Do repeated viewings of Star Trek 09 hold up so far?

[Jeyl]

As far as plot holes go, I think the plot holes in any movie will become apparent when it's viewed multiple times. Even Casablanca is full of continuity errors and has a few plot holes that become very easy to spot after the tenth viewing or so. Hardly ruins the movie for me, though.

You know what the difference between Casablanca and Star Trek is? Casablanca is a wonderful movie that wasn't afraid to take it's time with the story, it developed it's characters through many multiple methods and gave our cold hearted character a sense of morality.

Kirk started out as an a**hole, and stayed a**hole. And which was the better romance? The story story rich Rick/Ilsa romance, or the out of the blue Spock/Uhura romance? At least when Ilsa was in trouble, Rick did something about it. If Spock gets berated and insulted, Uhura just stands there and watches.

Star Trek is Plan 9 in comparison to Casablanca.

 

[Jeri]

Spock and Uhura did not have a romance; the overtures she dared were prompted by his extraordinary loss.

 

[Franklin]

As far as plot holes go, I think the plot holes in any movie will become apparent when it's viewed multiple times. Even Casablanca is full of continuity errors and has a few plot holes that become very easy to spot after the tenth viewing or so. Hardly ruins the movie for me, though.

You know what the difference between Casablanca and Star Trek is? Casablanca is a wonderful movie that wasn't afraid to take it's time with the story, it developed it's characters through many multiple methods and gave our cold hearted character a sense of morality.

Kirk started out as an a**hole, and stayed a**hole. And which was the better romance? The story story rich Rick/Ilsa romance, or the out of the blue Spock/Uhura romance? At least when Ilsa was in trouble, Rick did something about it. If Spock gets berated and insulted, Uhura just stands there and watches.

Star Trek is Plan 9 in comparison to Casablanca.

My point is even "classics" can be full of mistakes that don't spoil the movie. Few good movies are mistake free or have air-tight plots. For example, try this link to read about the errors in Casablanca: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/goofs

I'll just respectfully disagree with you about the general character development in Star Trek. By the end of the movie, Kirk has become the type of man his dad was when George sacrificed himself for eveyone else on the Kelvin.

 

[DonIago]

Star Trek doesn't need cold blooded characters, especially if it's Spock's sole development aspect.

Or perhaps Kirk thought destroying Nero's ship to kill him was merciful relative to having his ship be consumed by a black hole.

Given that Spock's mother is portrayed as his most sensitive point for the entire film, is it -really- such a shock that he wouldn't particularly feel like rescuing the person who ordered her death?

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Yes.

 

[urbandk]

I thought Kirk's offer for assistance was a noble, Federation-like gesture. Emotionally compromised Spock was uncomfortable with the move but then concurred.

To destroy Nero's ship was the appropriate response to preclude another episode of time travel and genocide by Nero.

I've seen the movie six times so far, and I still find it immensely entertaining. I only wish there were more of this new Star Trek to watch.

 

[Franklin]

I thought Kirk's offer for assistance was a noble, Federation-like gesture. Emotionally compromised Spock was uncomfortable with the move but then concurred.

To destroy Nero's ship was the appropriate response to preclude another episode of time travel and genocide by Nero.

I've seen the movie six times so far, and I still find it immensely entertaining. I only wish there were more of this new Star Trek to watch.

I'm still not comfortable with Spock's response in that situation, though I think I understand it a bit better, now. I've begun to think that the conversation Spock had with his father at the transporter pad influenced him.
In a way, I think Sarek was letting Spock know that in this case, it was OK to go with his feelings in dealing with the death of his mother. Sarek even admitted that he married Amanda for love (made more poignant juxtaposed against how earlier in the movie, he told Spock the marriage was just the logical thing to do given his position). Hearing how his dad did have deep feelings for Amanda and was probably suffering as much as he was had to fuel his own feelings and cloud his logic, too.

I guess I quoted you, urbandk, because I wholeheartedly agree with your last statement. More! I want more!

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Yes. I've watched it more than a few times now (and have also listened to it) and i am enjoying it as much now, if not more.

 

[mattburgess]

Why watch the same film over and over and over again?

I loved the film as much as the next guy, but seriously. Go for a walk, or something. Read a book.

When I buy it (currently waiting to see if I get it for Christmas) I'll watch it once, then save it for some other time.

 

[scottydog]

Yes, this movie will hold up (for me) over a thousand viewings. Finally, Star Trek is fun, popular, and cool again.

 

[Franklin]

Why watch the same film over and over and over again?

I loved the film as much as the next guy, but seriously. Go for a walk, or something. Read a book.

Well, I've taken the time to read the novelization of the movie.

 

[MvRojo]

Why watch the same film over and over and over again?

I loved the film as much as the next guy, but seriously. Go for a walk, or something. Read a book.

When I buy it (currently waiting to see if I get it for Christmas) I'll watch it once, then save it for some other time.

So you've never watched a movie more than once?

 

[Kegg]

I found myself winded come the third arc both times I've seen the movie. Honestly while it's a fun movie and I loved a lot of it it does start to wear on me when the heroes have stepped up to the base to kick around in the Narada. The action setpieces are generally unmemorable also.

Heh. Those are the sort of statements I'd expect I'd make of a film I didn't really enjoy - not a lot of action movies are this entertaining in spite of the absence of, well, interesting action.

 

[Ryann866]

I saw it three times in the theater and twice now on dvd.

The film holds up as a fun, entertaining action film... It speeds by so fast that you're just pulled along and you're never bored.

However, I'm finding that the more I see it, the less emotional impact it has. In fact, I'm discovering through repeated viewings how little I am emotionaly invested in these characters at all.

Any emotional attachment I "feel", I bring to the film myself since I have an over two-decade long relationship with these characters and their situation (no matter who is playing them). Abrams' film does little to add to that attachment in my opinion. It's more like this is a fun flashy ride with some really cool people, leaving you (the audience) with nothing more.

In the theater, I found myself emotionally connecting with the film when Nimoy shows up. His scenes, helped along by the great score,really pulled me in and had some resonance. Now, after seeing it a bunch of times the Kirk/Spock Prime scenes clip along at such breakneck speed that there is so much information to absorb and little time for the characters to reflect on the weight of the whole thing.

I can still watch every other original cast Trek film, good and bad and feel fulfilled on some level when it's done -- even after seeing the films hundreds of times. With this one, as much as I enjoyed it and applaud what the filmmakers accomplished, I have the feeling I'm just going to get bored with it for the lack of emotional impact I've explained.

As far as plot holes/confusion goes - If Nero coming back through time creates the alternate universe -- shouldn't the Kelvin and it's crew look like they were from "The Cage". Shouldn't they have been wearing those uniforms and shouldn't the ship retain that aesthetic, since everything would change going forward from that point of divirgence?

When Kirk argues with Pike about that "lightning storm in space that we saw today"... when did Kirk ever see that happen?

 

[Lord Garth]

Initially, I thought of the movie as an A-minus. Now that I've seen the movie four times and have had time to reflect, I give it a solid B. No more, no less.

Nero is a bit thin and he's not just a villian, he's a VILLIAN!!! in all capitals. Next time I hope there's a better motivation than "He went crazy!" and I hope the villian isn't protroyed as such an blatant, no subtlety about it antagonist complete with such bombastic music. I know movie Trek villians haven't been subtle in the past either but this time, especially, they laid it on really thick. What Nero does is serious but it's hard to take Nero himself seriously.

Kirk needs to learn how to be a better fighter. He keeps getting beat up. Pike and Sarek call off the those fighting with him and Sulu bails him out of trouble in another instance.

Given the scale of the events, I can see Kirk getting promoted to Captain from Cadet after saving Earth, so all the promotions don't really seem as much of a problem to me as they did before. Plus, they had to get the entire crew assembled and in their postions by the end of the movie. With only two hours of storytime to work with, things had to happen fast and cinematic drama requires a "show don't tell" approach.

It's a good movie but I see plenty of room for the characters to grow. How much and for how long is Spock going to be willing to embrace humanity? What experiences will make Kirk become more mature? Will Carol Marcus or a character like her (I'm going to make an educated guess that Kirk will have a love interest and it won't be Uhura) make Kirk choose between life as a Captain and a personal life outside of it? This movie was about setting up the status quo but the real growth should come from the next movie which ought to challenge that status quo.

I'm hoping for a series with continual development that's moving in a partciular direction, not a series with static entries that feel like one disposable and random adventure after another.

EDIT -- Something I have to add: this movie easily had the best opening sequence of all 11 movies. Easily. It looks great, it was shot great, very dramatic, very effective and it just works. It beats out TMP's opening with the Klingons, TUC's explosion of Praxis and the Excelsior getting caught on the shockwave, and Picard's nightmare assimilation at the beginning of FC. My favorites before XI.

 

[Therin of Andor]

What I really don't get is in Star Trek 4 they go back to the same timeline

Or did they? Maybe in the "real" timeline, Sarek, Rand and Chapel all drowned in San Francisco when the huge plexiglass windows broke open. We know only that the Klingon ship brought two whales to an Earth being bombarded by a giant probe, but was it the same timeline they left?

Remember that in TAS ("Yesteryear"), Spock returned to a timeline where his pet sehlat had died of a poisonous le-matya bite during Young Spock's rehearsal kahs-wan, and not of old age.

Star Trek 8, the same can be said.

How do we know it's the same? Cochrane looked very different! And there's a timeline where Cochrane and Lily make the first warp experiment and another where Riker and La Forge go for the joyride instead.

shouldn't the Kelvin and it's crew look like they were from "The Cage". Shouldn't they have been wearing those uniforms...

Maybe those uniforms were about to be introduced. To me the Kelvin crew is wearing a uniform design that is an evolution of Archer's Earth Starfleet uniform design.

 

[Clancy_s]

Uhura's moves on Spock were her idea -- and the idea of every Spock lover

Not really: one of the things that first attracted me to Spock was his social isolation and awkwardness because I felt that way at the time. The first time I saw the movie I was pleased Spock got the girl but now I wonder if it'll make the character less appealing to today's geeky teens.

Yes.

No.

Why watch the same film over and over and over again?

I enjoy it: partly rewatching bits I love, partly picking up on stuff I missed before. If you don't your brain must be wired differently to mine: not better or worse, just differently.

 

[shapeshifter]

A film's shine wearing off over time is natural, even the best ones don't last forever.

What gets me is when I see people who once raved for a film suddenly turn on it, become masher's of it as though the flick never gave them any pleasure at all.

I may someday not like Star Trek as much as I do now but I will never forget the fun of its glory days.

 

[Jeri]

Uhura's moves on Spock were her idea -- and the idea of every Spock lover

Not really: one of the things that first attracted me to Spock was his social isolation and awkwardness because I felt that way at the time. The first time I saw the movie I was pleased Spock got the girl but now I wonder if it'll make the character less appealing to today's geeky teens.

Yes, really. You said it yourself that you were pleased; and I think you don't have to worry, because personally I don't think it's going to last.

 

[Kegg]

Inspired by this thread I have rewatched the film a third time, and yep: Those action scenes just make me feel winded and I don't find them engaging or entertaining much at all. I feel like an old man squinting at an eight year old playing a video game, trying vainly to keep track of who's shooting whom and why. When the movie heads off to the Narada is sort of a point where I plain begin to lose interest.

The only 'action' scene that works isn't really an action scene: George Kirk's heroic sacrifice. This is mostly sold through Giacchino's score, which has grown on me in repeat viewings (the choral stylings for when the Narada is being sucked into the black hole are also quite lovely).

Beyond that, though, the film's strengths were how it handled its characters, and I still think that's true - Kirk, Spock, Nimoy Spock, Pike, the only odd man out is Nero, who makes me yearn for the subtelty of Ru'afo. A swift pace and likeable, well-drawn characters, with some moments of genuine cinematic panache and even failing that an appreciably large budget - this is just a summer movie that gosh darn works. The palpable nostalgia it has for TOS certainly helps greatly: 'Thrusters on standby', Nimoy-Spock says, as if he, like us, is fondly recalling that show.

I know I'll pick it up again sometime next year, maybe, or just before the sequel rolls around.