The Good, The Bad, and J.J. Abrams Vision

[presence]

I saw the film last night and I can't help but agree with much of Scott Mendelson's online review in The Huffington Post.

First the Good: The exterior of the Enterprise looks great -- a little busy on the inside. Chris Pine is quite good as a young, brash James Kirk - he hits the right note without overdoing it. Bruce Greenwood does a fine job as Pike. Simon Pegg is GREAT as Scotty - very funny. Karl Urban's first scene as McCoy had me laughing. John Cho was good, and though Sulu had a great action scene, I felt like his character development was short-changed. Zach Quinto as Spock grew on me as the film unfolded, as did Zoe Zaldana's Uhura. The whole cast worked well together. Kudos to the casting director.

Then the Bad: This group needs better plot writing. Is there much of a plot? As a comic book it works well -- but as a film? Kirk going directly from cadet to captain? Even ENTERPRISE had a better origin story than this. And while it is great to see Leonard Nimoy, his part was written as a caricature of his role -- as if to say, "Look, it's me, Spock, and I'm from the future! And I'm meeting my old shipmates, except they're not old anymore!" Nero is another deadbeat Romulan villain (it's getting to the point where this is becoming a club), which isn't Eric Bana's fault. He just isn't given much plot or lines to work with here.

And Then there's J.J. Abrams: Breaking from Star Trek tradition and starting fresh is totally a valid way to go. Unfortunately, Abrams didn't do that. He (and I expect the Studio) tried to walk the line between old and new, not really wholeheartedly committing to either. Both Abrams and Paramount seem stuck in an alternate universe.. Let's hope for a better plot for Star Trek XII -- hopefully not a rehash of a previous story. This crew deserves a second shot, though it may be better to just leave out Spock Prime this time around.

Will this post generate hate mail? Stay tuned!

 

[Chess Piece Face]

I disagree. I think JJ had the toughest assignment ever - to please old fans while wooing new ones - and I think the balance of old and new, and the way he did things was beyond what anyone could have expected.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Plot does not make a film - "Casablanca's" plot is fragile and pretty ridiculous - and is not the same thing as story ("Casablanca" has a great story). Orci and Kurtzman have written a really good story here, with (as Roger Ebert once put it, ironically) "two or three great scenes and no bad ones." So the fact that there is at least one coincidence more here than a really tight plot would allow is not of much consequence in terms of the overall film.

 

[Borgminister]

I disagree. I think JJ had the toughest assignment ever - to please old fans while wooing new ones - and I think the balance of old and new, and the way he did things was beyond what anyone could have expected.

QFT.

I don't think you can overstate what a tightrope he successfully walked.

 

[Captain Pike]

I could be wrong, but I think most likely it will generate a closure and merging with the grading and discussion thread..

 

[Ovation]

Plot does not make a film - "Casablanca's" plot is fragile and pretty ridiculous - and is not the same thing as story ("Casablanca" has a great story). Orci and Kurtzman have written a really good story here, with (as Roger Ebert once put it, ironically) "two or three great scenes and no bad ones." So the fact that there is at least one coincidence more here than a really tight plot would allow is not of much consequence in terms of the overall film.

Well said. A plot is an element of a story, but not the story itself. And some good plots can be utterly wasted by other bad factors. This film did what it set out to do--revitalize the series, establish an origin and open up the road to new adventures. I am reminded of no other film more than Batman Begins in that regard (and hope to see the next one do even only have as well as TDK).