot. And yes, it features time travel. While normally this is a giant red flag, in this case I don't think it's too bad. Especially when you want to make giant, universe-altering changes without pissing off the continuity nerds.
Star Trek starts off with a big action sequence that holds no surprises. You'll immediately notice a few dramatic stylistic changes in the camera work. This movie owes more to the pseudo-documentary style of Firefly or BSG than the traditional pristine look of the last few decades of Trek. Space is pretty silent (although it somehow gets noisier as the movie continues), and they even do the cool thing of making sure that everything in space doesn't share the same Z-axis. Minor, but I love it. The intro ends with an emotional note that resonates strongly; it could have been cheesy but it works. So, they reboot the universe. We get some Kirk/Spock back story, and some brief moments at the academy. Wacky events occur, leaving most of our familiar characters aboard the Enterprise. We witness each of them rise to their known rank and positions. It's all very wink-wink. Occasionally a bit overly cutesy, but ultimately fun. I found the scoring a little weak (Abrams uses the same composer for everything), but many of the sound effects echo the original sources. The effects are just great: I would expect nothing less than perfect, and I got it. I particularly liked the Vulcan architecture. Yes, the new bridge looks like an Apple Store, but the glass and white looks modern. It might not age that well, but it's cool. The costumes look forward and backward at the same time. We have mini-skirts on the bridge and familiar color coding. It all works. The Enterprise itself feels HUGE inside. Engineering isn't just a room with a console; it's massive. It has weight. I love it.
I'm not going to go into the story. It's convoluted, but frankly it's really not the key to this movie: this is a roller coaster movie with new actors playing parts we love.
So, let's talk about the most important thing: the characters. They basically nailed everyone. Uhura and Bones are used a lot in the early bits. Chekov and Sulu each have a few nice moments. Scotty shows up late in the game and steals almost every scene he is in. But as the movie goes on, it becomes almost entirely Kirk and Spock, which really is how it should be.
More so than anyone else, Kirk is an impression. But ya know what? I buy it. The Kirk we knew is older. This one is younger with bigger balls and swagger. This kid will chase the skirt instead of just knowing she will come to him. I could certainly see someone thinking they took Kirk too far, but I buy it. He has charisma and some great lines.
Quinto's Spock is great. I resisted the urge to make Sylar jokes (mostly). He's reserved, subtle, and when the need arises, emotional. It works. He's the best casting in the film. Since Nimoy gets to reprise old Spock, we're given the ability to stack the two Spocks up right against each other. And it's just great. I totally buy it.
Eric Bana is the big bad. He seems almost totally superfluous. He does just fine, but I just don't care either way. This movie is about our heroes. Bana's Nero could have been a robot or an entity or whatever. He's a plot device used to press the universe reboot button, and to give us a ticking clock.
Two of the "humorous" sequences go a bit far. You'll know them when you see them. It's like they were inserted to keep 12-year-olds giggling. I expect this in a Disney film, but I wish I didn't see them here. Another action sequence in the middle serves no purpose except letting us have a giant monster chase Kirk. Abrams probably wanted to toss some work to his Cloverfield monster-making buddy.
But here's the thing: Star Trek is entertaining. It has problems, of course. It won't make everyone happy. But by the time Scotty gets into the story, there are so many moments of unbridled joy that you can't help but feel giddy. I don't know if Abrams will stick around or if this cast will be back for more, but if they are, I know I'll be in the theater again. And you should be there too. Now. You're a carbon-based life form who reads Slashdot. You owe it to yourself.
DARMOK! (Score:3, Informative)
Nothing gets better than Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra! That episode was STUPENDOUS. If this is one eighteenth as good as that, I'll be OK.
Re:Good, but (Score:5, Informative)
SPOILER ALERT:
> This movie was definitely the best (least cheezy) movie made from the star trek franchise.
Well... It starts of with Kirk being born to his mother on a space-ship, which is steered single-handedly by his father Kamikaze style into the enemy, in order to save everyone. How much more cheesy can it get? Before the opening credits?
Oh, I know it. Take a Spock, who gets emotional, every time someone mentions his parents in some agitating way (3 times in 3, IRC).
And it ends with the Enterprise firing all weapons on an enemy, who is already being consumed by a black hole.
That's the Star Trek way, kick the opponent, when he already lies on the ground.
Don't get me wrong, I think they got a great cast. Quinto as Spock was especially great. But simply, the plot had as many holes as a Swiss cheese, and didn't fit the original Star Trek at all.
Re:Singularity? (Score:3, Informative)
The Borg are not xenophobic. They do not wish merely to crush their enemies or protect themselves. They wish to incorporate other races' biological and technological distinctiveness into the Collective. Destroying Earth before it gives rise to the Federation and thus is a threat to the Borg is a response to fear, one the Borg do not feel.
Trekkie (Score:4, Informative)
Can someone just enjoy watching Star Trek without being a Trekkie? Yeah, I've watched them all (except Enterprise) but it's just a TV show, not part of my identity.
Re:Onion News Network Coverage (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Good, but (Score:5, Informative)
2. Picard fans champion the drinking of hot tea and use words like "thusly." If there's a better argument for Kirk, I can't think of it.
On a more serious note, I like Picard. He's no Kirk, but there's no id or superego to keep Picard in check. To me the biggest problem with TNG was that Picard didn't have a peer. The closest he ever had was Pulaski but that only lasted one season. She was highly annoying without Picard around (or with Data around) but she was the only person who was ever really able to push Picard's buttons. As headstrong as they try to make Riker out to be, it would've been interesting if he spent more time at odds with Picard instead of fawning over him as much as he did. At least then his character would be interesting.
I also didn't care for the amount of time they spent on character development given that Worf and Data were the only characters to actually develop over the course of the series. TOS characters didn't exactly develop either but there wasn't any time spent trying to develop them.
And personally, I don't need a father figure character on the show to hold my hand through the philosophical questions raised. I thought about them whether or not Kirk did.
Re:2. is exactly the opposite for me (Score:4, Informative)
Wait... what? You forget you have a fucking KLINGON!
Main cast of TNG is:
- French/Scottish guy (Picard)
- White Guy (Riker)
- Robot (Data)
- Klingon (Worf)
- Human woman from small colony (Crusher)
- Black Blind Dude (Jordi)
- Half-Human Chick (Troi)
That's definitely more varied than TOS, which had all white guys except for one black woman, a half-vulcan, and an asian guy. I mean, both have more white guys, but TNG has more woman and aliens. The first season features a third female character as well (who sucked, but whatever).
Re:2. is exactly the opposite for me (Score:2, Informative)
You may leave now, and turn in your geek card at the door.
Re:Good, but (Score:5, Informative)
> Do you think they should have potentially let him go and maybe had him come back later?
Well, being splattered by ludicrous amount of the very same red matter, of which a single droplet destroyed Vulcan by consuming it in a black hole fairly excludes that possibility. Unless the plot writer is out of ideas for the next film, that is.
> They gave him the chance to surrender first, and he refused.
No. Being aware of their dire situation, Kirk even offered to rescue them: Something along the line of: "Without our help you are doomed. Surrender, and we will help you". A dishonest offer, as the low voice exchange between Spock and Kirk showed. Nero refused the offer ("I'd rather die"), on what Kirk replied something like "Sure, we can help with that. All weapons fire".
On which the audience had their SFX and laughs and I waved my hopes on a post Rick Berman Star Trek revival good-bye.
Re:Frankly, I was disappointed (Score:2, Informative)
Trek Cheese (Score:3, Informative)
I just got back from seeing this movie. (Score:2, Informative)
It was actually pretty good. As a standalone movie, it's a little confusing; I feel like the viewer needs knowledge of the Star Trek Canon in order to appreciate what this movie is doing. I've seen some of the original series, but I don't know my Trek backstories. Someone who knows Star Trek is likely going to enjoy this a lot more than someone who knows nothing. Going in, the newbie would have no idea who Vulcans or Romulans were, what Starfleet is, or who anyone outside of the famous Enterprise crew is, and by the end of it, they still might not know as much as they want to.
This could be a good springboard for anyone who wants to explore the original series. It's definitely not any sort of one-shot entertainment. And because it's a universe reboot, I kind of look forward to what they do with this now open alternate continuity.
Re:2. is exactly the opposite for me (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Onion News Network Coverage (Score:3, Informative)
Though parent post was moderated as "Funny" I'd still like to point that Star Trek doesn't use a single timeline.
There's been plenty of alternate timelines in the series operating concurrently with the one we've come to know and love. The Mirror universe has made multiple occurences. Also, even if the movie is in the same reality, the previous state of the timeline still exists, as shown by Spock Prime's presence and memories.
If you take a string with points A and B, then loop B back to where point A is...the string between them is still there in the line, it's just looped. Star Trek avoids time travel paradox through alternate realities. Everytime someone in Star Trek alters the past in a way that causes their existence to be a paradox, none is found because of the looping timeline, and so the paradoxical character simply behaves normally and retains the same memories.