Kirk - War Criminal?

[donners22]

Of the handful of problems I had with a film I otherwise enjoyed, Kirk's action of firing on Nero's ship at the end was not one of them. Indeed, I barely even considered it.

However, I was looking at a quite positive review of the film, and was stunned to see a host of user comments tearing the film apart. One of their biggest problems seems to be Kirk. Here's a selection of comments:

the ending is morally repulsive with Kirk's casual order to open fire.

Captain Kirk is an egotistical, vain, loudmouth in this film who slaughters the crew of an already-beaten ship at the end.

Kirk's final order to fire on Nero's ship makes him as big a war criminal as his adversary. Utterly vile.

we see the egotistical and trigger-happy character of Kirk taken to his logical conclusion: In a moment of arrogance and vanity, he commits a war crime by opening fire on a crippled ship full of civilians. In the next scene, he of course receives a medal, commending this action.

It is incredibly dumb throughout but what sinks it is the vicious ending.


Kirk "compassionately" offers Nero a chance to surrender, merely as a ruse. When Nero declines, Kirk opens fire on his already crippled ship, that is sinking into a black hole anyway. Nero's civilian crew, who have no chance to surrender, are all massacred as well.

There seem to be a hell of a lot of negative responses, and I don't think there is some conspiracy theory of haters ganging up on it.

The only think I can think of is that the network this review aired on, and the show in particular, tends to attract a leftist, arthouse type of audience, which would perhaps be less tolerant of big-budget Hollywood action films.

Are there some legit concerns there, or are they missing the point?

http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2547372.htm

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Kirk's actions are morally ambiguous, but not morally praiseworthy.

 

[Tentacle]

well add that to the list of uhula kissing spock and spock tossing kirk out an escape pod.

not to mention the fact that kirk went from a cadet to captain skipping all the ranks in between.

I guess all the starfleet officers were on vulcan when it exploded and they have to refill the ranks quickly.

 

[OtterVomit]

That scene did leave a bad taste in my mouth. I've heard it postulated that the reason for destroying the Narada was that the ship might possibly be thrown even further back in time by the new singularity being formed, although the fact that its forming INSIDE Nero's ship would seem to negate that idea.

 

[tauntme]

I didn't give that scene a second thought. Nero killed 6 billion people on Vulcan, gets caught in blackhole, Kirk lays his hand out in assitance, Nero spits in it, Kirk wastes ammunition.

What's there to talk about?

Narada = maybe 100 romulan miners? Versus 6 billion Vulcans. Hm...tough choice whether to fire or not.

 

[Penhall99]

Only in this overly-PC world that we live in, could Kirk's actions be considered "reprehensible"..... Nero DESTROYED Vulcan. And the Kelvin...and many other starships and milions upon millions of people.

And after refusing Kirk's offer for assistance, Kirk fires on Nero's ship....And thats a bad thing?

I suppose Kirk should be held responsible for kicking Kruge in the face at the end of Star Trek III as well. He offered to help him, but Kruge refused, so Kirk killed him....How cold-blooded! I hope in the next movie, Starfleet forms a war crimes commission and prosectutes Kirk! And Spock and the rest of the crew for standing by while Kirk brutally fired upon Nero's ship!!!

How ridiculous can you get? UGH....I just can't believe it.

 

[Snaploud]

Question: Would Nero's ship have been destroyed by the black hole, or would the ship simply have been transported to another point in time (giving them the option to continue their rampage)? It may have some relevance to the war criminal question.

 

[AmbassadorPointyEars]

Question: Would Nero's ship have been destroyed by the black hole, or would the ship simply have been transported to another point in time (giving them the option to continue their rampage)? It may have some relevance to the war criminal question.

It probably would have been destroyed, but in the abscence of complete certainty, I would have destroyed it as well.

 

[OtterVomit]

It really didn't look to me like Kirk firing on the ship even destroyed it (although it probably did cause casualties). It seemed to me that the damage inflicted only helped the Narada break apart before being crushed into a singularity.

 

[donners22]

Looking toward the middle of those user reviews, there is a distinct anti-American sentiment which seems to have informed (or misinformed) some of the criticism.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Kirk wasn't firing at the ship, he was firing with the ship.