And it was...fun. Not perfect, often silly, in many ways wrong. But a lot of fun.
Starting with the first trailer I saw, I knew I shouldn't expect a "real" sci-fi film, but rather an action flick in space (BTW, for real good sci-fi, catch MOON when it comes out in June). Given those low standards, I was at least pleased that it included pretty much my favorite sci-fi staple (spoiler warning: it's time travel). But other than that, yeah it's an action flick in space, not sci-fi (and the physicist side of me wants to point out that it's explicitly not Feynman diagram consistent time travel. Blah blah blah, whatever, that's what insulates them to fanboy gripes of anti-canon history).
Most of the enjoyment comes from watching young versions of your favorite characters (coming next summer: STAR TREK BABIES). Zachary Quinto was perfectly cast as young Spock. Chris Pine was cast as Kirk I think based on his ability to hang from precipices. Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov were there, but mostly uninteresting (the Uhura love triangle tries, but fails, and references to their skills come of more as winks to the fans than anything that moves the story further). Scotty is unfortunately little more than comic relief (and I love Simon Pegg, it's just as a science geek I wish he'd been given more meat). But what I really learned is that Bones is fuckin' cool (a million points to Karl Urban). In fact, it reminded me that I'd forgotten how Dr. McCoy was always my favorite character. Maybe this is revisionist history, but I like to pretend I had the heart of a crotchety old coot even when I was a kid.
So yeah, it probably falls short of what it could've been (at it's best, Star Trek is a thrill ride of the mind, not of the gut), but it's a few notches above what I was afraid it would be.
Well, I liked it! And of all the possible Spocks, I think Zachery Quinto couldn't have been more perfect. He brings the same qualities he displays as Syler in Heroes...just look at him and you can see the wheels turning behind his eyes. He says more with body language and subtle facial poses than most actors can say using a Shakespeare soliloquy. I also liked J.J. Abrams' take on Bones. Great actor, that Eyomer.
ReplyDeleteWow, I can't believe I forgot to comment on this. That's probably because I was so pissed when I first left the theatre, but then I ended up giving it 2 out of 5 stars. Although I gave it 1 star at first I couldn't say that it was as bad as Michael Bay's Transformers which I gave one star so I adjusted. From an effects standpoint this movie was awesome, especially when all of the laser turrets move around and the Enterprise takes out the trash. With that said why does anyone use moving parts in the future for things like lasers when they would have emitters? This kind of Star Wars like weaponry was only a slight annoyance. Overall the Vulcans were all too emotional. Even though the Vulcans are peaceful I'm pretty sure they would do something if someone started drilling into their planet.... Anyway, to make a long story short I'll just copy and paste my review from another place before I get angry again.
ReplyDelete-- This is not one for purist Star Trek fans out there. In fact, it kind of spits in your face. The alternate reality is an excellent cop out for a hack director that just couldn't find it in himself to not degrade Star Trek to just another shoot 'em up action extravaganza. What J.J. Abrams did with this Star Trek is kind of like what Michael Bay did with Transformers. They said to hell with the fans and did it their way, regardless of what they say the proof is in the pudding. I guess if you're not a true fan, and don't care about story lines that match up with the rest of the series, you will probably find it enjoyable. I have to admit that when the Enterprise takes out the trash in this movie it's probably the most impressive display of fire-power that any Enterprise shows in any Star Trek movie, but there are some very serious problems with the universe introduced by this movie. I don't want to spoil it but there are very emotional Vulcans, for example, who talk about love a lot... Again, I'll stop here before entering more specifics that will spoil the movie. Overall, it would have been a great Sci-Fi movie if they just didn't call it Star Trek and loosely base it on the old characters and story. Gene Roddenberry must be rolling over in his, figurative, grave. It would be nice if directors like Michael Bay and J.J. Abrams didn't steal the work of more creative people just to get guaranteed sales. Here's a fresh idea, Abrams could have just used the actual back story and made an awesome movie as well, or just returned the time line back to normal at the end of the movie, but then he couldn't make his equally ridiculous sequel.