So the new STAR TREK movie doesn't start out with these words, but rather wraps up an amazing action adventure movie set in space that is the new installment of the STAR TREK franchise. The movie is awesome - let's just start with that. JJ Abrams and writers Kurtzman & Orci continue to amaze me with their talent, and essentially, I want to be them. I went with Chris and Marlene (a friend and a HUGE Trekkie) to the midnight showing last night. Hoo-ah!
The movie opens with a great action sequence, showing the demise of the U.S.S. Kelvin and sets up our Romulan bad guys. Eric Bana plays our bad dude and it's insane how unrecognizable he is! The shaved head and facial tattoos really help. Anyways- we set up our big problem and see how Kirk was born, what happened to his family, etc. Cut to the future and we get to meet our fabulous crew as teens. (Well, there's one time chunk in the middle when Spock and Kirk are kids.) My favorites are definitely Chris Pine as Kirk, Zoe Saldana as Uhuru and then eventually, when he emerges much much later in the movie, Simon Pegg as Scotty.
The movie feels like it's really a story about Spock, more than anything. While we're setting up Kirk and showing how he takes control of the Enterprise, his story has less emotional weight than Spock's, which is of course the intended irony since he's the stoic Vulcan. Kirk drives the movie forward, but it's Spock that we feel for more than anything. Though, I actually think that we're supposed to care more about Kirk and Spock finding their way to the live-long friendship that has been memorialized in STAR TREK for so many years.
Other good news is that the production value is AWESOME. It makes you want to strangle George Lucas when you see how much of this movie is CGI and how GREAT it looks. It feels real and it's exciting! It's not some bizarre background - it just looks like space!
I have really nothing to complain about. I am going to see the movie again on Sunday on the IMAX screens, so maybe a second viewing will show me a thing or two that I'm not pysched about. We shall see.
p.s. The Arclight Theater in LA is awesome - they had themed cocktails for the opening weekend (I had the "Captain's Cooler" and my friend Marlene had the "Warp-tini". They also gave out free t-shirts, and I wore my to work today. NERD ALERT!!)
2 comments:
I'm glad you're putting up your movie reviews as posts now. :)
I just saw the movie. I think it saved the franchise. Not sure that I really liked it as much as everyone else (the entire leap of going straight from cadet to captain was a little much for me) but obviously well done.
I'm going halfway for you Dave- all the big ones I am posting...I do still have the sidebar (in which I currently bash GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST)
I'm glad you liked it and I agree- it definitely saved the franchise. And yeah, it is a bit of a leap....but Pike clearly believed in him and he was made First Officer before Pike left. ;)
Post a Comment