Star Trek Trek
Or: Pretty Good, But Don't Get Your Expectations Up
[Note: some spoilers down below.]
So I went out to see the new Start Trek movie. I don't go to the movies much, largely because I can't tolerate the giant commercials and nauseating pop music blaring at me...especially when I've just paid $7.50 to be there. Lord, I heard some of the worst music I've heard in my entire life today...and was assured by The Big Voice that the music I was listening to had gone triple platinum!!!!!!!!!. Jesus...I'm not pointing any fingers, but somebody out there has really, really shitty taste in music...
But anyway.
Of course I make exceptions for movies I want to see big, and I'm definitely goin' to make such an exception for a new Star Trek flick...especially one that's getting tons of good preliminary reviews.
I don't know much about movies, and don't have a very sophisticated conceptual framework or vocabulary for thinking or talking about them.
But I know my Star Trek...
There's tons of good stuff about this movie--tons.. It may very well rank as the second-best Star Trek movie ever...though, admittedly, there's lots of space after WoK...
But there's a big, big problem that pervades the movie, and that's that the pacing absolutely sucks for most of the flick. The thing just moves way, way, way too fast. Seems to me that movies work better if certain things are given time to percolate, to ferment, to develop in the right kind of way. And for most of this movie they just aren't. I'll give 'em this--I was surprised how good the movie was given that it all seemed to go by so fast...but it definitely did move too fast.
Villains, for example, really don't grab you if they're not given enough time to develop, and that's a big problem with Nero, the Big Bad here. He's got tons of potential, but he never really fulfills it. Everything unfolds so quickly that we don't even have time to develop a proper hatred for the guy.
[Big spoilers coming.]
The whole movie--a la the new BSG--unfolds as/in an alternate universe. And when the real Spock (the very Spock from ToS) shows up late in the movie to explain how he, in a way, brought on the disaster that made the history of the universe of this movie deviate from the history of his home universe, what should be a scene that lets the viewer kind of take things in and reflect on them just rushes along at the same break-neck speed as the rest of the movie.
Problems arise and world-altering solutions are discovered so quickly that you don't even feel real relief at their solution...after all, the problem often isn't fully explained, and it hasn't been given any time to sink in. It' s bang! zoom! off we go to the next big scene... This happens, for example, when Scotty is introduced.
[Mega-spoiler coming!--turn back before it's too late!]
The finale is also way over-the-top, and not in a good way. Nemo and his giant mega ship (which, incidentally, is able to take out a whole battle group of starships, despite being only a mining ship (though, granted, one 125 years more advanced...)) get, at the same time (a) sucked into a black hole and (b) blasted to bits by the Enterprise. Really too much. Really tacky. It absolutely can't be both. The overkill ruins it, and I didn't really get that bad-guy-just-got-his-just-deserts buzz that I really want at the end of a movie of this kind.
As is so often the case, the first hour is better than the second, and I was wincing by the end. Just too many mistakes. For example, too many cutesy lines and inside jokes--they never pass up an opportunity for that--and way too much with the Federation-cadets-save-the-universe schtick.
It's weird how cool it is that new Kirk looks rather like regular Kirk. And new Uhura is HOT! New Sulu is Harold. Or is it Kumar? One of 'em, anyway. New Bones has got old Bones down pat. New Spock is great. New Chekov and new Scotty are a little over-the-top.
Now, for all the problems with the flick, I still liked it, and I'd still recommend it. But if you get your hopes as far up as some reviews are encouraging you to do, you're going to be disappointed.
But go see it. If you go in the right frame of mind, you'll probabl enjoy the hell out of it.
Or: Pretty Good, But Don't Get Your Expectations Up
[Note: some spoilers down below.]
So I went out to see the new Start Trek movie. I don't go to the movies much, largely because I can't tolerate the giant commercials and nauseating pop music blaring at me...especially when I've just paid $7.50 to be there. Lord, I heard some of the worst music I've heard in my entire life today...and was assured by The Big Voice that the music I was listening to had gone triple platinum!!!!!!!!!. Jesus...I'm not pointing any fingers, but somebody out there has really, really shitty taste in music...
But anyway.
Of course I make exceptions for movies I want to see big, and I'm definitely goin' to make such an exception for a new Star Trek flick...especially one that's getting tons of good preliminary reviews.
I don't know much about movies, and don't have a very sophisticated conceptual framework or vocabulary for thinking or talking about them.
But I know my Star Trek...
There's tons of good stuff about this movie--tons.. It may very well rank as the second-best Star Trek movie ever...though, admittedly, there's lots of space after WoK...
But there's a big, big problem that pervades the movie, and that's that the pacing absolutely sucks for most of the flick. The thing just moves way, way, way too fast. Seems to me that movies work better if certain things are given time to percolate, to ferment, to develop in the right kind of way. And for most of this movie they just aren't. I'll give 'em this--I was surprised how good the movie was given that it all seemed to go by so fast...but it definitely did move too fast.
Villains, for example, really don't grab you if they're not given enough time to develop, and that's a big problem with Nero, the Big Bad here. He's got tons of potential, but he never really fulfills it. Everything unfolds so quickly that we don't even have time to develop a proper hatred for the guy.
[Big spoilers coming.]
The whole movie--a la the new BSG--unfolds as/in an alternate universe. And when the real Spock (the very Spock from ToS) shows up late in the movie to explain how he, in a way, brought on the disaster that made the history of the universe of this movie deviate from the history of his home universe, what should be a scene that lets the viewer kind of take things in and reflect on them just rushes along at the same break-neck speed as the rest of the movie.
Problems arise and world-altering solutions are discovered so quickly that you don't even feel real relief at their solution...after all, the problem often isn't fully explained, and it hasn't been given any time to sink in. It' s bang! zoom! off we go to the next big scene... This happens, for example, when Scotty is introduced.
[Mega-spoiler coming!--turn back before it's too late!]
The finale is also way over-the-top, and not in a good way. Nemo and his giant mega ship (which, incidentally, is able to take out a whole battle group of starships, despite being only a mining ship (though, granted, one 125 years more advanced...)) get, at the same time (a) sucked into a black hole and (b) blasted to bits by the Enterprise. Really too much. Really tacky. It absolutely can't be both. The overkill ruins it, and I didn't really get that bad-guy-just-got-his-just-deserts buzz that I really want at the end of a movie of this kind.
As is so often the case, the first hour is better than the second, and I was wincing by the end. Just too many mistakes. For example, too many cutesy lines and inside jokes--they never pass up an opportunity for that--and way too much with the Federation-cadets-save-the-universe schtick.
It's weird how cool it is that new Kirk looks rather like regular Kirk. And new Uhura is HOT! New Sulu is Harold. Or is it Kumar? One of 'em, anyway. New Bones has got old Bones down pat. New Spock is great. New Chekov and new Scotty are a little over-the-top.
Now, for all the problems with the flick, I still liked it, and I'd still recommend it. But if you get your hopes as far up as some reviews are encouraging you to do, you're going to be disappointed.
But go see it. If you go in the right frame of mind, you'll probabl enjoy the hell out of it.
posted by Winston Smith at
6:33 PM
3 Comments:
Right on. I was real exited to see the movie and while it was good you nailed the issues head on. If they had slowed down even just a little it would have been better in my mind. I'm also not sure I like how they rebooted everything but I must say this is in keeping with the way things work in Star Trek so if a reboot was needed this was the way to do it.
Now the issue at hand is that this will only be continued with movies, this would be the perfect spring board to send us back to a TV series.
I also saw it earlier today and I walked out of the theater most pleased. Part of it may have been my expectations - after learning that the plot involved time travel, I feared the worst. But it was getting good reviews from Trekkies so I came in with measured optimism.
I absolutely loved the depiction of Enterprise's interior. The gleaming, sterile, crystalline white bridge. The not quite gritty but thoroughly utilitarian engineering areas. "Low clearance." It was a wonderful break from old Trek, where life apparently consisted of carpet-padded floors, generously wide corridors, and computer workstations. Very much more realistic, which seems to be the trend in scifi these days and one I agree with.
As amazing as the special effects were, I found the timing and shots of Enterprise annoying. A few decent bird's-eye views of Enterprise in between "whites of their eyes" closeups would have done well. Even better would have been if they'd lingered on a given shot long enough for me to realize what was going on.
I have to disagree about the cutesy lines; I think for the most part they added just the right amount of levity to things. A few things did go a bit over the top though and I'm conflicted over whether to like or dislike the Spock/Uhura plot thread.
It wasn't perfect but nothing is. I personally loved it and consider Star Trek as having a new lease on life; I think anyone who comes in with an open mind and cautious optimism will walk away happy.
Yeah, my view of the thing is still pretty vague and flexible, and I certainly don't disagree with anything you say Erik.
I DO agree that it looks like ST has a new lease on life. Whatever flaws the movie has, there's lots of good stuff there--and a good platform for future development.
I, too, am unsure about the Spock/Uhura biz.
As for throwback lines--I think I finally had my fill when new Spock sits in the pilot's seat of regular Spock's ship. He says "fascinating"...but their basically already cutting away (still really the pacing problem) and it just feels like it's thrown in almost thoughtlessly like "o.k., let's hear him say his catch phrase here."
But you're right, and mostly I loved seeing and hearing all the old stuff again.
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