Yeah, that came off wrong. I didn't mean to say it was better, just that it's getting ratings that are similar.
Saw this last night. Before I say anything else, I will give the final verdict: This movie is breath-takingly magnificent. Absolutely spectacular. Very often when I leave a movie theater, I ask myself: 'Was my nine bucks well-spent?' Sometimes yes, sometimes no, probably most often the answer is 'Meh.' Not only is this movie nine bucks well-spent, but it is among the very few I will DEFINITELY be seeing again almost immediately, because it does move very fast in spots, and there are details which will require multiple viewings for them all to be grasped. So now, as the movie has been almost universally praised (which is a good thing), I will instead nit-pick at its minuscule shortcomings, and as the movie only really officially opens today, it will all be hidden behind spoilerific spoiler tags. Spoiler In no particular order... Ok right off the bat, I will say - I have NOT read the 'prequel' comic thingy that, as far as I can tell, is probably required reading in order to get full benefits from the film. I had followed the film enough, and read enough, that I understood essentially what the character of Nero was doing and why, but I suspect that once I finally get my hands on that book, I will suddenly grasp it much better. It's kind of a shame, since there are going to be a ton of people who simply don't get it, and who will never even HEAR of the comic. The cast. While, as everyone is already saying, the cast will never leave you thinking to yourself, 'Hey, those people are not as good in those roles as the originals!', some of the periphery players were kind of head-scratching. Winona Ryder? As Spock's Mom? Really? Were there no age-and-talent-appropriate actresses out there in Hollywood who could have played this part? Now she was not horrible or anything, and she only gets like 3 scenes, but still, it was distracting. Along those same lines: Tyler Perry as Admiral Whoever-he-was at the Academy? Really? Again, he wasn't horrible, but it was again distracting, because instead of listening to him or paying attention, all I could think was, 'Hey, it's the dude who dresses like a grandma and makes a diverse new movie once a week!' Strange choice, JJ. Some of the nit-picks stem from the fact that there is a LOT of history to try to establish in this universe, and 2 hours really cannot do it justice. That said, the early bits with young Kirk and young Spock were 'fascinating', and I wanted more of it. I hope that in the inevitable sequels, they manage to somehow utilize flashbacks from their youths. Don't want anything cloying, but it could be interesting if done right. As it was, it really felt a little rushed and like 'not quite enough'. Most of my real quibbles have to do with some of the questionable coincidences and behaviors from major characters. Again, in no particular order: Would Spock REALLY have marooned the First Officer on some wildly dangerous random planet? That was a bit far-fetched. However, it was necessary, as Kirk would have otherwise not miraculously stumbled on *Old Spock*, who just happened to be in pretty much the exact same spot. (And aside quibble - I like Nimoy just fine, but I don't have him placed in this sainthood status as so many people seem to. If anything, there was maybe a little too much of him in this - it was all perhaps a tad precious. Besides, dude kind of creeps me out a bit, as he spends a lot of his time now taking photographs of obese naked chicks. *shudder*) And of course, this leads then directly to maverick theoretical engineer/physicist Montgomery Scott, who ALSO happens to be in pretty much the same spot, and who ALSO also happens to be able to 'transport' someone pretty much from anywhere to anywhere, even at 'warp'. (of all the new things introduced into the Trek Universe, this may be the most troublesome, as it conceptually seems to be, for lack of a better phrase, a 'broken power', in game parlance. Too powerful.) Those were some pretty powerful coincidences there JJ.. without which even one of them, none of the rest of the movie could have happened. Just a little thin is all. Some important exposition is handled a bit poorly. First, when Old Spock is explaining what happened to Romulus, and why therefore Nero (ahem ) is doing what he is doing, that whole bit is a bit of a 'Huh?' moment (again probably because I have not read the comic, but a person should not HAVE to read the comic to be able to understand.). Spock says he was 'late', but no explanation of why. Um, ok whatever. And here was one that got me probably because I am a male: At one point, Kirk starts tearing through the Enterprise looking for Uhura, because somehow he knows she 'heard something' in a subspace transmission or something. I had no idea what they were talking about, and my best guess is that this extremely important bit of exposition must have come in the moments in which Zoe Saldana was shedding her clothes for Kirk's hidden and hungry eyes. I seem to remember her talking during this scene, but apparently I was not paying attention, and I guess she must have been talking about this transmission at that time. Come on JJ, that was NOT fair. Oh and back to the destruction of Romulus thing. Ok, someone please explain how Romulus is any less destroyed by putting a *black hole* right there where Romulus' SUN happens to be going supernova. Ummm.. now I am not an astrophysicist, but it seems to me that if your sun goes supernova, your planet is bye-bye. And if someone drops a black hole in your solar system right on top of your supernova-ing sun, well, unless this magic mysterious 'red matter' (whatever THAT is - come on JJ, give us SOMETHING!) can somehow suck up the exact amount of supernova energy to not cause instant death by radiation for everyone on the planet, AND somehow leave the star back the way it was before the supernova, I don't see how the planet was any less doomed than it already was. Again, maybe this is all explained in the comic. Bah, I guess I need to go to the bookstore. Anyway, that's all for now off the top of my head. Again, these are extremely small nit-picks. I LOVED this movie, and I can't wait for more. I just figured it would be fun to pick at the minor strange bits instead of simply adding to the already huge chorus of praise. Do NOT read the spoiler section if you haven't seen the movie yet. And then GO SEE THE MOVIE!
Excellent points, Nero. Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. I knew you would enjoy sharing the name with the primary villain in this.
add to that number, 62 new fresh reviews, and 0 rotten reviews. 96%. these are crazy numbers... it is like the best reviewed movie in the past three years at least (with more than 150+ reviews). oscar contender? lol.
Awesome movie! Two thumbs up....went with a couple people that had never seen Star Trek, and they said it was a good movie, too!
I really liked it. I went in thinking I was a so-so fan of Trek and as it went on I realized I was a bigger fan than I thought. Money well spent.
Caught a matinee this afternoon. I thought it was good but not great. Entertaining but there were some plot holes and the whole alternate reality thing is a bit of a copout. I knew they were doing that but they really seemed like they were hammering that in. I liked a lot of the nods to the original series and previous movies. It was a lot funnier than I expected and the actors playing Spock, Kirk, Scotty and Bones did a really good job of channelling their predecessors. With the exception of Spock the rest don't look that much like the original actors but do a good job of capturing certain mannerisms of them. The guy playing McCoy I thought was really good and there were several scenes where I really saw him as a young Deforest Kelly. I didn't like the interior look of the Enterprise. Half of it looks like it was designed by the makers of the I-mac while the other half looks like a car assembly line with little relationship between them. Also there is a certain JJ Abrams style and Star Trek certainly feels like that. I half expected them to find the hatch from Lost. Although there was a sort of polar bear showing up at random. Its in the top tier of Star Trek movies but IMO definately behind 2 (Wrath of Khan) 8 (First Contact) and 4 (The Voyage Home).
I watched it today. I really loved this movie. I still think the trailers were ****ing trash. 4/5 stars. Would have been 5, except it had Tyler Perry in it. Overall, I thought they did a great job with the casting.
heh, I was just thinking about that while I was brushing my teeth. I would have seen the movie if anyone (excluding uwe boll) directed it. Oh, goddamnit, M. Night, not water again. But it is symbolism! It was just a random thought. What else do people think about while brushing teeth? /shrug When the movie was almost over, I was wanting more. I was sad to see it end, knowing there wouldn't be a sequel in a long time. (Dark Knight, I had wanted to end an hour earlier.)
Really enjoyed it. Was Nero implying that the Romulans had joined the Federation in his time? Seems a little odd that one of the galaxy's major players would place all their hopes on one ambassador's theory and not even bother to evacuate the planet. Loved all the references. Jonathan Archer is still alive? Guess Enterprise was too obscure for him to get a straight up cameo. Can't wait for the sequels... The Kobyashi Maru sequence really whetted my appetite to see the other powers in space... Klingons, Romulans, (how cool could they make Tholian tactics look now?), Ferengi... maybe since the timeline has been altered, even the Borg.
The movie was great and just as important the characters were believable and seemed custom made for their roles. I grew up with Shatner and Nimoy so I was surprised that the new actors would seem tailor made for the part. I loved the relationship between Spock, Uhura and Kirk, it was unexpected to say the least. So many times when different actors replace the core characters in a franchise type movie it just does not feel right…but not this time. JJ Abrams nailed it with his casting and directing. Love the way they reset the table for the Star Trek franchise and used characters such as Pike and Archer (I think he was only mentioned once) as well as how they incorporated some of the basic Star Trek history. Scotty and Bones were hilarious. Don’t know how much more I can say with out ruining the movie but it far exceeded my expectations. This is definitely not your fathers Star Trek but at the same time stayed true to the spirit of the show. No doubt this is a 5 star movie.
I would have liked to seen Archer in place of Tyler Perry's character. Would have been a nice baton pass like they did with Kirk/Picard in Generations.
