*** Official STAR TREK (2009) Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

Finally got to see this yesterday and I really loved it.

I'm not the biggest Star Trek fan in the world but do possess a passable knowledge of the characters, famous lines and cliche's (wearing red = dead in this Universe) so I was able to gain maximum enjoyment from it.

Loved the film's playful humour which I was expecting much less of, it was a very nice surprise. Action, story (which I thought was an ingenious way to take things, now they can make a whole new series with these characters and they won't repeat what they've already done) acting, directing and music were all great.

I would love to see this again but probably not until the BD is released. Lastly, it was an interesting screening because I saw it in a close captioning theater, never did that before but it was the only showing I could squeeze in yesterday. It actually was helpful because I did have a little bit of trouble catching everything Checkoff (SP) said lol.

5 :star:'s out of 5 :star:'s for Star Trek

 

[RobertR]

I didn’t care much for this “reboot” (I’m sick and tired of that term). The villain was uninteresting, and JJ Abrams seems to be one of those directors who thinks breathless bombastic hysterics are a substitute for real drama. I didn’t like Chris Pine’s Kirk; in fact, for 2/3 of the film I detested him (I enjoyed seeing the arrogant little bastard get the shit kicked out of him in the bar scene). Quinto’s Spock was a feeble attempt at doing the character, and did NOT ring true for me (especially the utterly forced plot device that gave Kirk command, and I couldn’t care less if Nimoy “endorsed” it (what’s he going to say? “don’t watch the movie I was in”?). That plot device felt as if we were being told “hey, Kirk HAS to be Captain, that’s his fate”, never mind the fact that one of the big selling points of this movie is that This Is Not the Trek You Knew, so don’t you dare talk about how things are supposed to be. The rest of the cast was decent enough. I liked the smart and very attractive Uhura (but not her big romance, which the “alternate timeline” business did NOT justify). The lens flares and shaky camera got very old and very tiresome very fast. I only hope that such trendy gimmicks die out soon, and directors ask themselves “what the HELL were we thinking??”, like platform shoes and polyester suits. The visual effects as a whole were well done, as were the sound effects (I especially liked the KABOOM Warp sound coming from the surrounds and the socko phaser sounds). But, of course, movies are more than effects…much more.

I’ll toss this aside and forget about it, just as I did the disposable Star Wars prequels.

 

[Ockeghem]

I enjoyed this film. There were many aspects of it that because of the ties to TOS, I actually pondered them for a good portion of the film as opposed to the other plot lines being offered. Nero to me was an afterthought, and was not in any way central to the film in my viewing experience. The elements of the film that related to the original crew were for me the most important part of what it had to offer.

I thought the entire Christoper Pike story line was superb -- and the actor pulled it off very well. And yes, the wheelchair bit near the conclusion was a heartwarming moment.

I really appreciated how Bones got Kirk to be aboard the Enterprise. That was actually quite believable to me.

I liked the tie-in with regard to the name of George for Kirk's father. George Samuel Kirk (Kirk's brother), who died on Deneva (Operation: Annihilate!) was probably named after his father, regardless in which universe the new crew now resides.

I liked how the film showed us some of the trouble that Spock went through as a child (being neither fully human nor fully Vulcan). It's alluded to in at least two series (TOS and TAS).

The Kobayashi Maru test was a pleasant surprise. I did pick up on the apple, and although I liked that bit, I thought that Kirk was a bit too arrogant in this scene. I thought it could have been toned down a bit.

Farragut and Uhura -- very nice indeed. Kirk served on the Farragut under Garrovick.

I really appreciated how they worked (Admiral) Archer into this script. And to have Scotty be the culprit with regard to Porthos was another of those heartwarming moments. But what was with the Ewok? LOL.

I thought the nod to Nurse Chapel, soon after we get to 'medical bay,' was a nice touch. It occurred so quickly, though, that one could easily have missed it upon one viewing.

The relationship of Spock and Uhura didn't bother or concern me, since we're not in the same universe. And if it were to bother me, I could always refer to The Man Trap for a little bit of the backstory if need be.

Sulu saving Kirk's life, and then Kirk returning the favor, reminded me very much of the lines spoken by Sulu when he is captain of the Excelsior, and has chosen once again to come to the aid of his comrades. "You got a problem with your hearing, mister?"

Delta Vega -- a nice touch. I was half expecting Pike to talk about the Vega Colony after this, or perhaps even Rigel 7.

The musical score was very interesting, although I will need to listen to it a few more times, and maybe unencumbered once or twice, before I am ready to comment on it in any meaningful way. But suffice it to say that I was intrigued how this score sounded very little like any of the music from Lost, which to me showed that Giacchino has quite a range in his compositional skills and musical craftsmanship. I was expecting to hear music that reminded me of that series, but I did not. And his usage of vocals was quite interesting -- I did not expect that to occur beforehand in the film.

Here are a few semi-technical musical aspects that I found noteworthy.

As I mentioned elsewhere, the range (ambitus) used in the trombones was quite low in parts (very dark and foreboding), and reminded me of their usage in TNG (series and films) especially when Klingons make their appearance. The qualities exemplified by the conjunct melodic movement in some of the lines, brought about in part by the 'tritone triadic' construct I spoke of above and which occurred in two or three segments of the film, were particularly appropriate, and conveyed an 'other-worldliness' that I often associate with the music of TOS. These aspects allowed the film to feel creepy in parts, especially while those scenes continued to inhabit that particularly ominous sound world. What was most interesting to me here was that the elements used were not complete in their vertical (harmonic) sonority, but were used to great effect horizontally (melodically). {N.B.: For an example whereby the complete tritone triadic elements are used harmonically, check out the opening (especially the first three chords) of the second movement to Dvorak's New World Symphony. The D-flat triad followed by the first inverstion of a G major triad before returning to D-flat is beyond chilling, and has been used very effectively in several sci-fi films and television series over the years. Some would assert that these components have been used all too frequently in sci-fi since ca. 1950 to the present, but as it's among my most favorite of progressions, I never tire of it.} This 'block harmonic tritone movement' (and from this, melodic components derived from it and interweaved and intersected with other melodic lines contrapuntally) is IMO almost singularly appropriate for science fiction, as one cannot move more further away from the 'home' tonal center than the tritone. It is the true 'half way' point, so to speak; as such, it is as remote as one can move away from the tonic, at least using the harmonic vocabulary employed in most western European music. Once you recede even the slightest bit back toward the home key, or advance further away from the home key, you are in the first instance moving closer to the original key (first degree), and in the second instance (owing to octave displacement), also moving closer to the original key (eighth degree or compound thereof). (BTW, I don't believe I heard any example of microtonal work in this score, but I will listen for that more carefully upon repeated hearings. If anyone did hear this, please let me know.)

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Here are some thoughts on my impressions of the cast in the new film.

Kirk - Grade B+. I am proceeding from the premise that no one other than Shatner can play Kirk. That being said, I thought Pine did an admirable job, and there were a few times (too few, but they are priceless) where he sounded very much like the Kirk we know and love.

Spock - Grade: B. Unlike some whom have commented on the effectiveness of Quinto's role, I thought it was very well done.

McCoy - Grade: A. The role was played by Urban wonderfully, from the mannerisms to the voice work to the facial gestures. He said on a television show recently that he watched TOS 'religiously' as a child, and that he loved the part of Bones.

Scotty - Grade: B-. I loved the accent and the physical characteristics of Scotty (Pegg). However, the humor was a bit much for me (in the sense that it wasn't very 'Scotty-like'). I cite the exchange between Kirk and Scotty on the Bridge in The Way to Eden here.

Uhura - Grade: A-. I thought she (Saldana) brought a lot of passion to the role. She looked a bit like a younger Nichelle Nichols to me, and she seemed also to care about her crewmates -- and as such added some much-needed chemistry to the mix of the characters and to the film.

Sulu - Grade: B. I loved his 'neutrality' and his (for want of a better word) seeming indifference in parts. The actor (Cho) appeared in places to be very similar to George Takei, in that he did his job, and he did it well. It was also nice seeing him in command on the Bridge a few times.

Chekov - Grade: C. I liked his ingenuity, and I liked his (Yelchin's) overall physical 'look.' But his exaggerated accent was a bit of a turn-off for me -- it was like he was trying way too hard to convince us he was a Russian.

Pike - Grade A-. The actor (Greenwood) was superb in his role. His 'no nonsense' approach to things was exactly what I would expect from Captain Christoper Pike. This was probably one of the highlights of the film for me -- both Greenwood's work and the entire Pike story line.

Amanda - Grade: B. Surprisingly, I liked the job done with her in this film. I also thought she looked a bit like a younger Jane Wyatt . I liked her range in the role of Amanda. Oddly, I had no idea that it was Winona Ryder until the credits rolled. And from reading other Boards the past week, I've discovered that several other posters were unaware of it as well. I think that this is to her credit, as she convinced me that she was a 'relative unknown' in the role. I was so lost in other aspects of the film that when I saw Amanda, I did not recognize who was playing her.

Sarek - Grade: B+. I did recognize Ben Cross, as I am a huge Dark Shadows fan (he played Barnabas in the 1990s miniseries). I thought he was wonderfully unemotional and stoic, true to what a Vulcan should and ought to be. I liked his interactions with Spock very much. And the scenes that tied in with TAS were a nice touch. If you happen to know the animated series, you will recognize a couple of references to that series in the new film.

Leonard Nimoy as Spock - Grade: A. I liked Nimoy in this role. It was almost as if he had played the part before, he was that natural in the role.

I don't really have an opinion on Nero, since I was really focusing on many other aspects of the film than I was the major villain. I will give him a better look the second time I see this film.