Star Trek Movie Blurb by Shale May 8, 2009 "Damn it, I'm a Trekker, not a movie critic!" I'm afraid I can't be too objective in this movie blurb. I knew going in - by what was written, what I saw in the trailers and what I somehow knew in my heart - that I would love this movie. And, apparently almost everyone who's seen this flick agrees, as indicated by 96% of good reviews on Rottentomatoes. Not since I saw Star Wars IV in theater in 1977 have I been so blown away by a movie! (OK, Raiders of the Lost Ark did it to me again in 1981). As a typical Trekker who embraced this late '60s TV series in reruns in the '70s it was exhilarating to see all the old characters reincarnated in new bodies on screen, running thru backstory as to how they came together on the Starship Enterprise NCC-1701. The Enterprise Crew Chekov (Anton Yelchin), James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Bones (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho), and Uhura (Zoë Saldana) Not going to go into the story too much here. It was more an emotional experience for me just seeing the franchise arise anew. This movie was not slow paced like other Trek movies where we lead up to the action. The first scene is action packed and it doesn't let up for the two hours. In fact, this movie is like no other Star Trek movie because it is a new interpretation of The Original Series. At first I thought it was just fantastic casting but then I realized that Karl Urban was using expressions and mannerisms of Dr. McCoy and that Chris Pine was using Shatner's body language that we know from the '60s series that even Shatner couldn't use in the later movies. Kirk in the Captain's Chair - Again. (Pine Channeling Shatner) The story also brings together Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Kirk in an initial adversarial way before they become best friends forever. BFF - Spock & Kirk There is a time travel element in the story involving Spock so we also see the ancient Leonard Nimoy from the future. I don't need to recommend this flick to Trekkers - like me, this was a must see for you. In fact you may have been the ones in Trek costumes who saw it last night in advance screening. I plan to see it again tomorrow - and plan to get it on DVD when it first comes out even at Paramount's rip-off price. Even non-Trek ppl will enjoy it as an action space adventure - they just won't feel like family on the bridge of the Enterprise. Non Trekkers also may not appreciate the music at the end credits - which is not the moving orchestral pieces we've heard in the other Trek movies but instead the old familiar music from the series. Enterprise I'm sure we can look forward to a couple more movies with this crew to reinvent the franchise. I will even use a redundancy that I loathe and say it is a "new beginning" for Star Trek. Go see this movie.
I saw the movie on Friday and while I would give it 4 out of 5 stars, the relationship between Spock (who looks like a nerd) and Uhura was implausible to say the least Hotwater
I just saw Star Trek again today. Maybe that will hold me over until the DVD comes out. (IDK - Maybe I'll go see it again tomorrow.) I know in my last blurb I didn't give any synopsis of the movie - and I'm still not because that is irrelevant. You will see all that when you see the movie. This movie is about the characters where all of us who watched Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov and Uhura in the series get to see how they all come together as young cadets and get stationed on the Enterprise. I will tell you that this movie shows: How Kirk grows up as a daring and defiant JD in Iowa - and as a pre-teen steals an antique, mid 20th century Corvette and nearly gets killed as he drives it over a cliff. (That was a disturbing scene - what a waste) How Kirk rigged the Kubyashi Maru "unwinnable situation" program to win it. How Dr. Leonard McCoy came to be known as "Bones" (It's not because of being a surgeon) How young Kirk is a horndog for all women and has a penchant for those with green skin. How Uhura (who does have a first name BTW) is having an interracial affair, and this time the kiss is on her own desire. Also we get to see how the Enterprises command passes from Captain Pike to Kirk. Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) This movie pays homage to the original series and the characters are spot on for the ones we have come to know over the years. Did I say I love this movie?
You're pretty much on point with your review, Shale. The moment they showed the Enterprise for the first time took my breath away, just like back in '79 when I saw Star Trek:The Motion Picture (has it really been that long?). The writers did their homework, and as a fan of TOS, I can commend them on making a fine effort to honor the history of the franchise.
Agree with you, Shale. I had many moments of chills up and down my spine. I was hoping JJ got it right, and he did! With only a couple of minor quibbles with some of the Star Trek canon ( easily over looked ), the film is not only an homage to TOS, but a great science fiction motion picture in its own right. Looking forward to the continuing voyages.....:hurray:
Yes, it was awesome. I can't really take issue with any of it, actually... even if the story wasn't so original or even all that interesting, everyone nailed the characters perfectly... so really, it didn't matter. It was just a lot of fun-- something that doesn't happen so much in movies anymore. For the most part every single character was treated with respect and in some cases given more of a backstory than they ever got on the series. Also, there was a lot of attention paid to Trek history. And best of all, the characters were real human beings again-- that Next Generation crew really sucked at being human, and in many ways they also sucked at being different from each other. It's pretty hard to beat Wrath of Khan in my own brain at least, so I can't say it was the best of the series, but it's pretty close. It's certainly better than anything that has anything to do with the Next Generation crew... and visually, it was a masterpiece. Definitely the best-looking film in the entire series-- which is of course largely due to the fact that the ones with the best stories were made before CGI really took off, had to make due with models and such, and are still awesome films today. ***SPOILERS*** All of the action scenes, such as the one on the drilling platform, were absolutely incredible. The space battles were amazing as well-- the ships looked really clunky, just like they probably would be. The 'Enterprise' show made their ships too elegant, so you never really bought that they pre-dated the original Enterprise... but these ships looked exactly how they should, inside and out. I like that they made everything bright instead of the old submarine-style look they used in Khan. I also liked the inclusion of 90s-era music... for some reason, it made more sense than trying to portray future music-- because that never works. And Kirk was just perfect-- he's not the Shatner Kirk... but he's definitely awesome. The same goes for Spock, and well... everyone. Bones was dead-on... I don't think there was a single actor I would have changed, or a single performance I could criticize. I can't say that any of them are an improvement over the originals, because that's blasphemy, but they are definitely a very likeable set of actors. On the other hand, there were some pretty screwy moments as well-- such as black holes transporting people to random moments in time (is that really what they do??), a crew of confirmed geniuses lingering on the verge of a black hole to watch a ship be destroyed when anyone with half a brain would know enough to get the #$% out of there, a guy who pulled his parachute too late and died because he was just having too much fun diving into a dangerous situation with an entire planet at stake... not to mention some pretty wild coincidences and some just plain 'what were they thinking???' moments. Still, all in all, it's a really good film... and I can't say I wouldn't recommend it to anyone!
I thought Pine was so much like the early, younger Shatner. Did you notice certain Shatneresque movements that he did? That was the clincher, the way he entered the bridge and looked both ways and the way he sat in the captain's chair. All mimicks of Shatner. BTW, Pine better work on those abs a little or he may just continue to follow Shatner in physique. In the love scene with green woman we see that his abs are not too defined, especially for a young man. By the time he reaches his forties they will have to truss him up like Shatner was in all the movies after ST:TMP.
Hmmm... I didn't think about that. But there's no way he was trying to do Shat-- he actually talked like a normal person. On the other hand, he was definitely a good Kirk, sort of in the same way that Daniel Craig is a good Bond.
I have seen the new Star Trek movie five times so far. Some of my friends think that is excessive. I just love the new movie, love the franchise being young again and can overlook the probs with editing or writing or whatever, because overall the movie is enjoyable for me.
Well, one nice plot device is the alternate timeline presented, since there clearly has been created one with the Romulan villain blowing up Vulcan... Thereby, lots of stories, even the ones already told, can now unfold anew or even in ways they haven't as yet. I've heard rumours, that the sequel to the current movie shall be about Kirk encountering Khan Noonien Singh, thus either re-telling the story of the TOS episode Space Seed or unfolding into a different story altogether - I'd favour the latter with a lot of hints at the old episode, for sure. That was something loveable about the movie, as well. The nice little references to old Star Trek, starting from the green-skinned Orion girl (anyone remember Jeffrey Hunter's Captain Pike gaping at Vina in Orion outfit dancing seductively in The Cage...?) to Scotty's transfer to Delta Vega (wasn't there a mining colony of that name where Lt. Gary Mitchell, suddenly having God-like abilities, tried to kill his best friend, James T. Kirk, in Where No Man Has Gone Before - the second pilot episode...? ). And the reason for the transfer was poor Porthos - Admiral Archer's beloved beagle meeting his end in a transporter experiment. Lovely. Not for Porthos, though. About the actors of the new old crew: Well done. It surely seems that Chris Pine and Karl Urban especially did some thorough studying on Shatner and Kelley to practise their characterization. And, surely, Urban has come a long way from that Rohan horseman to becoming chief surgeon aboard USS Enterprise. Wiggling toes in expectation of more to come from this crew, ~*Ganesha*~ P.S.: a positive economic message is in it, too... some companies will prevail. And their trademark ringtones, too.
Why. I thought that was a lovely touch. I believed it. God only knows when/how they hooked up though. Loved the film, btw. Wasn't so keen on Chekov.
^^Hotwater just doesn't like seeing a black woman with a white guy-- because the important thing is that even if he's an alien, he's still a white guy underneath. If you look at his posting history, he has issues with this sort of thing. On the other hand, there's a video on youtube that points out that the new Star Trek is actually almost a complete re-make of the original Star Wars, where Kirk is Luke (small-town boy who decides to leave it all behind for an adventure in space), Captain Pike is Obi-Wan (wise mentor figure who persuades the hero to begin his adventure), Dr. McCoy is Han Solo (sarcastic cynic with a heart of gold who grumbles his way through the film), and yes, the big spaceship that destroys planets is the Death Star (hmmmm). Keep in mind that all of this does not mean that it isn't still a good film.
Star Trek Backstory I just got around to watching my DVD of Star Trek, making it the seventh time watching this movie. (Five times in theaters in Miami, Washington DC and St. Louis and on a cruise ship TV). I got the two-disc set with features and in the deleted scenes that never showed in the movie, we learn some backstory that pulls things together. In the scene where we see the young James Kirk (13-year-old Jimmy Bennett) stealing an antique Corvette for a joy ride, which eventually runs over a cliff (one of the saddest scenes in the movie), we see the kid race by another boy hitchhiking and yells something to "Johnny" (16-year-old Spencer Daniels) as he whizzes by. James T. Kirk as a Juvenile Delinquent In the deleted scene we see the set up to this scene. Johnny is James' older brother and is having a heated argument with the (Stepfather or Uncle Frank? - Brad William Henke) and like a lot of adolescents decides to leave home. Hence, he is hitchhiking on a deserted road in Iowa. How young James got the car? He was told to wash it and the keys fall out of the sun visor. What punk kid could resist? Actually, I feel better about the loss of the car now because it was mentioned that it really belonged to their dad George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) who we know is not around to mourn the loss of such a beautiful machine.
