I basically missed the boat on the review thread, as I didn't really get to see the movie until this past weekend (long story), so other than giving it an "Excellent" in there, I didn't post a review. Everyone had pretty much covered all the bases. However, I still feel compelled to share my cogent analysis of this wonderful (but not flawless) film. So, for those of you who are familiar with that Facebook marketing scam masking as an application called "Living Social", I give you my Top 5 (Best) and Bottom 5 (Worst) things about "Star Trek". Feel free to add your own:
Top Five things I loved:
1. Casting. Pitch perfect in pretty much every respect. Particular standouts for me were Bruce Greenwood, who just killed as Pike. He brought just the right mix of gravitas and humanity to a role that could have come off as some sort of two-dimensional archetype (Kirk's Surrogate Father). Speaking of James Tiberius Kirk, I thought Pine was much better than I was hoping for as our beloved Captain. When he was cast I had more misgivings about that choice than any other. But he really did a great job of capturing the key elements that Shat brought to the character, while making Kirk his own. And I loved Karl Urban as Bones. Really everyone was extremely well cast, (I even liked Simon Pegg) but those three definitely stood out for me.
2. The musical score. Beautiful. I can't get that main theme out of my head. The first orchestral soundtrack I've purchased in years. "Enterprising Young Men" seems to capture in music everything that encompasses the adventurous spirit of Star Trek. Just love it.
3. The technical presentation. Flawless visual effects, amazing sound effects, beautiful cinematography. Even liked most (not all...more on that below) of the sets. The Enterprise bridge came off much better onscreen than in the early stills that we saw. If anything I wish we had seen more of the ship.
4. Some of the little things in the story, like the origin of McCoy's nickname. As a casualty of divorce, I can really appreciate that one! Also liked how they resolved Pike's destiny in this new timeline. Yes he's still in a wheelchair, but he's not completely trapped in a lifeless shell anymore, and he's an admiral. Much better fate for him, IMHO.
5. The interaction of the characters and most of the humorous elements of the script. The crew had great chemistry, felt very genuine. Most of the humor felt organic and not at all clumsy, unlike some of the more recent films. Particularly enjoyed the whole sequence of Kirk's messy chain reaction to the vaccine McCoy gave him. Also liked Nero's casual "Hello" greetings for everyone whilst he is menacing about the galaxy.
Bottom Five (Things that kind of bugged me. Nothing I really hated, mind you, but just things that kept this film from getting a "10 out of 10" for me):
1. The Engineering sets. The Kelvin's engineering deck looked more like the Titanic's. I half expected to see sweaty guys shoveling coal into furnaces. Enterprise's engineering section was not quite that archaic-looking, but it really didn't say "this is the power plant of an incredibly advanced starship" to me. It could have been a sausage factory by all appearances.
2. The entire Delta Vega Sequence. Seemed clumsily shoehorned into the story, and the whole idea that Kirk would just happen to find Spock Prime there? Just seems too farfetched to believe. And during the mind meld, let me get this straight...we see Spock, seeing Vulcan destroyed? From the surface of Delta Vega? How is that possible? Delta Vega would have to be no further from Vulcan than our moon is from Earth. Isn't it supposed to be at the edge of the galaxy? I realize that it's possible that this scene was not meant to be taken literally. Maybe it's sort of a "mind's eye" type of thing where we are seeing Spock recalling what he witnessed on Nero's ship, but didn't the Narada warp away from Vulcan before it actually imploded? That whole scene just seemed very awkward and vague to me.
3. Scotty's little mutant Ewok buddy. Enough said about that.
4. Just not sold on the whole "let's turn our flagship over to a bunch of kids who just graduated", no matter how well they performed in a crisis.
5. Nero. Just generally sort of a weak villian. I liked Bana, but his motivation seems kind of off. Basically, Spock was late. That's it? Ok.
Again, overall I loved this movie. Already saw it twice. I can't remember the last time I saw any movie more than once in a theater.
Top Five things I loved:
1. Casting. Pitch perfect in pretty much every respect. Particular standouts for me were Bruce Greenwood, who just killed as Pike. He brought just the right mix of gravitas and humanity to a role that could have come off as some sort of two-dimensional archetype (Kirk's Surrogate Father). Speaking of James Tiberius Kirk, I thought Pine was much better than I was hoping for as our beloved Captain. When he was cast I had more misgivings about that choice than any other. But he really did a great job of capturing the key elements that Shat brought to the character, while making Kirk his own. And I loved Karl Urban as Bones. Really everyone was extremely well cast, (I even liked Simon Pegg) but those three definitely stood out for me.
2. The musical score. Beautiful. I can't get that main theme out of my head. The first orchestral soundtrack I've purchased in years. "Enterprising Young Men" seems to capture in music everything that encompasses the adventurous spirit of Star Trek. Just love it.
3. The technical presentation. Flawless visual effects, amazing sound effects, beautiful cinematography. Even liked most (not all...more on that below) of the sets. The Enterprise bridge came off much better onscreen than in the early stills that we saw. If anything I wish we had seen more of the ship.
4. Some of the little things in the story, like the origin of McCoy's nickname. As a casualty of divorce, I can really appreciate that one! Also liked how they resolved Pike's destiny in this new timeline. Yes he's still in a wheelchair, but he's not completely trapped in a lifeless shell anymore, and he's an admiral. Much better fate for him, IMHO.
5. The interaction of the characters and most of the humorous elements of the script. The crew had great chemistry, felt very genuine. Most of the humor felt organic and not at all clumsy, unlike some of the more recent films. Particularly enjoyed the whole sequence of Kirk's messy chain reaction to the vaccine McCoy gave him. Also liked Nero's casual "Hello" greetings for everyone whilst he is menacing about the galaxy.
Bottom Five (Things that kind of bugged me. Nothing I really hated, mind you, but just things that kept this film from getting a "10 out of 10" for me):
1. The Engineering sets. The Kelvin's engineering deck looked more like the Titanic's. I half expected to see sweaty guys shoveling coal into furnaces. Enterprise's engineering section was not quite that archaic-looking, but it really didn't say "this is the power plant of an incredibly advanced starship" to me. It could have been a sausage factory by all appearances.
2. The entire Delta Vega Sequence. Seemed clumsily shoehorned into the story, and the whole idea that Kirk would just happen to find Spock Prime there? Just seems too farfetched to believe. And during the mind meld, let me get this straight...we see Spock, seeing Vulcan destroyed? From the surface of Delta Vega? How is that possible? Delta Vega would have to be no further from Vulcan than our moon is from Earth. Isn't it supposed to be at the edge of the galaxy? I realize that it's possible that this scene was not meant to be taken literally. Maybe it's sort of a "mind's eye" type of thing where we are seeing Spock recalling what he witnessed on Nero's ship, but didn't the Narada warp away from Vulcan before it actually imploded? That whole scene just seemed very awkward and vague to me.
3. Scotty's little mutant Ewok buddy. Enough said about that.
4. Just not sold on the whole "let's turn our flagship over to a bunch of kids who just graduated", no matter how well they performed in a crisis.
5. Nero. Just generally sort of a weak villian. I liked Bana, but his motivation seems kind of off. Basically, Spock was late. That's it? Ok.
Again, overall I loved this movie. Already saw it twice. I can't remember the last time I saw any movie more than once in a theater.
