Well, I've watched a bunch of Star Trek movies lately, so I guess I might as well talk about them. First off, I finished watching the Blu-Ray theatrical versions of Star Treks 1-3, and overall my impression of these movies hasn't really changed. Star Trek 1 is still ludicrously dull and filled with goofy music (I may hate it even more than Star Trek 5 now), Star Trek 2 is still my 4th-favorite Trek movie (behind First Contact; Star Trek 6; and Star Trek 4; respectively) with great music and great action, and I'm still somewhat indifferent about Star Trek 3. What surprises me, though, is how the Blu-Ray transfers worked out in my opinion: oddly enough, I think Star Trek 2 is the worst-looking of these 3 movies, and it's the only one that got a proper restoration. Wrath of Khan just looks dark and a little muddy in sections, whereas the DVD upscale transfers for Treks 1 and 3 still look pretty good (though the scenes on the Genesis Planet towards the end of the film look hilariously fake now). I'm looking forward to seeing how Treks 4 and 6 look.
But I suppose the big movie I just finished watching (my dad wanted me to watch it with him) was J.J. Abrams' 2009 Star Trek reboot film. And good God, this film is horrible. No, I'm not even going to give it the benefit of the doubt by saying that it's just "bad for a Star Trek film". No, it's just bad in general. The movie has a lousy script and the set designs are horrible.
Forget just not looking like Star Trek sets, you can't tell what anything in this movie IS. Every set in the movie either has so many shining lights you can't see anything, or it's so dark you can't see anything (or we have the beloved shaky cam). And even when you can see what's going on, nothing in this movie makes sense from a design perspective. What is the utility of anything in this movie? The bridge of the Enterprise is so garishly bright I refuse to believe anyone can see what they're doing, while meanwhile the ship's Engineering deck looks like a frickin' factory with so many tubes and pipes anywhere you can't even tell what the area does. Sadly, this lack of design sensibility extends to both Spock's and Nero's ships (seriously, why does a mining ship look like a giant squid with all those tentacles, let alone nothing inside the ship looking the least bit practical?), as well as the Federation ship at the beginning of the movie. Argh! Look, I can deal with artistic interpretation and the need for Abrams to do his own thing (heaven knows the original Trek movies saw quite a few Enterprise redesigns), but there's just nothing distinctive in this movie except for the exterior design of the Enterprise. Everything's overcomplicated in an attempt to look "edgy" (which, honestly, was a problem with some of the later Next Generation movies as well, especially Nemesis). It's hard to comment on the special-effects being good or bad when you can't see a lot of it, and even when you can see it you can't make out what the effects are supposed to be.
And like I said, I really found the script lacking. I found Kirk completely unlikeable almost the entirety of the movie, which is a problem when he's the main character. Uhura was just kind of...there, being even less important or interesting than she was in the original movies, despite having substantially more screen time. I wouldn't even mind the romance angle they did with her if it was even set-up properly earlier in the movie. Instead, it just feels tossed in for the hell of it and makes no sense. And what was Checkov' role on the ship, anyway? I could have sworn in the original series and movies he was a weapons' officer, yet here both the role of Navigator and Weapons Officer seems to have been given to Sulu. The overarching story relies on a lot of contrivance (such as how Star Fleet Academy students just somehow become bridge officers on the Federation's flagship through plot convenience), and the time travel aspect of the movie is really forced and not very well told. And yeah, I don't appreciate how everything I love about Trek (except the TV series Enterprise) basically got dumped on by this movie.
That isn't to say there aren't any good aspects to the movie. I thought the actors did excellent impersonations of their older counterparts, especially Spock. It took a while for the actor who plays Dr. McCoy to grow on me, but he did eventually. By far the best part of the movie, though, was Leonard Nimoy reprising his role as the older Spock. In his usual way, he was warm; inviting; and the time with him felt like a Star Trek movie should.
Ugh, it disgusts me that this movie is getting a sequel, but hey...the original Star Trek movie was horrible, and it got a stellar sequel that righted all the wrongs of its predecessor. Maybe this Trek's sequel will do the same?
Topic: Rate the last movie you've seen (Read 1553282 times)
