After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.
Director: J.J. Abrams
Chris Pine: Kirk
Benedict Cumberatch: John Harrison
Zachary Quinto:
Spock
Bruce Greenword: Christopher Pike
Zoe Saldana:
Uhura
Peter Weller: Marcus
Karl Urban:
McCoy
Alice Eve: Carol
Simon Pegg: Scott
John Cho: Sulu
Anton Yelchin: Chekov
Well I had a chance to see
one of the anticipated films this year. Does this satisfy as a great
film? Well I have to do a Gollum to
do that and split my personality (Movie Reviewer vs. Star Trek fan) upon
reviewing this. [My precious] Please note that I am going
to try and not let any spoilers out. This film is filled with them.
Movie Reviewer:
This is a great summer
blockbuster movie. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and the rest of the crew
are back in this sequel to J.J. Abram’s version of the Star Trek
universe. It is filled with lots of action, suspense, thrills, and
humor. This is what a summer blockbuster movie is suppose to deliver and
it does. There is a continued relationship between the Kirk and Spock
characters that was just formed in the first J.J. Abram’s movie, and it takes
it to a whole new level. Benedict Cumberatch is great as the main villain
and he’s the hottest actor from Britain, since he represents probably the best version of
Sherlock Holmes out there in the 21st century – only Basil Rathbone
can he compete with. This is a great film to watch and enjoy. The
story plot so to say (without being spoiled) is to say this: It takes on
a classic story with a twist. It does reference a lot of stuff once again
with the original Star Trek TV shows and movies.
The weaknesses that I can
take from this will be explained by the Star Trek fan (my second half).
The major weakness is that the film is on “overdrive” with not enough time to
stop and take a deep breath. Many other reviewers online has said the
same thing.
Star Trek Fan:
Hi, I am the Star Trek fan –
or fanboy to be precise. My science fiction tastes tends to be more
cerebral than just action packed. I know that I am a minority to much of
the mainstream audience. I like my Science Fiction to have some science
and thus meaning some realistic concepts, philosophies and theories as the
foundation for a science fiction. My science fiction should not be brain
dead, mindless action. It needs some grey matter. And
unfortunately, too many studios make movies for the mainstream audience who
tends to want mindless action or basically a 2 hour carnival ride in 3-D or
I-MAX, Instead of actually getting something substantive from them.
I love Star Wars with a
passion, and there are times that Star Trek and Star Wars have “bumped heads”
with each other. This rivalry is like between the Beatles and Rolling
Stones, Republicans and Democrats, Coke and Pepsi. Star Wars is
more space opera. It deals with fantasy, mysticism “The Force”, action,
and a more distinct conflict between good and evil. Star Trek is
more Science Fiction, and tends toward science and theory. In the
Star Trek universe, the plot of the TV shows or the movies has to have some
realistic or theoretical foundation.
Star Trek fans care about the
maximum warp capability of the Enterprise (the original Constitution class as
well as –A and –D class [in the Star Trek: The Next Generation].
There a books about the maps of the Federation, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan
Empire, their neutral zone areas, where the Gorn and the Tholians are
located. There are technical books upon the theory of warp drive, whereby
the Di-Lithium crystals are used to channel Anti-Matter into warp coils in the warp
nassels which can generate space warp – a folding of space itself around the
space craft which allows the space craft to go faster than light speed, which
is theoretically considered by Einstein as the fastest speed that any matter
can go.
Non Star Trek fans don’t care
about this. They actually have to have taken a Physics class to
fully understand or enjoy the subject. And who takes Physics today in our
public school system? That’s one reason why Star Trek fans (as well as Star
Wars fans to a certain extent) are considered nerds in American culture.
Nerds take Physics and likes it.
J.J. Abrams – a well know
Star Wars fan - was given the keys of the Star Trek franchise by Paramount
to make a more mainstream movie, to allow non-Star Trek fans to enjoy
it. That 2009 film and “Star Trek Into Darkness” is also not made for
hard core Star Trek fans. Even the greatest known movie in the Star Trek
franchise “Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Kahn” was considered too much
action, and too close to being Star Wars like.
Gene Roddenberry, the creator
of Star Trek and a devote atheist, hated Star Trek 2: The Wrath of
Kahn. To him, mankind has evolved to not evoke conflict like that – Kirk
vs. Kahn – because the Enterprise and the Federation are about peace. In
fact, the original story pushed by Roddenberry for the first picture Star
Trek: The Motion Picture was not about a superior machine coming to Earth
and meeting his creator – i.e. V-GER. His original story by Roddenberry
was to have GOD Himself come back to Earth and then humanity tells GOD that we
don’t need Him anymore. Star Trek: The Next Generation is more
Roddenberry than the original series, I believe. I have a good feeling
that he would not like the two J.J. Abrams films that much because of that.
I am not an extreme as Roddenberry and never could be an atheist, but I still
love the entertainment and philosophy of the original Star Trek and The Next
Generation TV shows as well as the first set of movies with Kirk and Spock
(excluding four and five).
Back to the point, the two
J.J. Abrams is missing that Star Trek mentality of a scientific plot. In
this movie, it is going so fast that you can’t think why a situation is
occurring. These J.J. Abrams movies are fun to watch, but it is not really
Star Trek per say. It’s Star Wars mentality being placed into the Star
Trek universe. I can handle that myself, because I love both Star Wars
and Star Trek. Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Kahn was action packed,
but was still in the Star Trek universe.
I would love to say more that
many hard core Star Trek fans would not like, but then I would tell
spoilers. But you hardcore Sci-Fi fans
out there. You can’t blame why J.J. Abrams went this way.
He is a Star Wars fan, and I
think he will make a great Star Wars film on 2015. But he will go through
the same scrutiny that he has with Star Trek fans. They will be comparing his
version of Star Wars that to the original trilogy. But look up, it will
be better than “The Phantom Menace”.
Conclusion:
“Star Trek Into Darkness” is
a great movie to watch. If you are a hard core Star Trek fan or want your
Star Trek story to be more scientific – the Star Trek mentality since its
inception, you will have to turn that side off to enjoy this film. It is
a great joyride. And right now, it is the best film of the year so
far. The ones I believe will contend with “Star Trek Into Darkness” would
be “Man of Steel” or “The Wolverine” or a dark horse film that came under the
radar – like Skyfall did to me last year.
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