Star Trek - 8/10 - Saw a screening last night (that's right, instead of watching Caps/Rags game 7. Thank you DVR!)
Anyway, it is the quintessential popcorn movie. Lots of action, lots of flashy effects, a decent enough story, a lot of humor thrown in for good measure. you definitely don't need to be a Trek fan to enjoy it. And that's totally what they're going for. It's a reboot of the original series, and without getting too spoilery, it also maintains continuity with the original series. The way they handle it is actually pretty cool... it's not just a reboot within the context of a famous media franchise, but also within the context of the Trek universe itself.
The movie revels in being an "origin" story, of sorts, and uses every opportunity it can to wink, nod and nudge references from the original series at the viewer. The movie is loaded with them, and being a Trek fan of some regularity, I picked up as many as I could, but I'm positive I missed a bunch.
There were some issues I had with the movie. I've never liked the Michael-Bayesque method of constantly frenetic pacing and filming that Trek ascribed to but I can understand the choice they made in using that style. I'm just not a fan. Also, unfortunately, Eric Bana's evil Romulan bad guy role is bland and forgettable, which is also understandable since this movie is more about "getting the new band back together" than any one specific threat.
Chalk that stuff up to new franchise growing pains.
Everything is updated and redesigned. The film looks REALLY slick. The dude that plays Kirk is really good. Quinto is really good. Pegg steals the movie. I left the theater wanting sequels NOW. I'm very excited about this franchise's future. But above all, it's a great popcorn movie.
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Seriously, I had a discussion about this with a friend of mine before they started the movie. Next Gen is still too new. If they rebooted it 10-20 years... I could be down with that. But they've just finished releasing Next Gen movies for chrissake.
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Yeah, but I wouldn't put it past Abrams as a self-described Nex Gen nerd to sneak a Cadet Jean Luc Picard into the film somewhere.
Saw it tonight. As a massive Star Trek dork I can saw "Wow."
They effectively explain traits that Kirk has in the original series, as well as lots of little "wink wink nudge nudge" stuff.
Once more people see it it'll be cool to discuss this.
It would amuse me if next year Byrne did a women's fed or Texas fed. I'd just like to see how he tries to make it a dark, demonic, ECW homage led by James Mitchell or Raven. -- Lucky, 2009
see. i told you byrne was the way to go here. like i said, he's a big dork. -- Ziggy, 2009
Yeah, but I wouldn't put it past Abrams as a self-described Nex Gen nerd to sneak a Cadet Jean Luc Picard into the film somewhere.
Except Picard's Grandfather would only being in diapers by that point. Just back from seeing it. It's amazing. Just about everything's done right, except Nero being a bit underdevelopped (I think they removed a sequence concerning him, actually), but generally it all comes together pretty good. Love the new Kirk and Spock. Urban's dead on as Bones, Pegg's hilarious as Scotty (he even does a good scottish accent!), and the rest of the crew get their own moments to shine. I also like what they did with Pike in it. And all this works whether you're already a fan or not. Good job, JJ!
Also saw it last night. It was excellent. Completely got rid of the bad taste Wolverine left in me. Not gonna spoil anything now, but I'll discuss more once more people have seen it.
Post by salmonjunkie on May 11, 2009 4:01:36 GMT -5
Thumbs up! I highly enjoyed this "reboot". I love how they logically explained this reboot and its connection to the original universe. But most of all, I just love how fun this movie was. It was good on all points, and made me leave the theater extremely satisfied.
Just back from seeing it. It's amazing. Just about everything's done right, except Nero being a bit underdevelopped (I think they removed a sequence concerning him, actually), but generally it all comes together pretty good. Love the new Kirk and Spock. Urban's dead on as Bones, Pegg's hilarious as Scotty (he even does a good scottish accent!), and the rest of the crew get their own moments to shine. I also like what they did with Pike in it. And all this works whether you're already a fan or not. Good job, JJ!
This. This. This.
And my wife had actually never seen ANYthing Star Trek related (or "Star Track" as she usually calls it), and she really loved it, too. So Abrams succeeded with at least ONE person on that level!
And I had more fun with this movie alone than anything Star Wars has ever done.
My wife has only ever watched some Next Gen stuff and has no love for anything Star Trek at all and SHE was more excited to see this movie than I was. That, I assume, was exactly what Abahms and co. were trying to do... and they succeeded.
The unfortunate thing is that that shit storm, Wolverine, made more money in its opening weekend. I think Trek will pull in more money over-all because of positive word-of-mouth alone. So that's a "win".
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Which is awesome because those three guys are huge Trek nerds. A subtle cameo in the next movie would be great. I'm not talking about them having any lines or anything, but having them seen in the background working in engineering or something would be great. Or as Klingons.
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Post by Byrntrigan on May 11, 2009 17:02:24 GMT -5
That scene would have been even funnier if a DJ was saying before the song or in the beginning say "Here's an oldie but a goodie" or "This is Classic Rock 102.3" or something
It would amuse me if next year Byrne did a women's fed or Texas fed. I'd just like to see how he tries to make it a dark, demonic, ECW homage led by James Mitchell or Raven. -- Lucky, 2009
see. i told you byrne was the way to go here. like i said, he's a big dork. -- Ziggy, 2009
Another opportunity they missed in my opinion was when Spock turns down the position on Vulcan and walks away, they could have played the start of the Beastie Boys song over that and cut to the joyriding scene. Because what Spock did was in Vulcan terms as rebellious as what young Kirk did. Then he could have flipped them the vulcan bird, which would be \||/ rather than \\//.
Never cared for the TV series'es or whatever, but I really liked a few of the movies (Wrath of Khan and the Undiscovered Country especially). I also really liked this movie. I didn't know any of the cast except Kumar, Simon Pegg (who is awesome) and obviously Nimoy (who I had no idea was in this) and the cast did a great job. Plenty of action, humor and opening storytelling for the series that was quickly-paced and not too nerdy. Not sure what else you could ask for in a prequel to one of the premier franchises in film. And I'm not a sci-fi geek at all.
Does Kirk always get his asskicked in fights?
I couldn't tell that was Bana and I've liked that guy since the movie Chopper.
Is it so hard to imagine? Is it so hard to believe? Something so outrageous, something so far-fetched, well how 'bout Adam and Eve?
Nah, Kirk beat ass as well. In the Original Series he gave as good as he got most of the time...
It would amuse me if next year Byrne did a women's fed or Texas fed. I'd just like to see how he tries to make it a dark, demonic, ECW homage led by James Mitchell or Raven. -- Lucky, 2009
see. i told you byrne was the way to go here. like i said, he's a big dork. -- Ziggy, 2009
Just got back from seeing the movie. As someone with only a passing knowledge of the old series, I liked this one a lot. I will definitely see the others in the series.
And did anyone else notice that the Romulan second in command was Boner from Growing Pains? Wasn't his father Chekov in the original TV series?
Andrew Koenig (Boner Stabone) wasn't in this movie, according to IMDB. He *has* been in an episode of Star Trek (DS9, apparently), and yes, his father was Walter Koenig, the original Chekov, but he wasn't in the newest Star Trek.
No, I'm pretty sure that was Boner uncredited. His mouth and way of speaking is pretty distinguishable. He was the guy who held Kirk up by the throat at the end of the movie and said something about the human race being a weak species.
Post by Mr. Dashbee on May 24, 2009 18:57:36 GMT -5
Saw it last night, and loved it. Loved it. And I saw all the originals as a kid. I can't argue with a single casting decision. I loved all the old references, and as was said before, I'm sure I missed a bunch myself. I almost want to go see it again. And I rarely see movies multiple times in the theatre.
In looking something up on IMDB, I just noticed that the actor who played Chekov, was the same guy that played Kyle Reese in Terminator: Salvation. Must be nice to be in two of the biggest summer blockbusters of the year.