Going to see this movie I tried to remind myself "hold your judgment, give it a chance" - and I did to the bitter end. And while the film certainly had its enjoyable moments, seeing it was a a little bittersweet, sometimes more bitter than sweet. After all I have been watching Star Trek about as far back as I can remember. From the original to Voyager "with the exception of Enterprise" to every movie I have been a fan. Now I am not one of these dress up like an idiot to go see the movie fans, but if you take a look back at all Star Trek has contributed over the years you have to be impressed. The first punk kid that defies this I will snatch their little flip cell phone out of their hand and say "any idea where this little concept came from". Can you say beam me up Scotty!
Anyway ....
The opening scene left me wanting a little more. The attempt to rush George Kirk's (Jim's father) death, the happiness of Jim's birth, and baby naming into a minute long conversation during a joyride into the center of the badass Romulan ship was a good foreshadow in
to what the movie would be ... rushed, as action always took priority over good drama. I think far to much was rushed in this movie and given a little more time and overall respect it could have been great.This was a film that seemed to be ashamed of what Star Trek has built, and determined to replace it with a more "current" action packed story that missed the boat on creating something really special.
It was not enough to see Kirk run into the bridge to save the life of the Enterprise Crew, he had to have hands swelled up like the biscuits and McCoy constantly giving him painful hyposprays for comedic effect. It wasn't enough for Kirk to be chased by one ferocious snow creature when he was marooned. Instead that creature had to be eaten up ***Star Wars style*** by a far more ridiculous creature that would have fit right in Stephen King's "The Mist". It wasn't enough just to get Mr. Scott to the Enterprise, we had to have him fly through a bunch of water tubing just for fun. This was probably the low point of the movie that reminded me a little of an old Charlie & The Chocolate Factory scene.
I think this movie seemed to ignore what Star Trek has established in over 40 years, despite the promises from the filmmakers that it would not. You can see this with the head villain "Nero" that completely screwed up the timeline so now we can do ANYTHING we want with your beloved Star Trek. The most important alien planet in Star Trek "aside from Earth" is quickly destroyed and this is quickly passed over, excepted, and the movie moves on. Engineering was turned into something resembling the basement of a 20th century waste water facility. The phasers (both hand and ship ones) were changed from the straight beams to "pew-pew-pew" shooters much more suited for Han Solo's than Star Trek. Not to mention a lot of other changes and holes that did not really seem to fit.
I think I am just more pissed by the big-middle-finger given to fans to establish the alternate timeline deal. Star Trek has always been praised for both spurring new scientific advances, and at least somewhat representing current science. This movie left a lot unexplained for the viewer to just accept and move on.
The acting was not what made this film fall short ... it was the writing and production. I will say this with the exception of turning Ohura "the only black actress I ever really respected" into a teenage hormone driven girl that would have been better suited for another teenage high school movie. The whole relationship thing with Spock really struck a nerve with me as Spock was never some emoution driven relationship having character. It was worth the price of admission to see Leonard Nimoy as Spock again, despite the whole "oops I let Romulus get blown up" with no real effort on his part to stop anything.
The cheap laughs from the lines you expect our dear characters to say were delivered, if just to fill a requirement. This might be the funniest of all the Star Trek films, but Star Trek isn't comedy. I can laugh with everyone else, but at the end of the day, I didn't feel like I was laughing with the movie, I felt like I was laughing at it.
All in all it was action packed and a decent ride. The movie will draw in a whole new crowd of fans as it had little to do with what Star Trek is, and more to do with new special effects, flashing lights and action to draw more money in.
OK, I am gonna have to disagree with you on two points. The writing and the one liners. OK, the writing. I agree that the timeline thing was not my favorite and the destruction of Vulcan was no good either. However, the wrtiting was as good as any of the old shows (all of them)and most of the movies. Face it, none of the old shows, including the original were in depth and drama filled. The writing has always been rushed to fit it into an hour slot. Never on any of the shows were they gonna be nominated for best screen play, c'mon. Yes, in many ways they were ahead of their time and they adressed some major issues, but they were not serious drama. The movies were the same. They were very simplistic movies with more action than drama. And Uhuru, had several moments on the original series where she got down and dirty. She and Kirk get it on in a few episodes. She was after all the only chick on the bridge. It was bound to happen.
ReplyDeleteAnd the one liners were put into that because they had to be. Just about every episode one or all of them would show up in the original series. If the director and writers had not put those in there there, it most certainly would have created a huge back lash. And all the original Star Trek movies had comedy in them. McCoy and Scotty have always been inserted for comedic relief. I think you and others are expecting more from what was never more to begin with. I went in and greatly enjoyed it because I didn't expect any more out of it then I expected out of any of the shows.
I think we are going to have to disagree on this one. I think you did not expect much because you have always seemed to follow Star Wars more than Star Trek. Don’t get me wrong I think that is just fine and the two are not like Ford and Chevy where most people seem to think you have to pick just one. I enjoy both, I have just follow Star Trek for quite a while. I might agree the writing was as good as the older shows (original series) but this in and of itself is a slap in the face to the director and writers. The had nothing to work with in the original series. Some paper mache sets and some bad special effects, which were great at the time), but that’s it. The original series was writing history and they did not know it. Now you have the original series, next generation, movies from both of the two series, voyager, DS9, and Enterprise. All with developed interlocking time lines and well developed characters. This is like someone setting a world class chef in front of 200 of the finest ingredients and saying make me a 5 star meal. When the meal is served and the silver dome is pulled away you get an everyday steak you would find at a run of the mill steakhouse. Don’t forget this was a prequel … and one where they basically destroyed everything that has happened so far in the history of Star Trek. There is no real character development in the movie. You are expected to go off of what you already know … but wait … none of that happened yet … so ummmm there is no development yet.
ReplyDeleteAlso to say the old shows and movies were not in depth and drama filled is a little off base. With a TV series not every episode has to be packed with drama. You have years to develop a story line, relationships, etc. But the movies, surly your kidding.
Star Trek The Motion Picture – Often called “The Slow Motion Picture” due to its lack of action. A lot is left to the imagination with only 1 short action scene. This was all drama.
Star Trek II The Wrath of Kahn – 2 Real action scenes. Major drama in this one as it plays off of an original series tv show that was all drama.
Star Trek III The Search For Spock – 1-2 action scenes depending on how you view them Kirks son is killed. Tell me that’s not drama.
Star Trek IV The Voyage Home – 0 Action scenes. No phasers, no torpedoes, nada. A loop around the sun to time travel is all you get.
Star Trek V The Final Frontier – 3 actual action scenes here. 2 in the beginning with 1 in the end. Spock has a brother on a quest to find God.
Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country – 3-4 scenes here. By far the most action packed and drama filled of all the movies.
The 4 Next Generation movies did manage to pack in more action, but not at the sacrifice of a solid story line, and great drama by the actors.
You can’t say there is a lack of drama in any of the series as this is what they are built around.
Jumping to the Uhura comment. Kick and Uhura never once got “down and dirty”. They shared 1 on screen kiss that caused a huge controversy due to it being the first interracial kiss on screen. Only woman on the bridge yes, only woman in the series, not by a long shot. If anything Kirk was the one considered to be promiscuous ... let us not forget the green chick.
The one liners were put in there because it had to be?? Why? Because they felt it would help people with no clue better relate to what was going on? No … if you are going to rewrite Star Trek then rewrite it. Don’t give the middle finger to the true fans and then decide to go buffet style and keep what you like.
You are right to say I was expecting more … a LOT more. You have over 40 years of 5 different TV series and 9 movies to work with. The material was there for this type of prequel move … but it was not delivered.