There was one review I read that was titled "Star Trek Into Dumbness". I really agree with that title (and most of the review's assessment).
I didn't like the film too much. I think it tried too hard to pay hommage to older Trek films. And it was still plagued by the immense plot holes and general stupidness of the first reboot movie. If you think about most of the plotlines of the movie for a minute, the whole thing sorta falls apart.
It's still an enjoyable movie for many of its action scenes and some of its ideas. But like its predecessor it's simply driven by action instead of stories or characters. It felt really mediocre to me in the end.
There are some things I'm not thrilled about at all: I don't get how Khan went from Ricardo Montalban to Benedict Cumberbatch. It doesn't make any sense and they don't try to explain it away. At all.
I also hate the U.S.S. Vengeance. It embodies a lot of what I think is wrong with the new Star Trek universe. The name alone is the opposite of subtlety and creativeness. The look of it is even more enraging to me. It's gross and untrek - not unlike some of the early STO designs (that even the devs are embarrassed about by now). And building a large vessel of mass destruction without anyone noticing? Yeah, Nemesis did that as well...
I really enjoyed the film i really really did and it was visually stunning.
I had also done my best to avoid spoilers even avoiding trailers and what not. So the whole storyline ended up being a big surprise for me which was great.
The homages to older films etc were brilliant and by changing roles and whatnot in them made the film a less kirk centric affair which personally i really liked.
Finally on the point you brought about race, changing to the very white benedict cumberbatch. He was so damm good and commanding on screen whenever he was on it i was really happy with the casting choice. But at the same time Uhura has a far more important role in this reboot than she ever did in the original films so which the colour of the villain may have changed they took the the underused black character and are making something more out of it. So maybe they aren't necessarily ignoring the idea of diversity they just didnt want to pass up a good casting opportunity when it presented itself.
Yes, one of the villains in the movie is Khan. However, he's also been whitewashed, as he is now played by the (very) white Benedict Cumberbatch instead of a man of color, as he originally was by Ricardo Montalban. Yeah, there are going to be the excuses that it was done to keep who he really was a secret. However, the fact that casting Khan as a race other than white would have given it away already speaks volumes of the major diversity problem in Hollywood.
I don't know about that, hollywood has a history of race changing white characters into black characters for a film. One upcoming example is Amazing Spiderman 2's Electro. Also, most people would not consider Montalban a man of colour, just a very tanned white guy; so race changing him to white would not get any hackles up.
Personally, I was as disappointed as you are. The new Khan was too weasely looking, too skinny, and more Severus Snape than Ricardo Montalban. Seriously, I turned to my friend when Harrison first appeared on screen and asked, "Is... Is that the guy from Harry Potter?"
The gorn baby line was cute, but I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't have any Kirk vs Gorn fight scene to lead into that. Also disappointed that it was, apparently, several years off of the Gorn's forced introduction to Starfleet. Oh well.
I am none too happy with JJ taking my beloved Star Trek and having his way with it, but apart from that, I thought it was an amazing film and felt infinitely more like Star Trek than his previous attempt.
Also, were there any easter eggs at the end of the credits? My friends all rushed me out of the theatre during the credits, the jerks.
Loved it. Started an alternative thread for people who liked it to talk about how awesome it is. Was only disappointed at some 'whitewashing' that was done with regard to the villain.
With regard to the android, he may have also been a cybernetic human. Maybe he had a brain tumor or something as a kid?
Also loved all the apocryphal references. In addition to the ones you mentioned...
-- Section 31! I practically gasped with glee when they busted THAT one out. -- Mudd's trade ship they used for the Qo'nos mission, which they said was a 'trade ship impounded during the Mudd incident'. Love all references to Mudd, as he shares his name with my alma mater. -- Nurse Chapel apparently banged Kirk at one point. -- Carol FUCKING Marcus. I was already wondering about this when Admiral Marcus showed up, but when she said she was his daughter, I about died in the theater right there.
Starting a thread for people to pour some love on the new film, as the other one is one serious fountain of negativity.
I personally loved the movie. If you didn't like the reboot, yeah, you're not going to like this. However, if you're willing to let the alternate Star Trek universe go into some different and (quite frankly cool) places, you will love this movie. I went with a horde of Trekkies and we enjoyed practically every minute.
Yeah, it's not perfect. The end of the movie starts to get a bit weird (there's one contradiction with an establishment shot and one of the last scenes drags a bit), but it doesn't harm the movie.
Most of the complaints I've read/heard about the movie are rather nitpicky. If you go in with the same open-mindedness that's required to enjoy the last movie (and quite frankly, most other Star Trek movies), you will have a great time.
Also, for those well-versed in Trek historical apocrypha, this movie does an amazing job of couching its story in the larger Trek universes.
Finally: FUCK YEAH USING THE NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY AS THE WARP CORE! As a scientist and someone how has visited the NIF at Lawrence Livermore, I thought that was super cool.
Adendum: I should add that there was one thing that did bug me about this movie in a significant way. However, it relates to a spoiler that you may or may not have seen coming. Soooo it's hidden in the spoiler text.
Yes, one of the villains in the movie is Khan. However, he's also been whitewashed, as he is now played by the (very) white Benedict Cumberbatch instead of a man of color, as he originally was by Ricardo Montalban. Yeah, there are going to be the excuses that it was done to keep who he really was a secret. However, the fact that casting Khan as a race other than white would have given it away already speaks volumes of the major diversity problem in Hollywood.
I liked it far more than I liked the 2009 film. It felt more like Star Trek than the first one, to me.
Yes I was disappointed that
Harrison was actually Khan. In fact, when he was doing the whole, my name is not Harrison, I was saying "Please don't say Khan. Please don't say Khan. Please don't say Khan. Please don't say Khan." And when he said he was Khan, I actually howled "NOOOOOOOOO!" Which made everyone in the rows around me giggle.
I REALLY didn't want him to be Khan. Khan should have been bigger, buffer; more Ricardo Montalbán and less Severus Snape (No, I've never seen Harry Potter, but I have seen pictures and that's exactly what I saw when he first popped onto the screen.)
But beyond that, I really... REALLY enjoyed this film.
I was especially pleased towards the end when
The crew who were killed are honoured at the re-christening of the Enterprise. They've never done that in Trek, that I can remember, and it felt really nice that they did it here. :)
Also:
I REALLY loved the Klingons in this film. I was a bit iffy about their uniforms, at first, but as I thought about them they grew on me extremely quickly.
And that's all I have to say about that. (for now :3)
Ok, let's see here. I've been with my BF for 14+ years. In that time we've had about 5 dates (not counting our anniversary vacation in NY). What made them dates? They were an enjoyable and at times intimate series of events in a day that we normally don't get to do.
For example: One date consisted of going to a nice lunch where we took our time eating and talking and joking around and just being silly. After that we went to the movies and after that we had a lovely dinner in a fun restaurant.
Another date was far less elaborate. We went out for sandwiches one afternoon, took a ride to the historical part of center city Philadelphia, sat at a bench in a park and talked for over 6 hours, eventually coming home around 2 AM.
Now, the reason I don't count the NY trip is because that was a 2 day dateathon, but that's kind of the point of a romantic vacation. On day one we went and saw a Broadway show, walked all over times square, had a nice dinner and went to the Empire State Building. On day two we walked all over central park, went to museums and the zoo and had a romantic dinner at a french restaurant.
We'll you just saved me the 10 bux,sounds like the new trek is like fast food yeah its food but its not nutrition.
Yes, but is it Chik-fil-e fast food whereby your soul will burn for all eternity for partaking of it or is it more Burger King fast food that just takes several months off the end of your life?
I'm hoping this has already been done, but I just want to add that it's a great idea. I'm not sure how Hillbane would feel about this, but I know we would all feel better to be able to pay our respects in a way he would enjoy and appreciate.
I would have to disagree with the majority, I loved the film.
I'm aware of the failings of story in that we have seen it before, but that is to be expected as we knew we have seen it before, just in a different timeline.
J.J. Abrams was trying to get a new generation of fans to love Star Trek, so he used the favourite bad guys and plot tricks that we all loved first time we saw them, but he wanted to keep the faithful fans entertained, so he gave us some great in-jokes and classic references to drool over.
I prefer this film to the last, simply for the nostalgia aspect and the fact that the new alternate characters are established and we don't need to waste time getting to know them. This one was all action, just a pity we couldn't see half the action due to the lens flare effects.
I could write a long review but honestly you could read one of the other thousands of reviews to find all the points I'd make but I will sum up my feelings about Into Darkness in one sentence:
Star Trek (2009) is the much better film.
Disclaimer: I say that still having enjoyed Into Darkness and looking forward to seeing it again.
Unfortunately I have to agree here. I was really disappointed in this one and it sorta felt like the writers couldn't come up with something original, so they decided to slap together a bunch of scenes from previous stories and added a little filler in between.
As always, the special effects were up to par but the storyline was really lacking. This is the first Star Trek movie where I kept wondering when it would end. :(
I think Rod Roddenberry had it right when he said that he felt that the Star Trek franchise belonged on television and not the movies.
I gave up on dating for what seemed like the millionth time, and I met my partner as an online casual hookup lol. Now we live together and are engaged.
Don't let the single life get to you! I know it can suck, but keep looking! Or, give up, they always say you meet the one when you give up.
I have to say this is 100% true. I met my hubby of 8 years online. Both of us had signed in to the site to close our accounts and I said F-It one last try and I pinged him with my number. 5 minutes later he called me. 1 day later I invited him to come over and we could go to dinner nearby. He came over only he brought with him Chinese food. We stayed in, watched a movie and that was the beginning of our 6 month dating process that ended with me moving in with him. That was July of 2005.
I've been reading these and really love them. There hilarious! Though, I don't like how they play Wesley as an idiot.
I interpreted it as him being a little kid, which is an extreme caricature of his roll on the show (similar to how Riker is portrayed as an over-the-top horndog).
So far my favorite is Troi, who is ridiculous both as herself and as Quark.
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