| Review : |
Over all the movie was not bad at all, and the reset was quite an interesting premise, but it leaves me feeling like I had just watched a rather expensive piece of fan-fiction. And not only that, but a type of fan-fiction of which I am not overly fond of, where one writes over cannon rather than on top of it. I kept feeling like the foundations of the movie were something I could have written better, and I do not consider myself at all one of the best writers. Better than many, perhaps, but not even in the top 1000 of today. And the super-nova destroying Romulus? Good lord, that just makes my brain hurt. Easily one of the worst pieces of bad science Trek has ever given us, and it has been guilty of some rather egregious ones. This aside, much of the writing was very impressive. I really enjoyed the opening scene with the Kelvin, and the death of Spock's mother, and the aftermath... truly heart-wrenching. The acting was on the whole, quite superb. Karl Urban is absolutely amazing as McCoy. I don't think there's a man alive who could have done better. Zachary Quinto's portrayal of Spock, and his inner conflict, was spot on. Although I do see us getting a more emotional Spock than we once had, this has much more to do with the writing than the actor's portrayal. I was, however, a bit let down by the new Kirk. Especially while in the academy, he's just too much of a smarmy prick. I can see Chris Pine giving us a fine Kirk in the future, but he's going to need some time to grow in to the role. As for the others, John Cho gave us and excellent Sulu, and I could really see the swashbuckler we get in The Naked Time in there. I don't know much about Anton Yelchin, but he must be a character impersonator. If he had been in a voice-over I would have been hard pressed to tell that he wasn't the original Checkov, and from what little we saw of him as the character, I think he will do quite well. A thing I can also say for Simon Pegg. His accent bugged me at times, but his acting more than made up for it. Last, but certainly not least, Zoe Saldana was an absolutely wonderful Uhura. I was a bit surprised when the writers had her fall for Spock, but the actress did a stunning job at portraying the warmth and feeling that Uhura has always had. Moving on, special effects are something I've developed a rather love-hate relationship for, as I have felt that movies in recent years, especially science fiction, has have pushed far more than any actual substance. My misgivings about the foundations aside, this is something Star Trek has acquitted it's self of nicely. The special effects are truly top of the line, but the substance of the movie has not been overlooked in favor of them. The battles between Nero's ship and the Kelvin, and then the Enterprise were quite spectacular. I also loved all the move around shots where we fly through the ship to the next scene. As for the plot of the movie it's self, as I have said, I have certain misgivings about the basic premise. Basically erasing all we know of Trek, save Enterprise, and even then, some of that, is, in my opinion, not a good way to go. I hate it when fan-fiction writers disregard cannon. It's my feeling that if you're going to do that, you should just write something original instead. I am, however, a little more forgiving when it is done deliberately to depict an alternate chain of events, as long as it's done well, and isn't just a gimmick to get weird parings off or make to make someone act in a completely uncharacteristic way. When the series it's self does something like this... I just don't know how too feel. With Star Trek, the dialogue was well written, and the action well directed, but the plot was a bit contrived, and the villain was terrible. Hating Spock for failing to save his homeworld in time, I could believe. Deciding to destroy every planet in the federation in return was absolutely ridiculous, and made him feel almost like a villain from a 60's cartoon. Hopefully they will do better in the future films. |
