Star Trek: Into Darkness - a review. What do I say? Well, without spoiling anything for anyone, let me separate this review into two parts. The first part is for anyone who is not familiar with Star Trek, or hasn't seen any of the other (more famous) trek movies before: Go see it, it's the most intense sci-fi action movie you will ever see, chock full of very memorable and interesting action throughout, and have to admit that I liked it a lot. All the cast delivers great performances, special effects are good, and I will reinforce once again that Karl Urban as Bones, is quite possibly the greatest re-casting decision in film history. Benedict Cumberbatch pulled in his usually awesome performance and presence as well, and we get to see some Klingons!
However, this isn't to say the movie is without any issues (mother effing lens flares, anyone?), and here's where I get to the second (the hard) part. I will admit that almost all of my complaints about this movie (and the last movie) are simply fanboy rage gone wild, and that despite all those complaints, they don't really detract from the film experience at all, they just serve to piss off the hardcore fans such as myself. But, I'm not going to get into any of those, because I'm sure any real fan of Trek would have pick up on 'em.
Now back to my initial point. Some people will view my primary (and my only big) complaint about the movie to be a nitpicking fan's frustration. However, I view it as extremely bad and lazy film making, as I was very much enjoying the film up until that point. Okay, I think I've exhausted my ability to review without spoilers, so if you seek more knowledge, click on the link below.
It's no secret that because these films are a re-imagining of the original characters/stories, that they are going to be containing a whole truckload of references, homages, parallels, and tributes to the originals in a variety of ways. What makes the very notion of these movies cool, is that they take the core of the characters, alter their development, change their universe, throw them into different scenarios, to watch and enjoy.
However, with this film, there gets a point in which it is blatantly stealing an entire scene from another movie. Granted, that movie is a Trek movie, and granted the roles are reversed, but what's the point of reversing the roles, if the dialogue in the scene is still a word for word ripoff of another movie, with the wrong characters speaking their lines? This scene is supposed to be something with weight to it, but it can't be taken with even the slightest bit of seriousness, because it is turned into a laughing stock by ripping off an entire scene, then even making light of it with the dialogue immediately afterwards. It's not helped by the fact that in a role reversal you should re-work the dialogue to suit the characters so it doesn't sound out of place, but that aint the case here.
In short, for Trek fans, it could be anger inducing to the point of nearly ruining the whole movie, and for film fans it's just eye-rolling, cringe-worthy bad. They had a chance to make a good, serious scene re-imagined, but they just turned it into a massive joke. it's especially sad, because that doesn't have to be the case. you can have your cake and eat it, too. Hell, I can be there's erotic fan-fiction out there that have done a better reworking of that scene than they did.
One last thing to bring up, is the complete bastardization of the Kirk character. In the first JJ movie, they (faithfully) portray Kirk as a jovial genius who takes calculated risks, but only when having a plan and a backup plan. He never intentionally risks the life of any crew member due to his own actions. Which, for some reason, they conveniently decide to throw out the window for this movie, so they could portray him as nothing but a loose cannon that never thinks before he acts, and intentionally risks lives around him without a second thought. Wow. Even more lazy writing.
Now, I still like the movie, and I still recommend it, but if the things I bring up bug you, be prepared to cringe throughout that scene or be riddled with disappointment if you're a hardcore fan, even when going into the movie with little expectations.
However, this isn't to say the movie is without any issues (mother effing lens flares, anyone?), and here's where I get to the second (the hard) part. I will admit that almost all of my complaints about this movie (and the last movie) are simply fanboy rage gone wild, and that despite all those complaints, they don't really detract from the film experience at all, they just serve to piss off the hardcore fans such as myself. But, I'm not going to get into any of those, because I'm sure any real fan of Trek would have pick up on 'em.
Now back to my initial point. Some people will view my primary (and my only big) complaint about the movie to be a nitpicking fan's frustration. However, I view it as extremely bad and lazy film making, as I was very much enjoying the film up until that point. Okay, I think I've exhausted my ability to review without spoilers, so if you seek more knowledge, click on the link below.
It's no secret that because these films are a re-imagining of the original characters/stories, that they are going to be containing a whole truckload of references, homages, parallels, and tributes to the originals in a variety of ways. What makes the very notion of these movies cool, is that they take the core of the characters, alter their development, change their universe, throw them into different scenarios, to watch and enjoy.
However, with this film, there gets a point in which it is blatantly stealing an entire scene from another movie. Granted, that movie is a Trek movie, and granted the roles are reversed, but what's the point of reversing the roles, if the dialogue in the scene is still a word for word ripoff of another movie, with the wrong characters speaking their lines? This scene is supposed to be something with weight to it, but it can't be taken with even the slightest bit of seriousness, because it is turned into a laughing stock by ripping off an entire scene, then even making light of it with the dialogue immediately afterwards. It's not helped by the fact that in a role reversal you should re-work the dialogue to suit the characters so it doesn't sound out of place, but that aint the case here.
In short, for Trek fans, it could be anger inducing to the point of nearly ruining the whole movie, and for film fans it's just eye-rolling, cringe-worthy bad. They had a chance to make a good, serious scene re-imagined, but they just turned it into a massive joke. it's especially sad, because that doesn't have to be the case. you can have your cake and eat it, too. Hell, I can be there's erotic fan-fiction out there that have done a better reworking of that scene than they did.
One last thing to bring up, is the complete bastardization of the Kirk character. In the first JJ movie, they (faithfully) portray Kirk as a jovial genius who takes calculated risks, but only when having a plan and a backup plan. He never intentionally risks the life of any crew member due to his own actions. Which, for some reason, they conveniently decide to throw out the window for this movie, so they could portray him as nothing but a loose cannon that never thinks before he acts, and intentionally risks lives around him without a second thought. Wow. Even more lazy writing.
Now, I still like the movie, and I still recommend it, but if the things I bring up bug you, be prepared to cringe throughout that scene or be riddled with disappointment if you're a hardcore fan, even when going into the movie with little expectations.
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