STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS - Grading & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Pfft.... OldKirk would have phasered the volcano from orbit.

 

The only way to be sure.

 

Nah. He'd Kirkchop it into rubble.

 

IIRC, it was suggested that the Enterprise submerged herself far out at sea, and moved up to shore underwater, over a period of a day or more. She could have left the same way without being seen.

 

do you think starfleet rebuilt alactraz? or do you think they were just "hmm we're going to just leave a national landmark be a pile of rubble?"

 

Well if you rebuild it, it's no longer the original landmark, is it ?

 

I would think Starfleet would be busy with public relations after the Vengeance crashed into a major Earth city resulting in the deaths of a large undetermined number of people. I don't know where rebuilding a former prison would rank in that effort - I imagine it would be a low value item.

 

and yet the US is still rebuilding the trade centers after the 9/11 attacks. so i'm just saying it could happen.

 

Not exactly, since the new buildings aren't copies of the destroyed ones.

Frankly, a lot of San Franciscans hate the Alcatraz prison and would just as soon see it gone.

 

There is a difference, I think, between a building that is being currently used and a building that is not being currently used. If one had to chose which to replace, which one would be replaced first? I think the former.

The Trade Centers were a focus of activity in New York, and were seen by many as a symbol of economic prosperity. This is one of the reasons that they were targeted by Al Qaeda. The replacement of them is a form of communication to the world that New York will not be frightened by terrorists.

 

I saw STID again for the 3rd time yesterday looking out for certain things. I noticed that there was a reasonable gender and racial distribution in Starfleet, on the Enterprise and in the street scenes. In San Francisco I thought the costuming of a future Earth was pretty good - a mixture of old and new dress. I think the mixture of street cars with hover cars was interesting.

 

I'm not going to read this entire topic, way to many pages.

But STID was finally released in the Netherlands last thursday, and yesterday I finally had the change to see it.

I loved it!! Ofcourse it had some little flaws, but in the end, those were small enough for me not to be bothered by them.
I suppose the biggest the thing for me would be, is that our antagonist sometimes felt lacking in motivation, but part of me also saw the logic and appeal in that. That his entire reason for doing what he does, is actually THAT simple, that straight to the point: family, and wanting them back.

In Star Trek 09, one of the things I loved the most, was how Karl Urban could really channel DeForrest Kelley into his performance, making Bones completely regonizable but also his own character. Here, the channeling felt less, I got more Urban and less Kelley. It seemed at times that all he did was shout and curse at Kirk, something McCoy would do, but this time without the comforting words of wisdom he would also give.

Cumberbatch was amazing. Nuff said.

Pine and Quinto really had Kirk and Spock nailed in this one!!! The little things that make Kirk and Spock who they are as individuals but also as friends were very well done. Again, at times I felt that Pine had the little things down a bit better in the previous film, but perhaps that's because I've seen Star Trek 09 many times now and just have been able to notice it more.

The special effects.... Not only were they stunning, they truly helped with creating the atmosphere and telling the story. For example, the chase through the mines in The Hobbit looked stunning, but felt more like eye-candy then really setting the scene. Here, when the Vengeance suddenly came up behind the Enterprise at high warp, together with the music, it truly created a sense of 'oh shit'. The crewmen being sucked out while the ship was still in warp, I felt almost sick.
My girlfriend, who has become a big Trek fan in the last few years, has stated before that she never felt the emotional connection to ships as a lot fans do (except perhaps for DS9), and was always more emotionally invested in the characters and stories. Here, were the Enterprise was crashing, she told me she was talking to herself and going 'please don't crash her'. The first time she ever called a ship 'her'.
Using special effects in such an effect, to evoke emotions in people instead of only being pretty, is something that's forgotten a lot, and really worked well here.

The Klingons. LOVED the Klingons.

Overall, I couldn't be more pleased about this movie. Again, it had a few little flaws, but those were minor for me and didn't stop me from enjoying the movie.

I suppose I could get into a very lengthy and detailed review of every scene, but I'm not liked that. I loved it, got a huge kick out of it, and got away satisfied. And that's all I really want.

 

Just saw it a few days ago. I was shocked.

I had my qualms with Abram's 2009 Trek, but overall I enjoyed the experience of watching it. STID however, was dull, cliche, and incredibly stupid.

At some point, the movie stops telling a story, and just becomes a mess of various melodrama laden scenes filled with Star Trek references, idiotic plot holes, rehashed sequences and characters that have to constantly explain themselves in order to advance the narrative.

It felt very rushed and slapped together.

Paramount has been trying to force Trek into an action series for the past 23 years. Its sorta worked twice; this wasn't one of them.

 

Here we go again:

To sum this up, Star Trek's been an action-adventure franchise from the first pilot onward. Insinuating anything else is to deny reality.

 

Not to mention that it's very hard to tell an exploration-of-humanity story in a movie. Mostly, people go to cinemas for entertainment. This was very, very entertaining. Besides, looking at the people that complain about this movie, they are in general the same group of people who were 'predicting' that this movie was gonna suck. Self-fulfilling prophecy anyone??

I sincerely doubt that most Trek-fans talking shit about this movie went in with an open mind.

 

Yes, Star Trek has always had action sequences. That doesn't mean action was its defining classification characteristic.

Star Trek has primarily been drama/science fiction, with action being secondary.

In an effort to bring in a wider audience, Paramount has been trying to force Trek movies into action flicks for the past 2 decades. It's always felt forced, and rarely worked.

But this is all beside the point. If STID was a good action movie then I'd be fine with it (it's just not my preference). The problem with STID was that it was a bad film regardless of it's genre.

 

Explain.

 

Box office revenues disagree with you. I know it's your opinion that it sucks, but it doesn't mean anything objectively.

That's your opinion. NBC sexed it up after the first pilot because they believed, rightly so in my opinion, that it wouldn't catch on.

 

I thought they were all hover (including a fabled street car) - might have to see it again!

 

When Scotty tells Kirk how silly it is for a starship to be on the bottom of an ocean - he mentions that they have been there since last night - so it was probably under a cover of darkness.