Star Trek

[misguidance]

Today I treated myself to a solo trip to the cinema, to see Star Trek.   I wanted to go on my own because JR and Martin also want to see it, but I have no desire to listen to them bitching about the special effects while I am watching a movie.  Normally I don't mind that- it's pretty interesting- but not today.

This is one that I actually wanted to just sit and watch, and enjoy.

So..... my first impressions of the film are actually pretty good.  The casting, for one thing, is exceptional, and the designs of the space craft were as lovely as I had hoped.  The music, too, was amazing- I love classical tracks in filsm, and I love the.... I dunno.... the drama of big orchestral pieces. ^__^  I will probubly end up getting the score of this film on CD, I like it that much.

The story is where I feel somewhat put out.  Like most big films, I try not to find out too much before going in, so I can safely say that I knew nothing about it when the lights went down.  Now, I kind of wish I had known more, because then I might have avoided the mild feeling of resentment I now feel.

You see, it's a damn good film, but it deals with my most hated of plot devices: the Alternate Reality.

Now, I am pretty sure that this film is the set-up point for either a new series of films or maybe even a TV show (which I would watch, if it kept the same casting) but at the same time, I feel it is somehow disrespectful to the original material- and actors- to use such a cheap trick to re-imagine the series.  It would have been cleaner, in my opinion, to state from the outset in press releases or whatever, that this was a remake and was not going to be identical to the original.   I dunno.... maybe they did do that, and I missed it, but the whole time travel thing is something that I have never really liked.  I have only ever seen it work well in the Prince of Persia games, and in those it is limited at best.  Even in Legacy of Kain (which I adore) the time travel stuff felt wierd.

I suppose I just wish that if they were going to completely remake it, then they would have had the balls to just do it, and be confidant enough in their own work not to try and justify it. 

I mean, every time we get a remake of something the makers just do it without trying to explain the differences.  Why is it that the one time justification is not needed, the makers go out of their way to put it in?

And really- it is an exceptional film.  I don't think I can say enough just how good it is.  It has the right balance of drama and comedy, the characters are well reprisented and well scripted, and the whole thing was well put together and smooth.  The action was engaging but not overwhelming, and there was enough of the old 70s camp in it to make it feel like 'home' for the series, if that makes sense.   The bad guy was bad, the good guys were good, and the aliens looked brilliant.   Realy, other than that one little plot device, I just can't fault it.

Also, I would like to say now two things that are very important: they guy playing Kirk has a really long forehead, and the guy playing Spock had the most incredible screen presence.  I was so impressed with him- he had some HUGE boots to fill, and he pulled it off flawlessly, while still bringing his own interpritation to the character.  The same can be said of the child who played the young version of Spock.  I forsee him being a good actor, when he grows to maturity.

Like I said before, if this film spawns a new series with this casting, I will definately be tuning in to see it. >_>  I was especially happy to see Karl Urban turning up as Bones, because I adore Karl Urban, and he is perfect for the over-the-top acting that was needed.  I loved him in DOOM.  He makes me LOL, in a very good way.  Same goes for Simon Pegg, who I was afraid would be too much for the film, but was actually excellent.

So.... overall, I would say that this is one of the best films I have seen all year.  And that's including the major gripe I had with the plot. .

I would be very interested to hear what everyone else who has seen it thinks of it.

Comments

[eveshka.livejournal.com]

You just summed it up for me. The whole thing was ruined when Uhura chirped 'Alternate Reality!" It felt forced, trite, and blew the whole mystery and suspense.

Every chance at getting a WTF! out of old Trek fans was shattered. If they'd had to have left that reference in, it could have been mentioned in passing by Original!Spock to Alternate!Spock as a throwaway line:

A: Will you go... home?
O: That reality is closed to me. I shall have to find my path in this one.

It would have been so much more In Character for everyone involved.

[misguidance.livejournal.com]

Yeah- I think that my entire problem with the film could have been much dampened if those fateful words had never been uttered. >_>

[fabula-umbrae.livejournal.com]

I dunno... I felt it was oddly fitting that they used such a lame plot device. Like they realized there was no real way to make this 100% serious and this was just one more thing to prove it. What bothered me a lot more was Nero being so unbelievably lame. I mean... I'm used to lame Star Trek villians... but he managed to be even more boring than I was expecting.

It was as if he wasn't originally meant to be seen in the movie. Just to have been a bit of the history for the reworked universe plot. Then someone decided that it wouldn't be crazy enough if our heroes didn't get to fight him head on.

[misguidance.livejournal.com]

I quite liked Nero. He was lame, but I felt for the guy. >_> He clearly wasn't too bright, and he did his best. And frankly, if his position I would have doen the same thing (only I would have, you know, killed people instead of just stranding them. >_>)

[hobbit-chan.livejournal.com]

Made.of.win!
I spent the film squeeing at the in jokes and loving it. I know they used an age old plot device there, but I care not and loved it so much.

[misguidance.livejournal.com]

I did like the jokes, too, actually. XD And the swollen hands. I laughed my ass off at that.

[akacat]

Well, if you don't like AU and time travel stuff, there's no way you're going to like their use in this movie.

But as someone who saw TOS when it originally aired, I love what they did with the movie. They needed a device to say "this *is* Star Trek" and at the same time, not tie the story and the actors to being perfect copies. Uruha stating flat out that it's an alternate universe may have been a little cheesy, but at that point I was so squeeful I didn't give a damn. (And didn't really notice.) Also, see later point re: cheese.


Things that annoyed me:

* Wrecking the classic car.

All I could think during that scene was, how much money does the Kirk-[stepfather's name] family have, to own a car *that old*? In working condition? Ok, and I was also wondering whether it had the original gas engine, or something much newer, with the classic car just a shell.

However, someone -- on LJ or Dreamwidth, I don't remember -- pointed out that it was probably meant to be symbolic. Wrecking a car made during the original run of TOS == "this is not your father's Star Trek." So.... kind of klutzy, and didn't really work for me, but I'll give them points for trying.

* George Kirk keeping the comm open while the ship crashes. Dude, you're selfless enough to die to save a couple hundred people, how about not making your wife listen to you die?? You had a countdown, you could have cut the link at .1 seconds. Asshole.

* Chekov and Sulu don't look even a little bit like the original actors. Worse yet, I don't think Sulu really acted like Sulu. Though I did like the sword fighting.

* Spock doesn't look right, either. But Quinto's acting was so spot on, I guess I'll get used to it.

* The glaringly obvious Nokia product placement in the car-crash scene. Please. (Otoh, Uhura ordering a "Classic Bud" -- or whatever it is she ordered -- was clever.)

* Sadly, I couldn't see Simon Pegg as anything but Simon Pegg in 95% of his scenes. Though he did suddenly seem very Scotty-like in his very last scene. (Is it my imagination, or had he put on a little weight for that scene? It wouldn't surprise me, since he was being played as "omg huuungry" throughout his appearance.) I suspect Pegg is better known to the Americans who like Trek than the movie makers expected. Don't get me wrong -- I love the *way* he played Scotty. I just hope I can see him as Scotty instead of Pegg, in the next movie.


Things I loved, or at least liked a lot:

* Nimoy. Especially the very end, where he does the "Final Frontier" monologue. That was just *it* -- any original TOS fan who doesn't take that as validation for the new direction the franchise is taking must be deaf.

* Pine. He's not Shatner, but he is Kirk. If you know what I mean.

* Zoe Saldana. Yum. Er. I mean, she's a fantastic Uhura. I like how she's gorgeous, and they put a little extra emphasis on how intelligent Uhura is.

* Bruce Greenwood. Pike is barely a footnote in TOS, so I'm kind of surprised at how strongly I feel that Greenwood is perfect as Pike. Which must be a reflection on the actor, and to some extent the writers.

* Zachary Quinto. Yup, he's mentioned above in things that annoyed me. But the only thing I didn't like is his failure to look exactly like a young Nimoy. I'm impressed with how Spock-like he was (esp ST:IV Spock, who is my favorite) and really impressed that I had no idea he was Sylar from Heroes until I got home and started reading spoilers.

* The humor. Things never stayed Serious, which I think it what made the previous odd-numbered movies flop -- they all tried too hard to be Serious.

* The Orion cadet. She was just cute, and I'm sad that she was (apparently) one of the many cadets killed. (I never caught the name of the ship she was assigned to, I assume it wasn't the Enterprise?) Did anyone happen to catch her name, and/or know who the actress is?

(to be continued)

(continued)

[akacat]

Things I don't care about:

* Any cheesiness in the story. It's ST, I expect cheese. In fact, cheese is a good insurance policy against Serious.

* Nero's stupidity/flatness/whatever.

It's a movie convention -- for this story, they needed a flat, fill-in-the-blank villain. Someone who's enough of a threat to drive the story forward, without deflecting attention from the main characters.

Now that they've (at least in theory) established this group as the crew of the Enterprise, they've got more wiggle room in following movies for villains with personality. By movie 3, they might even be ready for a scene-stealer, like Khan.

As for stupid: well, I'll buy that seeing his planet destroyed made him go nuts. And people who are nuts and bent on revenge aren't always very bright. Someone, again on LJ or Dreamwidth, compared him to Capt. Ahab. I've never read Moby Dick so I can't give an educated opinion, but it seems an apt comparison.


Other stuff that defies categorization:

* Spock not assigning Uhura to the Enterprise because he doesn't want to show favoritism, then her quite obviously using his favoritism to overrule him. Also, a teacher dating a student. I just.... that should have been squicky, but wasn't? And should have been annoying that she used her feminine wiles to get the ship she wanted...?

I guess they just did a really good job at implying that she was qualified to be on the Enterprise, and that Spock was over-compensating for his favoritism. And that despite their apparent difference in age (assumed because he's a graduate and she isn't) and seniority, she is his equal in every other way.

I really hope their relationship sticks through future movies, I'd like to see how it progresses.


tl;dr: I loved it, have seen it twice and can't wait for the DVD. Or the next movie.

Re: (continued)

[misguidance.livejournal.com]

See, I thought Quinto was perfect for Spock, and I do think he looked like a young Nimoy. >_> Maybe not exactly the way nimoy actually looked, but there was aenough of a similarity that I could look at him and think 'yeah- in 200 years he will actually look like that....' I have to say, I also felt that he carried Uhura a lot, but that was more to do with the script than anything else. I kind of feel like they are using the relationship between the two to make her more than 'just the chick answering the frequencies.'

But maybe that's just me. >_> I did love seeing Uhura as a more developed and involved character. I hope she will grow more on her own in the inevitable sequals.

Also, I am totally with you on the end monolouge. ^_____^ That just made my night. <3