|
|
Saturday, June 27th, 2009
| |
4:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
| |
4:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Thursday, June 18th, 2009
| |
4:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Saturday, June 13th, 2009
| |
4:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Friday, June 12th, 2009
| |
4:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Thursday, June 11th, 2009
| |
4:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
| |
4:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Monday, June 8th, 2009
| |
4:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Friday, June 5th, 2009
| |
4:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Thursday, June 4th, 2009
| |
4:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Monday, June 1st, 2009
| |
1:28 am - Movie Review: Star Trek (Spoilers!)
|
There's a lot to like in the new Star Trek film, so it's understandable that both casual and hardcore fans are excited about it. It's without a doubt the best Star Trek movie since Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Unfortunately, that's damning with faint praise since the subsequent movies were just awful (with the possible exception of First Contact, which was half a good movie anyway). Unfortunately, Star Trek is a poorly written and deeply flawed film. But let's start with what's good about it. The special effects are absolutely stupendous, effectively capturing the grandeur of space and the majesty of its exploration, and the set design is wonderful. The Enterprise's bridge has never looked so good. It combines elements of the original series' bridge with a modern sensibility (reminiscent of Apple design aesthetics?). Engineering is vast, making previous Enterprises seem cramped and claustrophobic in comparison, with a set design seemingly inspired by the huge power plants of battleships or aircraft carriers. (Unfortunately, the Engineering set design is marred by the ludicrous and completely unrealistic coolant tubes that Scotty is trapped in when he and Kirk beam aboard.) The action sequences for the most part are very well done. The "space jump" from Pike's shuttle to the Romulan drilling mechanism above the surface of Vulcan was especially effective.
The casting is a bit of mixed bag. As far as performances go, Chris Pine and Karl Urban are absolutely perfect as Kirk and McCoy, respectively. They both capture the essence of their characters without actually impersonating William Shatner and DeForest Kelley. Zachary Quinto is slightly less successful as Spock, but he also has the biggest shoes to fill and it doesn't help that he has to share screen time with his iconic predecessor. That said, I'm not sure I can imagine anyone else doing a better job. Zoe Saldana is a revelation. Her performance as Uhura is touching and fully realized and expands upon Nichelle Nichols' performance. Her sex appeal is undeniable. Bruce Greenwood is wonderful and inspiring as Captain Pike. The movie is worth seeing for these performances alone. Unfortunately, I was far less impressed with Simon Pegg (Scotty), Anton Yelchin (Chekov), and John Cho (Sulu), who I think were either just not good at all or miscast. Yelchin is especially grating as Chekov, and Pegg's tone is completely wrong. Cho is fine, but his characterization is incomplete and it was completely inappropriate to cast a Korean in the role of a Japanese character.
If the casting of the lesser characters was the only problem with the film, it could be overlooked, but the film's major flaw is the writing. The story is littered with plot holes, poorly motivated characters, contrivances, and bad science. The biggest problem is Nero himself. If your home planet was destroyed and you suddenly find yourself 130 years or so in the past, your primary motivation would be to warn your home planet of its impending destruction and attempt to avert it. Nero is completely bent on revenge. It makes no sense whatsoever. The entire movie rests upon this character's motivations and actions, and it's completely ridiculous. Even if he were insane, surely one of the members of his crew would have enough sense to know that saving Romulus must take precedent over destroying Vulcan and Earth. One would think that Spock Prime would at least be motivated to prevent the disaster. If he were to prevent the supernova in the past, then Nero would never have a reason to destroy Vulcan. Bad science permeates the whole film. The impetus of the plot rests on a supernova that--we're told--threatens to destroy the galaxy. In a word, that's preposterous. A supernova could render one star system uninhabitable and maybe affect a nearby star system (or two) many years later, but it certainly cannot possibly threaten the whole galaxy. Then, there are the black holes. Black holes are not wormholes. They can't throw you backwards in time or across space. You can't go through a black hole at all. First off, you'd be crushed by tidal forces, but, more fundamentally, the closer you get to a black hole, the slower time gets. It would take an infinite amount of time to cross the event horizon of a black hole. The black holes aren't even written consistently. For some reason, Nero and Spock can travel through time using the black hole that Spock creates to contain the supernova, but the other black holes that are created just destroy things. The Romulans go to great lengths to drill into Vulcan (and later Earth) in order to insert the black hole, but it is wholly unnecessary. Simply creating a supermassive black hole in the vicinity of Vulcan or launching it at Vulcan would be sufficient to cause its destruction. No drilling necessary. The contrivances in the plot are another sign of poor writing. Kirk just happens to be dropped off on the same planet where Scotty and Spock Prime are located. It doesn't even make sense for them to take the time during an emergency to drop Kirk off when Spock can just have Kirk put in the brig. The scenes with the alien monsters on the ice planet and the previously mentioned sequence with Scotty in the coolant tubes verge on self-parody and Galaxy Quest territory. Then there's Kirk's meteoric rise to Enterprise's captain, which defies all logic and command structure. As a fan of the original Star Trek, I initially felt that the Spock/Uhura romance was just too heretical, but, in retrospect, it does lead to the best acted scenes in the movie, those involving Uhura's attempts to console Spock. If the script has one positive aspect, it's the dialogue, which had plenty of good lines.
If you're willing to overlook the many problems with the script, then you will find Star Trek a very entertaining movie. Even if you can't overlook these problems, there's still a lot to like in the movie: some great performances, well-made action sequences, and fantastic special effects. It's just unfortunate the script couldn't have been plotted better. A better script would have elevated Star Trek into the same lofty heights as The Wrath of Khan and The Voyage Home, but it misses the mark. We'll have to settle for second-tier Star Trek, but that's probably better than nothing, which is what Star Trek fans have had for many years.
current mood:  content
current music: "The Hazards of Love" by The Decemberists
|
|
(4 comments | comment on this)
|
| Sunday, May 31st, 2009
| |
4:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Friday, May 29th, 2009
| |
3:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Thursday, May 28th, 2009
| |
3:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
| |
3:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Monday, May 25th, 2009
| |
3:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Friday, May 22nd, 2009
| |
3:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Sunday, May 17th, 2009
| |
3:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Saturday, May 16th, 2009
| |
3:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
| Thursday, May 14th, 2009
| |
3:30 am - Twitter Update
|
|
|
|
|
|