akashiver | (no subject)

The relaunch of the trek franchise is a funny, shiny, character-driven romp through the origins of an alternate Trek universe. And did I mention that it's funny?

The comparisons people have been making to Star Wars seem apt to me. From the little goofball alien assisting Scotty to the random perils faced by main characters, this is a movie that feels, in some ways, more like Lucas's original Star Wars: A New Hope than it does like the frequently stiff and utopian Star Trek movies. Sure, there's some dark new elements to this Star Trek universe (hell, even Spock hits people. A lot.) But overall this movie doesn''t take itself too seriously: it's out to have a good time, and it's going too take you with it.

It's hard to say what I was more impressed with, the pacing or the acting. I guess the acting has to be praised because, to be honest, I didn't notice it. The various young actors managed to embody their (in some cases, very recognizable) roles without being grating, irritating, cliched, or obviously imitating the previous actor who played their part. Zachary Quinto (playing Spock) was easily the most interesting person to watch, but I have to also give credit to Chris Pine as Kirk. To be honest, I think he's the part of the film I had the most problem with in the trailers: the clips shown seemed to be saying "look, we got this young "hot" actor to play an All-American cocky asshole! And you're going to admire him because he's cool and rebellious and stuff! Look, he steals cars. Isn't that cool?" And like most things the marketers desperately tell us are cool, it came across as, well, not.

Plus, I'm not a big fan of the original Kirk. I mean, Captain Picard had gravitas and dignity. He was interesting to watch. But Kirk always seemed like a watered-down James Bond: the ultimate male fantasy of a ladies man with a glorified car, going from planet to planet breaking rules and scoring chicks.

The new version of Kirk stayed true to that original premise, but filled in some more dimensions. Sure, Kirk's a ladies man, but not as much as he thinks he is. And his rule-breaking is driven by an Ender's Game-like calculation that figures the only way to win is to think outside the box. In short, as played by Chris Pine, he's pretending to be dumber and more of an asshat than he actually is. And that made him interesting to watch.

But like I said, I only really noticed the acting later, because when I was watching the film the actors seemed to inhabit their roles pretty naturally. Sure, the introduction of each character had a "Oh look it's X!" beat, but then the moment passed, and the story moved on.

Which brings me to the element I noticed most about the film: its tight plotting. The slam-bang opening managed to set up many of the storylines in the film without feeling too rushed or too slow. And practically every scene we see afterwards delivers its goods in the same manner, telling us enough so that we have a richer understanding of the story and characters, and then: next scene. No joke was beaten to death in the making of this movie. No fight scene went on too long. It's good, economical storytelling, and I was impressed.

So in toto: go see this movie. If you've never heard of Trek before, it'll be a fun evening at the theatre. If you're like me and have seen some Trek episodes here and there, you'll get a kick out of it. If you're a Trekkie - well, at the end of the day, it's a Trek movie, isn't it?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes!! I loved the movie and your assessment of the Kirk character was perfect. I guess that's why I liked him more in this one than the original. :)

I liked your comparison of the Kirk's "Kobayashi Maru" solution to Ender's Game. That's a super-important part of Kirk's backstory in the series, so it was great to see it in the movie. But I hadn't make the Ender's Game analogy before -- good thinking!

I just saw it. Thought it was... I should make a post.