I grew up at a rare time – when Star Trek: The Next Generation was airing new episodes. And it was a very, very cool show, not adored just by Trekkies/Trekkers/Trekkoes but by the general populace as well; more than anything, it was responsible for the eventual crossover success of sci-fi from the ghetto. This meant that everybody at school watched Star Trek: The Next Generation, which is something that didn’t really happen with any of the other Trek shows. I remember that 60,000 people crowded the Skydome (sorry, “Rogers Centre”) here in Toronto to watch the finale. As revered as a Battlestar Galactica or a Lost might be, they’re just not going to match that.
All of this is prelude to me saying that because I grew up at that time, Star Trek holds a special place in my heart (although not one of blind loyalty, because everything since DS9 has been frankly crap). Which is why it pleases me so much to say this:
The new Star Trek movie is only matched by The Wrath of Khan for the title of “best Star Trek movie ever made.”
Spoilers after the cut.
Firstly, it’s worth noting that the new Star Trek (hereafter “NuTrek“) is one that works both for complete newbies to Trek and veteran fans alike. The plot and script have been designed expertly to work for both audiences, in a manner reminiscent of nothing so much as how Pixar films successfully work as both kid-friendly entertainment and adult-savvy commentary on primal human issues. I saw the film with one Trek nut and two total non-Trekkers, and all four of us came out enthralled. (As did the rest of the audience.)
However, unlike a Pixar film, Abrams and company use this tension between the two levels of interest to do something I genuinely didn’t expect: create surprise. Rather than pander to the existing crowd by simply making a few hammy references (although there are a couple of those, of course, but they’re really not that hammy for the most part), they take another route and use the expectations people have of Star Trek to create surprise by subverting them. Things happen in this movie that I genuinely did not expect to happen, and those things do not feel forced; they flow naturally out of the story and characterization, and it is only the “wait, that can’t happen in Trek” instinct that turns them into surprises for the veteran. (The newbie, meanwhile, will just enjoy the awesome movie for itself.)
Visually, the movie’s aesthetic owes more to vintage Star Wars than anything – and by that I mean not direct homages but rather the sense, present throughout the film, that this is a future that looks and feels built; enough people have remarked on the Applesque appearance of the bridge already but what’s gone pointedly unmentioned is that the bridge of the Enterprise is obviously meant to look that way. It serves as contrast to the engine room, which is awesomely realistic-looking (no plush carpets in this engine room), or the rest of the ship generally, or the various Starfleet installations; they feel lived-in and realistic, and it furthers the sense that the imaginary individuals who designed the bridge of the ship wanted it to look glorious and smooth for their own reasons. The various aliens scattered throughout the movie mostly aren’t showy, they’re just treated as everyday occurrences – which they would be, in that future – and that treatment just furthers this tone.
Chris Pine fucking owns the role of Kirk. Like most people, when the cast was announced, my reaction was “who?” But Pine absolutely commands the role and makes it his own, becoming Kirk without ever doing something as hamfisted as a Shatner homage or impersonation. His Kirk is exactly what the character should be: an impetuous daredevil, a genius with a wild streak, and an instantly loyal friend – and he’s what Kirk should be without Pine shoving it in your face. (And Pine isn’t afraid, as Shatner was similarly not afraid, to look ridiculous at times for the purpose of getting a laugh.) It feels completely natural. Similarly, Zachary Quinto’s Spock goes beyond simply being a Leonard Nimoy riff (although Quinto’s resemblance to a young Nimoy cannot go unnoticed) to become a new meditation on Spock and the complexities inherent in the character – Quinto’s work to let the viewer see when Spock is beset by emotion and controlling it is honestly just excellent.
The rest of the cast are all just as good. I would have liked to see John Cho get a little more screentime as Sulu – the one fight scene he gets is decently exciting but Sulu doesn’t get as much presence in it as I would have liked – but I can’t complain and I suspect it’s one of the vagaries of the editing process rather than any decision to slight the character. Zoe Saldana doesn’t get a Big Heroic Moment as Uhura (although she does get a lot of screentime and a reasonable amount of character-building), but she’s consistently good at realizing the character beyond the glorified sexy-secretary that Uhura was back in the day. Anton Yelchin is great fun as Chekov (unsurprisingly in the comic relief position most of the time thanks to his outrageous accent). And Simon Pegg and Karl Urban are very nearly as successful as Pine and Quinto at taking Scotty and Bones and making them their own without abandoning the essentials of the characters.
And yes, Leonard Nimoy gets to play Original Spock one more time. And he brings depth to the film, not just continuity to the old series but also its abiding emotional centre once more. It’s an incredibly graceful performance and a delight to watch. Nimoy obviously enjoys the hell out of what is, let’s be honest, very likely his last performance as Spock.
The one sour note in all of this is Eric Bana’s work as Nero, the villain. And I should clarify, because Bana isn’t actively bad or anything. He’s just kind of okay; a mostly one-note glowering presence with a plausible reason to be villainous. Again, this is an area where I think NuTrek‘s relatively slim (for a blockbuster, anyway) two-hour running time does it a bit of an injustice; I can’t help but wonder why there isn’t that one moment that really lets us get into Nero’s head, and I can’t help but suspect that it’s on the cutting room floor. It’s why I think Wrath of Khan juuuuuust edges out NuTrek for best overall Trek flick; Nero only works as a force of nature, and given the extremely high standard set by practically everything else about this movie it’s not quite enough.
Nerds will of course find things to quibble about – people are already bitching about the movie’s use of singularities in ways that defy the laws of physics. (To which I say that the “red matter” invented by the movie is story fiat enough to explain it all away, so shut up.) But as I’ve been comparing NuTrek to other movies, let me compare it to one more; it’s reminiscent of Iron Man in that it aspires to be as excellently constructed a sci-fi blockbuster as humanly possible, but it surpasses Iron Man in that it has more heart and more vision.
So, you know – boldly go.
Top comment: You just implied that Wrath of Kahn is better than The Voyage Home. So now we must dance fight. — NCallahan
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I didn’t read the below the cut, but if it’s good enough for MGK, its good enough for me.
I took my eleven year old daughter to see it last night[1]. Her no-nonsense verdict: “That was surprisingly good”. She’s not a big SF freak, despite her parents, being mainly interested in horses, hair and avoiding having to spend time with her siblings, but she stayed awake and interested through the whole thing.
I was surprised how few people there were at the 9.30pm screening but I’m guessing that word of mouth will improve that. I agree that Eric Bana should have had the “l” on the end of his name, just like in everything else that irritating former comedian does, but he was OK, and the rest of the cast was awesome. The guy playing Bones was the best. “Are you out of your Vulcan mind” was perfectly delivered…
[1] My daughter’s homeschooled, so it’s OK that it was a school night. Honest it is!
Wait, seriously?
It was -good-?
But… Those previews… the whole concept… I was ready to break out the Rifftrax and booze and have a grand old time and you come here telling me it’s -good-?
Well foo. I’m might have to go enjoy this un-ironically, then. That’s not fair.
I’ll give a more in-depth response once I’ve seen the movie — I’ve skipped over the above sections because I don’t want to be spoiled (well, not more than every other review)
But you’ve never spoken much, on the site or Torontoist, about yourself as a Trek fan, at any stage of your life. And to know that you like Trek — and that, correctly, you (implicitly) like DS9, because I know there are misunderstandings out there…
…well, gosh darn it, that makes me feel GOOD. It’s great to have my opinions (goes beyond that: my FAITH, to an extent) validated by people I look up to.
I love DS9. I’ll always have affection for TNG – and that show had some ridiculously strong single episodes – but DS9 is where Ron Moore cut his teeth on the whole “continuing plotline” concept. (Some might ascribe that to Babylon 5‘s influence, but I think it was just the right time for shows like that to start building an internal mythos.)
And DS9 – unlike a fair amount of TNG, which has gotten a bit hit-or-miss with the passage of time – holds up today.
Beachfox – Yes. I’m not even a huge Star Trek fan, and even I think it was a great film.
Also, MGK, what did you think of the final scene of the film? Did you squeal like a fanboy?
I am not a squealer per se (although I will admit that after the opening sequence, I turned to my friend next to me and we said to one another, simulataneously, “holy shit, that was fucking incredible”).
But I will admit to being one of those people who jiggles their legs up and down when they get excited, and I was totally doing that. For most of the film, really.
MGK – As I stated, I’m not a huge Star Trek nerd, but even I had a huge grin on my face when that last scene started up. Perfect way to send off the film.
Oh come on, MGK, Voyager wasn’t that bad. I mean, its totally plausible that Vulcans had the same epidermal pigment evolution as humans did. And its completely understandable that Borg women have silicon implants that big.
I consider myself a Star Trek fan, I discovered the franchise with the Next Gen and followed it to this day, getting back to the original series and the cartoon, and after seeing the new flick, I was disappointed. Not about the quality of the movie, which is quite good, is well constructed, and has a good flow. While watching it, you get into the movie and end up being carried through the end.
That being said, apart from the characters and the names, it was not a Star Trek movie. MGK said that the aesthetic owes more to vintage star wars than anything else, that is true, in fact the whole movie is on the fringe of owing more to star wars than Star Trek, in the sense that that is not science-fiction anymore, that is space opera.
I’ll give some SPOILERS here so do not read if you have not already watched it.
A lot of scenes did not make a lick of sense. Spock, in time of war, maroons Kirk on the exact same planet that old Spock was abandoned by Nero to watch the destruction of Vulcain, which also appears to be the planet where Montgomery Scott was assigned to after using Admiral Archer’s dog as a guinea pig?
Let’s just taunt the ennemy, then blast him to hell while he’s being attracted into a black hole, which we’re standing 2 kilometers from? How surprising it was that they were caught by it the next minute.
Let’s release all our fuel so we can make it explode and end being propelled by that explosion out of the black hole? Should’nt they, you know, explode because of this? (I know they done things like that a couple of times int TNG and DS9, but here, on the verge of being absorbed by the black hole it was stupider than ever)
Spock and Uhura? hmm okay, but what does it bring to any of the characters? Kirk going into Starfleet by fighting four Starfleet cadets? I know that is Kirk, but that’s still too muc.
Red Shirt What’s-his-name jeopardizing the mission just because he wants to show he’s got guts? Stupid way to make them lose the explosives, while the romulanscould have taken care of that just as good.
Beaming to the Enterprise going at warp speed thanks to an equation designed by future Scotty? uh, what?
Spock not wanting to come with Kirk and Scotty because his young self must make his own choices, that this is Kirk Starfleet needs, and thi i not Spock’s place and time? Is the word I’m looking for illogical?
As a movie, that was a good movie, really, I liked watching it. It’s a blockbustery-popcorn-space-opera flick, and a good one. But as a Star Trek movie, while it still is better than Nemesis or Star Trek IV (Let’s find a whale in the 20th century) it is not a good one.
Man, Filrouge, did you even WATCH the original series or what? This movie made WAY more sense in terms of characters doing stuff that’s reasonable.
I mean rule one is the ‘Prime’ directive right?
And who got sent along to do that job? A bunch of green cadets because all the experienced people were off doing something else when this happened. While not everything in a movie is always 100% perfect, I think they put in a decent reason to have a bit of trouble sneak in.
I was impressed anyways.
I think the underlying conceit of the thing is that these are archetypes for that fictional universe. And the differences in the characters, particularly Quinto’s Spock, seem to make pretty good sense. Different things have happened to him, and Spock’s actually received validation from his father and his own future self about it all.
I like that this movie is accessible to both fans and non-fans, which was clear from watching the crowd. And managed it without saving any whales.
Also fun to poke my viewing partner in the arm and say BEEP every time Pike talks after the torture session.
I wonder how the whole Khan thing works out in this new timeline.
Well, this just blows my weekend to Hell. Not only because I have to see this movie — You just implied that Wrath of Kahn is better than The Voyage Home. So now we must dance fight.
THe one problem I had with the concept is I have a hard time believing Shatner, Kelley etc as a bunch of young bucks during the time of the original Star Trek
A: New non suck Trek=AWESOME.
B: On rewatch DS9 totally kicks the ass of B5
C: I need to go buy my ticket now.
I agree wholeheartedly.
As I said last night to the geeks I saw it with: My only objection is that now ONLY Enterprise is in continuity, when to have everything but would be much preferred.
Man, am I relieved; I was pretty much expecting this to suck, but now I definitely have to see this.
Incidentally, I’ll probably be seeing this with my dad, who was an OS fan when he was a kid and helped get me into original Trek (and TNG by extension) when I was young, too.
Mdk, I know that TOS was sometimes (especially the third season) over the top in characters doing unreasonable things, I also remember that the whole Wrath of Khan wouldn’t happen if Kirk didn’t made stupid choices at the beginning of the movie (respect Starfleet procedures and raising shields, no Sir thank you, I’m James T. Kirk, what could happen), the thing is as the film went by the nonsense just kept accumulating until it threw me out of the movie.
It could be due to Abrams’s directing, as I felt kind of the same thing in both Lost (trading waters and throwing things out of nowhere that made even less sense that what was already shown) and Alias (though I liked the two first seasons), but, as I said before, it did not feel like Trek at all even though I liked the movie.
There’ll be some SPOILERS again but…
a lot of things were too huge to not pay attention to it anymore, especially the marooned Kirk finding Spock-prime then marching to the station manned by Scotty of all people, and Spock happens to know how to help Scotty beam them to the Enterprise, which is advancing to Earth at warp speed, even though they can’t locate it, but Spock-prime doesn’t want to accompany them because that would be too easy a way to make Spock-Quinto realise he’s been wrong not wanting to listen to Kirk. That was the point that made me sigh and think it was too much.
The way they beat Nero made me feel the same, especially when they appear to take the time to congratulate themselves for taking Nero down, while standing in front of the black hole that just swallowed Nero’s ship, a ship with technology from two centuries in the future compared to their own, yet, when they are being attracted to the singularity they act surprised.
I also acknowledge that the Prime directive is supposed to be the number one rule of Starfleet, but no captain (except maybe Picard) was shown respecting it more than when it suited them, and they were sometimes gently wrist-slapped by Starfleet command because of that.
Loved the first half of the movie, and got kinda bored by the second half. I’m no trekkie, but not a total newbie either (I read this blog, right? so I have to be some of a geek), and some of the dialogues really bothered me. Too much homage quotes and whatever.
I think my problem is the movie starts with a BANG and then we get an hour of BANG after BANG. I was genuinely thrilled and then it all slowed down a little too much. The end was not as climatic as…
You know what, forget the bitching. I enjoyed this film A LOT. And yeah, all of the actors really nailed it. I have never been a Kirk fan, but now I might.
And now nerds can argue about who was the better Kirk. [sarcasm]Hooray![/sarcasm]
My dad had me up on his knee watching TNG when I was six years old. I can’t even tell you how hyped I am to see a good Star Trek movie again.
I agreed with 99% of what was said in this article.
However, even with average!Bana, I’d still say this edges out WoK. No disrespect, of course – I love both movies.
Filrouge –
You are looking for plot continuity?? In a Trek film?????
*raises eyebrow slightly*
Methinks it is not only the movie that is being illogical.
Go. Enjoy the explosions, the inexplicable plot points, and Kirk trying to bang all the hot chicks. It is AWESOME!!
If plot continuity was not the primary thing I was looking for, I was expecting at least some of it.
The thing is I did enjoy the movie a great deal, it’s just that it doesn’t feel like Trek.
“but it surpasses Iron Man in that it has more heart and more vision.”
Low blow man. Tony has heart problems.
Just back in. LOVED IT. The trailers, I still think, were pretty terrible but I went on MGK’s recommendation and was so glad I did. I went with a total non-fan friend as she loved it too. Utterly entralling.
That final scene got applause at the screening I was at, and richly deserved. I would actually put this one a slight step ahead of KHAAAAAN.
Filrouge: I really don’t see how the occurences you list are any more contrived than what they did in Khan to get Chekov on the planet without realising who was living there.
**Spoilers. Be warned.**
I didn’t think I went into the theater with many preconceptions. I’d seen the photos and trailers and knew it was going to be vastly different in appearance, and etc.
But it wasn’t until literally moments before the end, when Kirk is applauded and the story is clearly over, that I realized they aren’t going to put things back as they were. Guess I had preconceptions after all.
As the planet crumbled, as not all escaped, as the Spock/Uhura was were revealed I wondered how they were going to correct things back on course. I mean, Amanda showed up in an episode of TOS so clearly what I just saw would get undone. I mean, there is a time travel element here, so they’ll end with the major pieces back in place. Right?
Nope.
It wasn’t until the end credits were rolling that I got the self-administered D’oh! dope slap (yup, it whacked me on the front and back of head at the same time) realization that Spock already explained this. It’s an entirely new reality and destinies for all have changed.
Brilliant move. Excellent movie.
(Although still bothered by the coincidence of Kirk literally just happening to end up at Spock-Prime’s place. Expected Spock-P to say he knew when/where to be but I guess that would go counter to the nobody-knows-the-future-it’s-a-new-reality thing.
Still, now we do know where Scotty got the idea for how to tell the guy who invented it about transparent aluminum. (Oh, but I guess that it’s in that other reality also. Ah, well.)
I think Trek works best as a TV show rather than on film (only three of the ten films, TWOK, TUC, and FC, are really especially good), but this was about the gold standard for doing Trek in the cinema.
I’m more of a TNG/DS9 fan, and was a bit skeptical of the merits of rebooting TOS, but it worked incredibly well.
I agree wholeheartedly with everything MGK said. Just got back from the theaters and I was doing the leg shake thing the entire time. I went with my dad, who is a HUGE Trek fan, especially TOS (He used to record Trek episodes on cassette to listen to it later like a radio drama when he was a kid)and he loved it. He couldn’t quite rate it above Wrath of Kahn, but it came damn close for him. For me it’s hands down my favorite Trek movie. I haven’t been this excited about the franchise since season 4 of DS9 when that series really started going full steam and I was at my most Trek-Nerdy.
As for the TV shows, I grew up with TNG (while watching the OS on laserdisc- yes, I said laserdisc) but DS9 is my favorite for the reasons MGK mentioned already. Never did get into Voyager and I still have yet to watch a full episode of Enterprise just because by the time it came out I’d already declared Trek dead. I’m happy to report that a miracle has happened and Star Trek has been resurrected into a new, more kick ass, body.
What everybody else said.
Saw.
Loved.
And the treatment of Christopher Pike was excellent.
I’m not really a Trek fan. It wasn’t that the Nerd Illuminati told me that I had to pick either that or Star Wars and I picked SW (not realizing what I was in for with the prequels). It’s just that ST never really worked for me. I saw a handful of reruns of the original series as a kid and enjoyed them well enough (mostly for the combination of the camp and the vintage Sci-Fi) but every time I tried watching any of the other shows/movies I ended up bored and/or confused. I mostly saw this one on a whim because I had a free movie ticket (long story) and I thought the trailer looked interesting enough.
As a non Trekie, I feel confident in saying that THIS MOVIE IS FREAKING AWESOME!
PS: It took me the longest time to figure out where I’d seen Pegg before. Nice to see him cross over into a real movie.
PPS: Zoe Saldana is HAWT. Wiki says she was in Pirates of the Caribbean but I don’t recall her at all. Apparently I need to rewatch that movie.
Beacon –
Saldana is indeed in the Pirates movies. She plays one of the pirates on Jack Sparrow’s ship. If I remember correctly, she wears a blue hat or head-scarf do-hickie.
She is also in the cheesy dance movie Center Stage – a movie that proves that while many actors can be trained to dance, not many dancers can be trained to act. She, however, is awesomesauce and can do both!
And the treatment of Christopher Pike was excellent.
True. Except…
.. they take away his ship and hand it over to the young buck after pretty damn fast. (Did Pike get more than one mission?)
“Did Pike get more than one mission?”
Not in charge of the Enterprise, but as he was a captain when Kirk signed up, he would have been in charge of other ships. Plus, he got to be an admiral!
(I really loved that line about Admiral Archer’s prize beagle. When I’m enjoying Enterprise references, that says I’m watching an awesome Treke flick).
1. It was, indeed, awesome.
2. The complete reset of continuity was brilliantly done.
3. I liked Bana. Possibly because he has identical vocal mannerisms to a friend of mine.
4. Am I crazy? I swear to god Wil Wheaton had like a 1/2-second 1-3 word cameo when things started goind bad on the Kelvin.
Also: at least the redshirt died from his own stupidity in this one.
It was a nice touch that they gave him all the explosives first.
I was actually a little disappointed by how they destroyed Vulcan. It bothered me that this just kinda magically “happened”. There wasn’t a Vulcan space force that tried to repel the Romulan vessel (yeah, I know the Romulans would have won but you can do a little better than “spaceship rocks fall, your entire planet dies”). Likewise, it bothers me that future Spock gets a special ship made specifically for its speed so that he can dodge in and out of an oncoming Supernova, and some mining frigate catches him.
I mean, I guess what really bothered me about the movie was the fact that everything felt so empty. People made off-handed comments like “Oh shit, 6 billion people just died” but you never really experience the impact of that.
I mean, in Star Wars, when the Death Star shows up to blow away Alderan, you at least get the significance of this being a really big deal. Princess Leia is practically crying. There’s this big build up scene with the laser powering up. Grand Moff Tarkin puts on his “I don’t give a shit” face. And when its all done, you’ve got Ben Kenobi being all, “Billions of voices crying out… then silence…” ominous monologue. It was so much heavier.
I just didn’t get that from this movie.
Zifnab – Point well made. If I were to put myself in their place, I don’t think my brain would be able to process what I just saw.
I loved the movie and don’t have a problem with the bullshit physics, simply because I never took ST physics seriously. (Dilithium chrystals sound like anti-psychotic meds.) Although plot-wise I found it odd that a singularity could be so selective in terms of destructive force. Kills planets, but not ships, which can travel thru them?
There are three things that make any ST worthwhile: 1) strong characters; 2) existential threats (Borg, Khan, etc.); and 3) magical science.
At least two of those three elements should be in play for a decent Trek episode or movie. Despite a great premise, Enterprise failed because it lacked strong characters, wasting Scott Bakula’s likeability and hoping “robo-hotty” Jolene Blaylock could inject some 7-of-9 magic into the series. Except that the holo-doc and borg-hottie did very little to make Voyager worth watching, anyway. TOS, TNG and DS9 succeeded for all the reasons MGK lists above; and basically fulfilling the elements I list here.
This movie succeeds in spite of its plot problems because the character development is so strong and the existential threat is clear, even if Nero’s character is a bit 2D. The solution to disrupt the drilling? Fine. Destroy the big bad ship? Fine. If the black holes had been more, I dunno, realistic, then it wouldn’t seem so absurd. But then, it would be as much fun.
Also: While I agree Pike was great as Kirk, elements of his performance seem taken from Shatner, esp. the swaggering and the cocky-somewhat-drunk barking. This is a good thing, actually, because they are essential elements of the character’s appeal. Pike mastered them and added his own humor and chutzpah. I look forward to sequels.
“But then, it would be as much fun.”
There should be a NOT there. It wouldn’t be as much fun without the BS in physics.
Not a Trek fan by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve seen some episode of TOS and TNG, watched maybe one or two DS9 eps and Enterprise eps.
I went with four other people (three girls) who have never laid eyes on Star Trek before and generally dislike science-fiction.
We all loved it.
Where is my brain today? By “Pike” I meant “Pine.”
Need more coffee.
Zifnab:
“There wasn’t a Vulcan space force that tried to repel the Romulan vessel”
It’s called Starfleet, and all the ships they sent got decimated as soon as they left warp, hence the whole “Enterprise flies straight into a crap ton of debris” thing. Also, originally it was thought to be a natural disaster, not a ship, and the starfleet ships were being sent there to evacuate, not fight. Remember the romulans were blocking communications.
“Likewise, it bothers me that future Spock gets a special ship made specifically for its speed so that he can dodge in and out of an oncoming Supernova, and some mining frigate catches him.”
They were waiting for him as soon as he left the distortion and I’m assuming they caught him in a tractor beam before he could do much of anything. Educated guess on my part since it didn’t show it.
“I mean, I guess what really bothered me about the movie was the fact that everything felt so empty. People made off-handed comments like “Oh shit, 6 billion people just died” but you never really experience the impact of that.”
Well, considering the survivors were a bunch of aliens that pride themselves on not showing emotion, I guess it’d put a damper on a lot of the water works. I think they did a good job showing the impact it had on Spock, and everyone else felt bad but were more concerned with the immediate threat of the huge freaking ship that just blew the hell out of 6 other starships and was now heading to Earth to nuke it. Not a lot of time to mourn the loss of Vulcan. Plus, in SW they spent more time feeling bad about Obi-Wan dying than Alderaan. Robot Chicken did a great job making fun of that fact in the last SW special.
Kevin:
Yes, the red matter was BS physics, but just to play devils advocate:
A black hole was formed in the middle of the planets core, tearing it apart from the inside. The ships are made to withstand singularities like that to a degree. That said had the singularity formed next to the planet and pulled it in, there might have been parts of the planet that made it through like the ships. This is probably a bad analogy but it’s like the difference between a firecracker blowing up in your open hand and a closed one.
Me saw it, me liked it. A LOT, actually.All the characters…FELT right (except Bana, who we’ll never have to see again).And I loved the final fate of Nimoy Spock- the dignified elevation of him to emeritus status, befitting the single character who defined STAR TREK more than any other.With DOCTOR WHO, CASINO ROYALE, and now this, “reboot” is starting to become a good word…
What I find interesting is that at no point did you praise the story.
Which is because it’s nonsense.
As a Trek-nerd, what I found amazing was how well TOLD this film was. The acting, the set design, the cinematography, the kinesis of the camera, the pacing… everything was top notch. It was genuinely exciting, entertaining, and engaging. (Huh… that’s quite alliterative.)
Unfortunately, the story is not only nonsense, but it’s rather stupid. It hangs on such a ridiculous amount of contrivances to get anything in it to happen. It’s one thing to have coincidence put one character into the story, but non-stop, the story just keeps relying on “hey, these are the Trek guys, you want them together in these positions” so it can just hand wave its way into having them be where they want them to be.
It’s not a bad film, but without the Trek substance to give it any heft, the film is thin and shambolic.
And the idea that it’s almost as good as Khan… well, sure. It’s the same damn movie, they just made the villain hate Spock instead of Kirk.
Anyone want to know what it would’ve been like if Khan got away with genesis? It’s this movie.
The movie had no substance at all.
Fun, though.
“Unfortunately, the story is not only nonsense, but it’s rather stupid. It hangs on such a ridiculous amount of contrivances to get anything in it to happen. It’s one thing to have coincidence put one character into the story, but non-stop, the story just keeps relying on “hey, these are the Trek guys, you want them together in these positions” so it can just hand wave its way into having them be where they want them to be.”
Oh, arse. The only time that happened was when Spock-Prime told Kirk to play nice with NuSpock. I mean, are you actually complaining that Sulu, Scotty, Uhura, etc are in a Star Trek film?
Oh, and did you read the article. “The plot and script have been designed expertly to work for both audiences, in a manner reminiscent of nothing so much as how Pixar films successfully work as both kid-friendly entertainment and adult-savvy commentary on primal human issues”
That sounds like praise for the story to me.
…Wouldn’t be the Internet without fanboys desperately trying to tear down something they claim to love I suppose.
I went with my wife on Friday to see this.
I never really cared for the original series. Most of the episodes of NextGen that I saw were pretty good – I really liked the one where Picard lived that other dude’s life. DS9 was really good I hear after Warf showed up, though I never saw any of those episodes. I was gonna watch Voyager – as in I made a pointed effort to see the first few episodes – and then I literally FORGOT about it until some years went by and I heard that it was going off the air. Enterprise was a cool idea that was poorly executed – and I think the Vulcan chick actress is a whore. I liked all the original cast movies (oddly) but didnt really care for any of the NextGen movies except for the one where they went back in time and dealt with the borg.
I though the movie was pretty good. I decided to go for two reasons, one because MGK said it was good; and two, because I like Harold as Sulu and Wee Hughie as Scotty.
My wife and I were both pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t much on story, but who gives a shit. If I wanted story I would have went to seen something where Phillip Seymour Hoffman cries for three hours or whatever.
This was a great popcorn flick. It could only have been better if it had boobies, ninjas, and Rex the Motherfucking Wonderdog.
I have to respectfully disagree about this being the 2nd best Star Trek movie. It is third best, a little bit behind Kahn, and a large step behind Galaxy Quest. IMHO.
Also, I mean, if they’re throwing a black hole into a planet, they don’t actually need to drill all the way to the core.
While it’s true that Nero is no Khan, I would argue that, if you remove Khan from the equation, Nero compares decently well to all the other Trek movie villains. Because, let’s face it, most Trek-movie villains have been pretty darned lackluster.
Agreed. If there was a weak point to this movie (putting aside the insanely unlikely idea thak young Kirk just happens to be stuck on the same planet as old Spock), it was Nero, and his part in this film.
Firstly, the name bugged me. I tend to dislike it when a bad guy is given a name to make him auotmatically bad. Like if his name was Sha’tain or something. Secondly, do most Romulan mining vessels have weapons? And it seemed a silly design for a ship. And what was he doing between the time he killed PaKirk and destroyed Vulcan? And he just didn’t project any menace. I didn’t care about him as a bad guy. They blew their load for making the Romulans bad guys now.
Why didn’t he just fly to Romulus and say “Hey, from the future here, gonna be a supernova in a few years. Want to fit your ships with future tech and go attack the Federation/Klingons? We’ll just be over here with these ladies.”
Rest of the movie was fun and fine, no worries (Kirk was a bit of a wanker, but he always was)
I can’t believe you guys haven’t realized this yet
Spock Prime and (to a lesser extent) Nero represent the fans. At about the point where people started whispering ‘wait… Vulcan blowing up messes up Star Trek 2 and 3’ Nimoy shows up and explains the whole time travel/divergent universe thing. He, like us, know how things are SUPPOSED to work and helps set them on the right path
that said i agree with the consensus. Bana needed more OOMPH! and i thought the movie has a whole needed more scale. the entire thing felt claustophobic
but it was a fun movie, and the more i think about it the more i enjoy it
Few things:
Coincidences abound, agreed, but Kirk and Spock ending up on the same planet made total sense. The coincidence was that he found the CAVE Spock was in. Then again, it was close to the Starfleet station so maybe that wasnt such a huge stretch either. It certainly isn’t a deal breaker.
1. Kirk was a stowaway and wasn’t supposed to be on the ship in the first place and he was a potential problem (mutiny) if he stayed on the ship given the circumstances of it being a ship with easily swayed cadets. So Spock, logically, decided to send him to the nearest Starfleet station on their way to the rally point.
2.Old Spock was there because Nero wanted him to be in a place where he could watch his planet die just before his own, slow, death.
3. The ship was badly damaged when Pa Kirk rammed it with the Kelvin so I imagine they were repairing it. Plus, Nero was obsessed with Spock and wanted to punish him more than anything, so he was waiting for Spock to come through the black hole before doing anything. Stupid? Yes, but no one ever accused Nero of being smart. He was just crazy.
Sure, the movie had some problems but nothing that was a deal breaker and it was still better than just about everything else that’s come down the pipe. Kahn was certainly a more quality movie, but this was just more FUN to watch, which is why I think it’s the best.
Ok, just got back from the movie. On the plot front the thing I really didn’t understand (and this might be because I’ve had a long week and I’m pretty out of it) is Spock-Prime’s mind-meld explanation of how he got back in time. I mean, you’ve got 1. the fastest ship ever and 2. an exploding star, but you’re still not fast enough. It seems like Spock would KNOW if he was going to make it or not before he left. It just didn’t make any sense to me.
The movie itself was a good summer film, but I think the constant action produces diminishing returns rather than building excitement. The thing I didn’t really like was the “Chosen One” nature of the way the movie treats Kirk. You never see him actually working for anything. He’s not even an academy graduate but he’s given the role as first officer after he stows away, because of his father? He reacts and guesses and he’s ALWAYS right. I expect that from TOS Kirk, but TOS Kirk had a decade of experience under his (ever expanding) belt. Kirk and NuKirk are both be green-chick banging swaggering assholes, but NuKirk hasn’t earned it yet.
Having seen the movie and reading MGK’s post, I have to comment about a couple scenes that apparently didn’t bother other people.
*spoilers here on out*
Is it just me or is the scene with very young Kirk and the car completely self-aggrandizing and could have just been left in the cutting room floor? There were a few shots that opened threads that went completely unanswered. Who was the guy that was yelling at Kirk? Who was the boy that he passed? Why was he doing all this? The only thing that that scene tells us is that he’s a rebellious punk. But his next scene does a pretty good job establishing that by picking a fight with 4 cadets.
The other scene that bothered me was when Scotty and Kirk beamed back to the Enterprise. Scotty got beamed into this giant water reclamation system. The set designers did a wonderful job of showing a utilitarian engineering room. Why then does this waterslide sized pipe completely snake around the room with little to no apparent reason?
Don’t get me wrong, I loved the film and want to see it again, if only so that I can see and spot Randy Pausch (the last lecture guy) in the film. He had a cameo before he died, and I’m sorry to have missed it.
His step-father. That was actually fairly obvious.
“Unfortunately, the story is not only nonsense, but it’s rather stupid. It hangs on such a ridiculous amount of contrivances to get anything in it to happen.”
So, typical Trek?
“Secondly, do most Romulan mining vessels have weapons?”
I was more surprised by the fact it didn’t have a cloaking device. Cause, seriously, sneaky-ass conniving traitorous Romulans?
And that ship looked like it was on its way to a casting call for Hellraiser! In! Space! III.5!
Um……. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the movie, but that really fast federation ship (I forget the name) WAS the Gungan submarine from Star Wars episode 1. Seriously, blue triangle with spinning tails? How does no one else notice that?
But yeah, otherwise, Awesome movie.
“While it’s true that Nero is no Khan, I would argue that, if you remove Khan from the equation, Nero compares decently well to all the other Trek movie villains.”
I’d rank him fourth, behind Khan, the Borg Queen, the General Chang; those three were the really exemplary ones. Nero falls into the “adequate” category, along with the Klingon commander from III and Tolian Soran.
I agree with your assessment of Nero, SC.
@BringtheNoise
“Oh, arse. The only time that happened was when Spock-Prime told Kirk to play nice with NuSpock. I mean, are you actually complaining that Sulu, Scotty, Uhura, etc are in a Star Trek film?”
Yes. And I’m going to marry a carrot.
“Oh, and did you read the article. “The plot and script have been designed expertly to work for both audiences, in a manner reminiscent of nothing so much as how Pixar films successfully work as both kid-friendly entertainment and adult-savvy commentary on primal human issues”
That sounds like praise for the story to me.”
Seems like I did indeed missed that point.
“…Wouldn’t be the Internet without fanboys desperately trying to tear down something they claim to love I suppose.”
Well, that’s a sweeping generalisation. And not a particularly sapient one in this case: I pointed out all the things I found fantastic in the movie, I praised the parts of the movie I liked, and criticised the parts of the movie I felt didn’t work. It’s called an “opinion”.
But then, it wouldn’t be the internet with posters just attacking other posters without thinking through their posts, I suppose.
@Z
“‘Unfortunately, the story is not only nonsense, but it’s rather stupid. It hangs on such a ridiculous amount of contrivances to get anything in it to happen.’
So, typical Trek?”
Unfortunately…. yep.
General agreement here. I liked Bones best, and was surprised to find Quinto can act (damn Heroes writers).
One quibble: two sweet jumps for Kirk and none for Pike?
Anyone else notice the tribble in the cage in Scotty’s “office”? It was easy to hear but I would have missed seeing it if my friend hadn’t told me about it before I went to see the movie.
Really? That’s so funny. I didn’t notice.
Also, the bottle Kirk smacks the starfleet guys with? According to my friend, it’s Sorium Brandy or Romulan Ale (I forget which).
I liked the movie a lot, and was willing to accept a lot of the coincidences, but one thing stuck in my craw:
The brilliant, reasonably experienced Commander Spock is doing an outstanding job as acting captain of holding it together and captaining the ship in the face of incredible odds. His plan to rendevous with Starfleet sounded pretty good to me.
Here comes Kirk, a 25 year old college junior. He comes onto the bridge and taunts Spock about his heritage, the genocide of his race, and the recent death of his mother. He taunts Spock to the breaking point. The whole stunt is transparently in order to assume the role of Captain.
If I didn’t know that Kirk is The One, that looked like the cruelest power play I’d ever expect to see. Would you ever tell someone who just watched their mother die that he never loved her? Christ.
I’d like to think that on the cutting room floor, there are two more scenes- one in which Uhura slaps Jim and takes him to task for his actions, and one in which Jim apologizes to Spock.
1. His plan to rendezvous with Starfleet would have meant Earth being destroyed. Spock was too blinded by trying to keep his emotions in check and do the proper thing to see it.
2. Old Spock told him to do it, so while it was a shitty thing to do he kinda got a free pass on it. Uhura did look like she wanted to beat the living shite out of him though. I think NuSpock, once he’d calmed down, realized why Kirk did it.
3. I’m pretty sure Kirk was about to graduate early “I’ll do it in three!”, hence the Kobioshi Maru test. Kirk is a genius, after all.