STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS - Grading & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Discussion in 'Star Trek Movies: Kelvin Universe' started by Agent Richard07, Apr 18, 2013.

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Grade the movie...

  1. A+

    18.8%
  2. A

    20.6%
  3. A-

    13.2%
  4. B+

    11.1%
  5. B

    7.9%
  6. B-

    4.1%
  7. C+

    5.7%
  8. C

    5.0%
  9. C-

    3.5%
  10. D+

    1.5%
  11. D

    1.6%
  12. D-

    1.3%
  13. F

    5.7%
  1. ryng12345

    ryng12345 Ensign Newbie

    Joined:
    May 21, 2013
    Star Trek Into Darkness
    My Pros and Cons Review

    Pros:

    Lots of action and expensive-looking sets. You definitely get to see the best of what Hollywood has to offer.

    McCoy, Checkov, Scotty & Uhura are more likeable and have better dialog lines than their original TOS counterparts.

    I love how Spock tried to use the Vulcan neck pinch several times as a desperate attempt on an outmatched fight. That's exactly what Spock would've done. The fight scene was well choreographed.

    The Spock/Uhura relationship was better defined than in the first movie. Spock's explanation on his emotions in the relationship with Uhura was a brilliant piece of writing and acting.

    JJ Abrams made two great Star Trek films without himself being a ST fan. It makes me excited to see how his SW film will turn out, which he is an admitted devoted fan.

    Cons:

    What's with the awful lighting? Every scene looks like it's missing one of the primary colors. Most of the scenes didn't look right, color-wise.

    What's with that boring score? There was no memorable melody in it. It was almost like an orchestra tuning their instruments before dress rehearsal.

    The inside of the Enterprise looks like one of those ice house tours, very cold and inhospitable. Whoever designed the set probably was going for sterile and shiny instead of a place where people would want to stay for five years.

    That scene where Kirk and Spock touch hands through the glass and say goodbye was so corny and uncharacteristic of two people who have a short history and got on each other's nerves that it made me question JJ Abraham's ability to be trusted with any scenes with strong human interest elements. However, that opening scene in the first movie where Kirk's dad died was done so masterfully that it almost made me cry. What went wrong here?

    McCoy said, "I'm not a so-and-so. I'm a doctor" too many times. He probably said it more times in this one movie than he said it in all the TV shows. It would be good if it was done in a clever way and lead to something. But it was merely just overused with no build-up or purpose.

    I hate the new transporter effect. Spock Prime changed the timeline which justifies the many alterations in the storyline. But it does not justify that swirling overdone transporter beam. Just because the timeline was slightly changed doesn't mean you could go ahead and change everything in the Universe.

    I give it a C (out of ABCDF). But I will definitely be seeing it at least two more times before it leaves the theaters.
     
  2. gottacook

    gottacook Captain Captain

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    Location:
    Maryland
    No, a thirty-ONE-year-old movie as of this weekend. Anyone else here see it on premiere day?
     
  3. Agenda

    Agenda Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2009
    Is this where I get labeled as being one of the "haters"?

    I enjoyed the 2009 film despite its plot weaknesses and I've defended that film online. I wanted to love this one too.

    I thought I would love it given the good reviews but I was left disappointed by its lack of originality.

    It was supposed to be one of the core emotional scenes in the film, but at Spock's "Khaaan" I was rolling my eyes in the theatre.
     
    Nyotarules likes this.
  4. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2001
    Who are you asking?

    Of course.

    Had to go down and stand in line outside the KB MacArthur theater waiting for their box office to open at noon that day, to buy a whole bunch of tickets for the 7:30 PM show. The line was already way down the block, and the manager kept looking outside with some apparent concern. They did not expect that kind of response to the movie.
     
  5. M'Sharak

    M'Sharak Definitely Herbert. Maybe. Moderator

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    Eh, let's not. ;)
     
  6. GMDreia

    GMDreia Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2007
    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    I just saw the film for the second time. I loved it the second time around. Maybe it's that by the second viewing, I had time to acclimate myself to some of the things I'd had doubts about. Spock's "KHAAAAAN!" made more sense the second time around for some reason. Here was a man who had been fighting his emotions for the entire film and now he just couldn't bottle it up anymore. And while acknowledging that Cumberbatch's Khan is sociopolitically problematic, I love the portrayal. I think he was a bit understated if anything, the marketing material and those Harrison character profiles on trekmovie.com prepared me for khan being a way bigger part of the film than he was. I really would've liked more sense of time passing; the whole film takes place in the space of one day. I loved it all the same, though.
     
  7. Belz...

    Belz... Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    You mean, Noonien that day, right ?

    Worse joke ever.
     
  8. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2001

    Not possible, as it contains no reference to lens flares.
     
  9. RAMA

    RAMA Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 13, 1999
    Location:
    USA
    Rotten Tomatoes report: 225 reviews, 195 fresh! 87% Still running as the best rated wide release movie of the year.

    RAMA
     
  10. Locutus of Bored

    Locutus of Bored Yo, Dawg! I Heard You Like Avatars... In Memoriam

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    That's an (overused) byproduct of the amount of tweaks you can make to the image onscreen in the era of digital filmmaking where everything is scanned into a computer.

    Flesh tones typically fall within the orange color range, and in order to make the characters stand out prominently onscreen, you want to place them against a background that's a complimentary color, which on the opposite end of the color wheel is teal. So nowadays you see a bunch of big budget movies that are almost overwhelmingly orange and teal in color.

    http://theabyssgazes.blogspot.com/2010/03/teal-and-orange-hollywood-please-stop.html

    Also, Abrams likes to do a lot of camera trickery and filters, though there wasn't as many in this film as in the last that I noticed.

    Wow. Well, that's subjective, so to each their own, but I disagree completely. My personal favorite was Giacchino's London Calling piano/orchestral piece when the parents were going to see their little girl in the hospital. I thought it was such a moving, evocative piece, which is typical of his piano work (in Lost, especially).

    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTYcxIFBSCE[/yt]

    We haven't gotten a glimpse of anyone's quarters or recreational spaces aboard the ship yet, so they might have a more comfortable, down to Earth look than the iBridge and THX-1138 corridors, which are more clinical and right to business.

    Nothing, IMO, but again, that's subjective.

    As far as Kirk and Spock go, they get annoyed at each other because they both begrudgingly realize that the other is often right, and they constantly challenge each other intellectually and emotionally. It's a mistake to assume that because they argue that they're not friends. They care a great deal for each other now that they're a year into their mission.

    This one's not subjective though, it's just plain wrong. He said "Damn it, man, I'm a doctor, not a torpedo technician!" exactly one time. Kirk chastises him for his overuse of metaphors at one point, but that was the only use of his signature "I'm a doctor, not a _________" catchphrase in the film, so no, it's not overused or said more than all the TV shows.

    http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/I%27m_a_doctor,_not_a...

    The transporter effect has changed within the Prime Universe numerous times from TOS to the movies to TNG/DS9/VOY and then ENT. So, yeah, they can change it, and there's plenty of precedent and justification to do so. I personally like the swirlie effect, but I can see why someone wouldn't.
     
  11. Michael

    Michael Good Bad Influence Moderator

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    Here's a spot-on 40-minute review of the movie from the guys over at RedLetterMedia for their web series Half in the Bag. I agree with pretty much everything they're saying. It's consoling to see that I'm not the only one who felt like that when leaving the movie theatre.
     
  12. Belz...

    Belz... Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Speaking of... call me crazy, but I absolutely don't mind the lens flares.
     
  13. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    America, Fuck Yeah!!!
    A forty minute review of a two-hour film? That just sounds tedious.
     
  14. Michael

    Michael Good Bad Influence Moderator

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    Not to me. YMMV, of course. Personally, I love those guys and their humor. I enjoyed each one of those 40 minutes. You should give it a try.
     
  15. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2001
    Location:
    America, Fuck Yeah!!!
    I'll wait for the 800-page novel. Thanks! :techman:
     
  16. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2001
    If someone will discipline themselves to write a cogent movie review I may read it. I don't watch fanboys who think they're funny rambling on video about what they do and don't like - not even (maybe not especially) Harry Knowles. :lol:
     
  17. CorporalClegg

    CorporalClegg Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2001
    Don't hold your breath.
     
  18. Ryan8bit

    Ryan8bit Commodore Commodore

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    Location:
    St. Paul, MN
    Red Letter Media isn't so much a review as it is its own type of, well, media. It's more of a commentary on movies similar to MST3K than it is any kind of actual review, and they're always done in jest. If you've never watched the reviews of the Star Wars prequels or the Star Trek Next Generation movies, you should at least give it a shot. But yeah, they're not for everybody.
     
  19. beamMe

    beamMe Commodore

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    Mar 17, 2011
    Location:
    Europa
    If I'd wanted to see slightly overweight guys in their thirties, I'd look in the mirror.

    I'd rather watch attractive people do interesting things - going to see STID again tomorrow.
     
  20. Belz...

    Belz... Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
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    This is my favourite post of the day. :)