If I had to choose, I would fall on the Star Wars side between Star
Trek and the holy trilogy (let's pretend the Star Wars prequels didn't
happen, okay?). I like to set the stage so that everyone understands my
point-of-view. I've send every major Star Trek movies, multiple times,
and am a big fan of Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn
and a The Undiscovered Country as well as The Search for Spock and The
Voyage Home. It's those pesky odd numbered films that I like to ignore.
So
in going to see the new J. J. Abrams "Star Trek" last night I had high
expectations. The last trailer I saw looked rocking and had plenty of
action and some fun, quirky one-liners that I thought would play out on
the big screen. But then I saw Abrams on The Colbert Report and he
admitted that he wasn't a Star Trek fan and I thought that was a bit odd
in that he'd want to make a movie about a series that he wasn't a fan,
but I brushed it off.
The film opens with a bang and, if I might
say so, the best part is the opening. There's more eye candy there than
you can handle. Phasers and ships blowing up and photon torpedoes, oh
my! But then the action slows and you're brought through this muddled
plot that makes no sense. I loved the introduction of the characters
early on, but by the time you get to some really weak writing such as
"Hey, I'm stuck here too, isn't it neat that we all happen to be meeting
up at once? Just right when we need such special ability?" that I
started to lose interest. To make it even more of a bore, a flashback
scene with a voiceover explains what the heck has happened so that you
can connect the dots. I just shook my head and sighed. Come on. I'm not
stupid, but I guess if you have such a weak plot that you need to make
certain that everyone gets that you're re-inventing the Star Trek
universe and you happen to throw in lots of bad science, contrived plot
lines and extremely weak characterizations.
I'm trying to remain
vague on purpose but the big baddy (Captain Nero) decides to spend 25
years of his life trying to capture someone. He does and his big revenge
is to release this person (what the?!) so that he can live with all the
pain that Nero has. Then, late in the film, Nero says something like:
"I knew I shouldn't have let him go! Gosh darnnit!" (Well, I added the
"Gosh" part.) It's plot holes like that in which you just scratch your
head and think: The baddy can blow up planets and he's too stupid to
keep his enemy locked up? Are you kidding me?
I could go on and on
and on with all these crazy plot holes, but I'm getting bummed. I'm
glad that the Blu-ray versions of the original Star Trek films are
coming out next week. I'll see them again. Now don't get me wrong.
There's some good in these films, but the plot so weakens this film that
it's not even funny. Really, it's not. I thought the acting was good,
but many of the supporting cast have nothing to do in the film and
that's a shame because I would have liked to have seen them work more
together. But, I expect the next film will move onward and develop those
relationships.
As for the effects, they're top-notch. The sound
is immersive (though I wasn't a fan of the score) and there are some
great battles. It's just my belief that the best is in the first 15
mins. You never really see anything that matches that throughout the
rest of the film. Out of a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 7 (a 70 passing
grade but nothing to write home about).
One last comment: There's a scene in which Bill Hunt of www.TheDigitalbits.com
says explains why this film "isn't your father's Trek." I now know what
scene he's talking about (it's in the elevator of the Enterprise with
two characters). I thought that scene was self-serving and didn't really
add much to the story or the plot. Seemed to be thrown in there for
shock value as though Abrams is saying, "See, I'm hip! Really, I am." I
get it. I really get it, and for the record, it's not hip. Wasn't a
shocker for me. Just made me roll my eyes as, again, the connection
didn't matter to the story. Just was thrown in there.
But I don't
want to end on a low note. Chris Pine as Kirk is a splash of fresh water
and I really enjoyed his portrayal of the iconic Kirk. Nicely done!
There's a lot to love in this new film if you ignore the lame baddy and
the plot. So basically, treat it as a popcorn flick and you'll have fun.
It's no "The Dark Knight."
