I think we need some burden-sharing here; I should not be the only one on the blog going to the opening day of these summer blockbusters. How about if Jeff goes to see Angels and Demons next week and Gio takes on Terminator Salvation the week after?
There are no surprises here. This is the prequel in which we see the young Kirk enter the Starfleet Academy and immediately get thrown into a battle to save the Earth from rebel Romulans from the future. Along the way, he meets up with the core characters of the original TV show and the movie ends with Kirk as captain of the Enterprise surrounded by the familiar crew of Spock, Bones, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov and Uhura. There are one or two brief homages to the TV series (Captain Pike from the two-part pilot episode weaves in and out of the story), but mainly this is a straight-up action movie without the pretense of having anything interesting to say. The movie half-heartedly plays with conflict between Kirk and Spock, and re-engages (or would it be pre-engages?) with the tired trope of Spock’s struggle with his human side, but it is only really happy when something is exploding. Chris Pine’s Kirk is acutely dislikeable, and the only character who makes you smile is Simon Pegg, who steals the movie as the young Scotty. Winona Ryder plays Spock’s mother, but I certainly didn’t recognize her, and poor old Eric Bana must be wondering why he committed to playing the tattooed Romulan.
The movie is perfectly enjoyable as long as you don’t have too much invested in the original TV series, or the first four movies (before they became totally crap and the actors too old to be taken seriously). I did like the original TV series, and while no Trekkie, I must have seen every episode several times (I learned French watching the episodes dubbed). The engagement with issues of Cold War politics and race seemed then (and still seems) remarkably clever for television (by contrast, I found the Next Generation priggish and nerdy, aimed at those who cared more for science than politics). I can’t claim that the original actors were any good, but I still feel an intense familiarity and affection when they appear on screen. The new crew are all (except Pegg) instantly forgettable. Still, the scenes of chaotic ariel battle will linger for a little while, and now at least I know that the young Spock had a thing for black women in miniskirts and boots, and that Iowa has a very grand canyon.
i liked it a lot. but i agree that the grounds for liking it are as an action movie, not as a star trek film (though i am sure there are trekkies who will dislike it for just that reason). i agree that the young kirk is an annoying prick, but i liked more characters/actors than just the young scotty/pegg. i though karl urban was great as the young mccoy, and that young spock was good too. the uhura character was unnecessarily retrograde; surely they could have found more for her to do than to run around in tight skirts looking for men to entice or kiss?
i may have liked it more because i recently watched star trek: generations on ondemand, and that’s really a piece of crap, and had me a little worried about cameos in this film from members of casts past. but i thought that part was handled very well.
I thought the first hour was fantastic fun, and the second hour more than reasonable–and I’d agree it’s mostly a buzz as an action film, ‘though there is something rather lovely about knowing these characters so well, inviting such easy nods to deeper, more interesting context that this film then exploited with expert casual grace.
Not much to add, I guess, except I thought Kirk was actually perfect: the character has always teetered on the edge of arrogant dickishness, and Pine seemed very well-suited to the outsized swagger, with a bit going on behind the eyes. I thought they were in fact going to give Uhura something to do, but aside from noting how smart she was, and allowing her to be in fact smart, they also put her in the background and kept the skirts short. I thought Eric Bana, buried under Vinnie-Jones makeup, did well as Khan. I mean Nero.
I do look forward to more of these. My Trekkie pal called me to advise that because the Romulan/Federation wars happened years after the events of this film, there is no way that Spock could know of the cultural connections between Vulcans and Romulans, and thus the whole premise was tainted. Next time I see him, I’m going to just hum a few bars of “Sabotage”….
speaking of disposable parts for women, whatever happened to kirk’s mother? did i miss the explanation for why she doesn’t return to the screen after giving birth to our hero?
It is odd that there is no explanation for why Kirk’s mother is off-planet and he is being raised by another family. Perhaps that is meant to be the explanation for his wild streak. But I’m guessing she will need saving in the next movie in the series. To boldly go to Tatooine…
I look forward to Jeff’s review of Angels & Demons!
Gio, I look forward to your take on Terminator!
do i need to read the whole thread to understand this joke, or does it mean what i think it means (that i would gouge my eyes out before i saw Terminator)?
oh, read the first line of chris’s post. haha. no way, buster.
i did however leave an extremely thoughtful comment on a thread you guys ran into the ground some six months ago!
I guess I’d better finally see Slumdog, so I can post there, too.
I promise to see both Up *and* Drag Me To Hell next weekend.
Though it’s getting poor reviews, I will no doubt see Terminator: Salvation sometime this week. I am highly pissed that Fox’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been cancelled: family dysfunction, glum protagonists, killer robots from the future, Summer Glau and Shirley Manson all in one show. Fox motherfuckers! Hey Whedon, it’s better than Dollhouse which is starting to get on my nerves a bit.
Nicola loved it! Cate loved it! I thought it was shallow and silly–a fun space western and little more (it was, however, very well cast). Still, J.J. Abrams is most effective on television.
Hey, was that Tyler Perry?
Yup.
I’m assuming you mean in the movie, and weren’t posting a status update.
Everything that comes out of my mouth/head is a status update. That being said, I’m surprised I recognized Mr. Perry without the fat suit and fright wig (and I’m not entirely sure I could pick him out of a line up with M. Lawrence and E. Murphy even as Medea).
I liked the Russian kid (Yelchin?).
Is it me, or was the make-up in this film horrible?
Michael, Alicia shares your grief and frustration over the canceling of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. She too is highly pissed.