Star Trek
Went and saw the new Trek movie today...
Was impressed with it; as mentioned elsewhere, it will no doubt have Trekkers up in arms due to the playing around with canon, but I thoroughly enjoyed it (don't go to the flicks as much as I used to anymore; little time and am very picky about what I go and watch (due to it costing nearly £7 bleedin quid a chuck for a ticket these days, and that's without munchies...).
Out of the lot, I thought Karl Urban did the best at capturing the persona of the character he was playing (if he was still alive and you "de-aged" DeForest Kelly and put him in this movie, I defy you to tell the difference, he was that good...); Zachary Quinto did an admirable job (having to carry the character of Spock), and he pretty much did it well (it helps that he bears an uncanny resemblance to a young Leonard Nimoy anyway); Chris Pine did ok as Kirk (some nice little character moments but all-in-all he didn't have a massively hard job, let's be honest). Some of the other characters I thought came over far too much as characatures of themselves (Chekov and Scotty, to my mind, were played far too broad) and the character of Uhura... well, aside from the fact she was a fine lookin' lady, her role entailed a BIG change to the established canon of TOS Trek (no spoilers here, folks! You wanna know, go watch the film!)
Good fun for 2 hours; it will have the rabid Trek fans frothing madly at the mouth, but as posted elsewhere, it's a new take on an old franchise that has brought it bang upto date. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, sure, but there won't be a finer sci-fi blockbuster out this summer, I'll lay money on it (and yes, I know the new Terminator movie is coming out... pretty much sums up what I think about that, I feel :P)
Definately worth watching if you aren't a rabid fan of TOS but like a good sci-fi action flick (which, ultimately, is what this is, once you get past all the "canon" bumpf). Yes, being a huge geek there were some moments that made me say "hang on a second..." (even WITH the huge plot "twist" in the last third of the film; again, no spoilers!), but there are also some nice little throwaway lines and nods to the fans tucked away in there (play "Spot the Tribble" with your friends! ;)).
So, all in all, I'd give it an 8 out of 10 (only docking 1 point for some criminally underused characters and cardboard walk-ons that deserved more, but I kinda figured well, it's got to set up Kirk and Spock first, I suppose, so it's understandable, and another point for that goddawful "self-assembly modern minimalist look" of the new Enterprise... the old TOS version had a certain grace about it; this one looks like it was cobbled together in 30 minutes after someone threw away the instruction manual... and put the nacelles on the wrong way round, for starters; a BIG let down to see one of the "stars" of the film get such shoddy treatment).
3 comments:
I'm going to see it tonight and I am totally jazzed! Got my StarTrek cap out with all the pins on it from The Next Generation (which I preferred to the first) and me and my best friend are going to go GEEK OUT! I'm just hoping I suspend disbelief that Schuyler (bad guy from Hero's) is actually Spock! LOL
Well, I totally enjoyed this new version of 'Trek. It's great to see a GOOD Trek movie again (they've become rare, in my opinion.)
As to "canon"... who cares? It's a remake. If they didn't play with that, then it'd be a waste of time (again, IMO).
It ain't perfect, of course. That bit where Kirk gets kicked out onto the planet really seemed "tacked on" as an excuse to get Spock Prime involved.
But overall, I like what they did with it. It's rare that I enjoy a movie enough that I don't want it to end. I was actually sad when I realized it was ending...
Not since Lord Of The Rings have I considered going back to the theatre a second time. But I will be doing so for Star Trek.
I'm planning on seeing it Wednesday!
Post a Comment