Star Trek Into Awesomeness…But Not Perfection

Grab your seats, class is again in session.

Today’s lesson takes us where no one has gone before….well, ok, since 2009. Today we take a look at:

Having never been a Star Trek fan at all, I was tremendously surprised how much I enjoyed the J.J. Abrahams’ helmed Star Trek remake from 2009. It was done so well that I honestly didn’t even need to know the characters going in, even though I knew some anyway. They were all given enough screen time to learn pretty much who they were and who they were eventually going to be. When I heard they were going to do another (which surprised no one) I was honestly looking forward to seeing it and I can honestly say, I was not disappointed.

I kind of forgot my old review method until I went back to re-read some of them recently (hey, I was bored, don’t judge me.) I had forgotten that I used to say up front whether or not I enjoyed it so people didn’t have to read the whole thing if they didn’t want to. Some people think I’m a touch wordy. Fair enough. So, to get it out of the way, I really enjoyed this movie. Yes, it had some things I did not enjoy, which I’ll get into, but man, this was really well done. The visuals are stunning, the acting is great, and for the most part, the story was good. This is one of the few movies I have seen in the last few years that once it kicked into gear, it never, ever stopped. Once you hit about 20 minutes into the movie, I don’t really it ever slowing back down at all. Go see it in the theater, you won’t regret it.

So, what did I like. Let me start with the main protagonist, Benedict Cumberbatch. I had seen him previously on the BBC show Sherlock and loved his character there. After seeing this movie, I’m convinced he should be in a LOT more, because he stole this movie. He was fantastic. He does have a twist to his character, which most people already have guessed, but I won’t share it here. If you must know, go look at IMDB. They list it there. When you find out who he is, and why, you get a true appreciation for his presence in this movie and how he performs it. It’s just that good. And by the way Sony, when you remake the Fantastic Four, if you don’t cast him as Victor Von Doom, you’ll be making a huge mistake, because he would rock that character. The main cast I don’t think I need to get in to, as they are the same as the previous movie, and they are all excellent. From Chris Pine to Simon Pegg, they all do it again and in excellent fashion. They only other new characters are mostly background, aside from Alice Eve and Peter Weller. Alice Eve’s part is fairly small, but definitely integral. And honestly, it doesn’t have to be large, it’s Alice Eve. She’s on The Professor’s list of “Actresses Who Could Eat Toast on Film and I’d Still Pay to See It.” With Peter Weller, well…it’s Robocop. How can you not love Robocop in anything he does? He plays Admiral Alexander Marcus and is similar to Eve where his screen time isn’t all THAT large, but couldn’t be any more important than it is. Hard to say much about it without giving anything away.

I can’t say enough about the visuals. It will never cease to amaze me what movie makers are able to do these days. It looks so incredible that it’s very easy to get lost in it. There was a visual element that drove me insane, but that’s coming up shortly. The other thing I loved about this movie was the flow because it did just that: it flowed. There was never a dull moment and everything moved. I never had a moment that took me out of the movie or made me lose focus on what was going on, and that happens a lot these days. I was hugely surprised with that.

Now, what didn’t I like. There are really only two things I did not like, one annoyed me throughout the movie, one just annoyed me as it happened. The one that annoyed me throughout the movie was actually related to the visuals. If you know anything about J.J. Abrahams, he is known as the King of the Lens Flare. It’s not a moniker given to be kind. People think he tends to overuse it, and honestly, he does. Maybe not so much in this one, but there was something else that bothered me here. I guess you would call it reflections. There were a lot of points in the movie where the camera view is supposed to be from a video screen and for whatever reason, a LOT of those times they continued to show portions of the screen over top of the actors. It’s hard to explain without seeing it. It was almost as if you were supposed to be inside the monitor looking out, so you would see what was displayed from your side. It was seriously annoying. It’s probably one of those things that will be more annoying when someone points it out (like I just did) so I apologize if this ruins anything for you. The other thing that bothered me was the obvious pull of scenes from the original movies. Look, I get it, this is a remake, but some of those scenes are iconic and should not be redone, especially if you are going to change it. It almost feels like you are, albeit unintentionally (or maybe intentionally, who knows), giving the finger to the original. When you see it, you’ll know what I mean.

Bottom line – this was a really, really good movie. Exactly what I expected. Worth every penny paid to see it in IMAX 3D. I would go see it in the theaters, because you might regret it if you don’t.

I don’t believe I’ll have anything until Man of Steel, but I have to see what else is coming out. There are a few I’m interested in, I just don’t know dates.

Until next time…

Class dismissed.