Quality blog...

Photo

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:32:00 -0500

Star Trek Into Darkness Review (Spoiler Edition)

Tue, 21 May 2013 02:48:43 -0500

It’s been four years since J.J. Abrams released his reboot to the sci-fi giant, Star Trek. Before this, I had slumped into somewhat of a sci-fi rut. I was not actively pursuing films in the genre (or in general), and the last big sci-fi movie I saw was Revenge of the Sith. I’m pretty sure Star Trek changed all that. I remember driving out to Augusta, GA with a group of friends to see the movie in IMAX. We got lost on the way and everything - it was like a mini-road trip. The IMAX screen was nothing to throw a party about, and actually introduced me to the Faux-MAX theaters that are plaguing cinemas across the country. But once the lights dimmed, none of that mattered. Giacchino’s score rose into the speakers (it was regal like all good sci-fi scores should be) while the Paramount stars fell from the sky and swooped around the moun—I’m sorry, this is turning into a review of 2009’s Trek. The point is that it was a punch to the face. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t be the cinema fiend that I am now if it weren’t for Abrams’ exciting revamp, but I can distinctly remember not watching movies the same way after it. Granted, I would still get excited for the blockbusters (I fear that will never change). Hence my excitement for the much-anticipated sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness. The other night, after four years of patiently waiting (and defending Super 8), I finally glued myself into a chair to watch what I consider to be the most anticipated movie of my adult life.

Star Trek Into Darkness takes place roughly one year after the events of the 2009 film, with Kirk (Pine) and crew (Quinto, Urban, Saldana, Yelchin, Cho, and Pegg) gallivanting across the galaxy. Pretty much everything I enjoyed about the previous film (witty banter, glorious visuals, and fast-paced scenes) was intact, so Into Darkness fulfills my base needs right off the bat. But how is the story? Orci and Kurtzman (with the added Lindelof this go-round) play it faster and looser for the sequel, and even after two viewings I found it hard to catch some important plot points. Isn’t the pacing supposed to follow the script? In this case, it almost seems like the other way around. There’s this urgency to jump to the next set piece, and while that was also a minor issue I had with the first film, the problem is magnified and amplified in the sequel. Ultimately, I have to deduct points for clumsiness. I do believe there’s a cohesive story to be found, but it’s covered in a lot of pandering debris. That statement sounds pretty lenient, but Into Darkness really does make fun of the audience every chance it gets. Even die-hard, old-school Trekkies are given the kind of fan service that makes Robin’s reveal at the end of Dark Knight Rises look like a simple nod of the head.

The saving grace of Star Trek Into Darkness is its cast. Each actor returns to this film with the same enthusiasm that they brought to the 2009 film. I get the sense that Pine has nestled into his role as Captain Kirk, and his performance is a big improvement. Zachary Quinto, who is still just beginning to hit his stride, returns to deliver a fresh take on Spock. I’m preaching to the choir, but his is not an imitation of what Leonard Nimoy brought (and still brings on occasion) to the role. The rest of the cast is rounded out nicely - Bones is still perfectly cast, Uhura gets to flex her xenolinguistics more, Sulu mans the captains chair and doesn’t skimp on the intensity, and Scotty gets a side-story of his own! The only character who feels underutilized is Chekov, who pops in and out throughout the film. I can tell the writers still thought about him, but simply didn’t have the room to give him more scenes. Bruce Greenwood also returns as Admiral Pike, who shares a few well-scripted scenes with Kirk before his unfortunate demise (which is an extremely well-done moment). Newcomers include Alice Eve, who never tries to be anything more than a lingerie model in most of her roles, and some guy named Eggs Benedict. Eve is probably the worst-handled character in the story, taking on the part of Carol Marcus. There’s very little we gather from her throughout the movie, except that she is a science officer. This may come into play later on, but for the intents of this film - she’s a pretty face.*

I think Benedict Cumberbatch deserves his own section, because his character is worth discussing. Now, of course Cumberbatch is an excellent actor and Sherlock is top-tier television, but was his casting a good choice? Some will argue and say that it was not. My personal opinion? Mostly. Giving the man any blockbuster exposure is a good thing; that just means he’ll get more work and we’ll see him in more feature films. But was Khan really the role for him? I would wager that Cumberbatch is a modern national treasure for the United Kingdom. His talents are immense and his presence is pretty much everything an actor should aspire towards. BC nails the role, no matter what nuances were brought into place for this alternate timeline, but sometimes it feels like it wasn’t the role he was meant to play in the Star Trek universe. I wouldn’t mind hearing what Abrams has to say about the decision to cast Cumberbatch, but I think at the end of the day it was about selecting the best actor… which they did. It cannot be understated how great he is in this role. Khan just feels like a premature nemesis; the conflict is basically written for them. The decision to throw in one of the most popular villains in the second film is like a lazily ripping a page out of Christopher Nolan’s book. There’s also the obvious issue of whitewashing in Hollywood, but that’s a different topic for a different article.

The identity of Khan shouldn’t have been a spoiler in the first place. With all the marketing surrounding the film letting out bits and pieces of the character, it was sort of obvious if you know anything about the character from the original series. This would not have been such a bad thing if Abrams hadn’t hinged the entire movie on this reveal. The twist should never make the movie. It should be an accompanying element to move the greater conflict along. Luckily, I don’t think this poor “wow” moment (that people literally gasped at during my second viewing) deflated the tension. This brings me to Peter Weller as Admiral Marcus, who steals the show for a moment. I’m still debating in my head whose motives are more confused - his or Khan’s, but for a small fraction of the movie, I was more worried about what Marcus would do to our heroes. Khan poses a more philosophical threat, in that he believes himself to be higher than the rest of the human race. I think this would have had more impact if the crew had pulled information on Khan’s past exploits before his cryo-freezing to see what horrors he committed (instead of hailing Nimoy’s Spock on Nu-Vulcan and getting him to explain it). Everything surrounding Khan’s presence in this film feels off. Capital of which is Spock’s rendition of the famous “KHAAAAAAAN” yell.** This moment is weightless, despite the writers’ intentions behind it. They wanted a moment where Spock is stripped of all Vulcan tendencies and fucking loses it. Too bad we already saw that in the 2009 film when he beats the shit out of Kirk and compromises his role as captain. Is Kirk’s death scene meant to be another step in Spock’s human side taking over? Even if it is, I’m not buying it. Kirk and Spock are friends, but they’re not that good of friends yet.

Abrams’ visual style is, as usual, fantastic. He has that uncanny ability to make everything look sleek. Even in Super 8, where it almost became a detrimental aesthetic choice (Why all the lens flare in a grounded story about youth in the 70s?), he showed himself to be a master of his craft. In Star Trek, it works. Abrams defined himself with this engaging texture in the 2009 film, and it seems that he has perfected what can be done with lens flare in Into Darkness. No longer is it simply a stimulating draw for the eye, but instead an alluring visual device for each frame. Mixed with the powerful primary color scheme which is never absent throughout the film, Abrams captures the viewers’ eyes with each scene. This leads me to the 3D element of the film - both times I saw it were in 3D (1st viewing was Cinemark XD 3D, 2nd was IMAX 3D). This decision was made after I was blown away by the post-conversion 3D shown in the 9-minute preview that showed before The Hobbit. I’m willing to bet that this is the best post-converted 3D out there. I’m sure the quality varies from screen-to-screen (as I’ve heard others were not as impressed), but both viewings were equally satisfying for me. I also have to commend J.J. on his direction, which proves to keep the ship running, no matter what the writers throw at it. These men are supposed to work in tandem, but I get the feeling that Abrams is operating on a much higher level of thought with how he approached this daunting sequel. If it were not for him, I don’t think this reboot would have ever happened (with the same level of success at least). People seem to forget that.

At the end of the day, it’s not about the sexism, Iraq war parables, or poor story structure… it’s how the movie made me feel. I have a laundry list of minor nitpicks, but I can’t escape the fact that it’s a proper sequel to one of my favorite sci-fi films of the last five years. The same characters are still there with the same gung-ho attitude. I may not be the garden variety Trekkie, but these movies have influenced me to dig much deeper into the lore, past the Original Series, which is something I never saw myself doing. I suppose those nitpicks will come back to bite me in the ass time and time again until the next Trek premieres, but until then I’ll be defending my love. I plan on seeing Star Trek Into Darkness once more before it leaves theaters.

* I have a feeling Alice Eve (if she decides to return) will have more to do in the next film. I got the eerie feeling that Carol saw Kirk as a potential love interest. The way she says, “It’s nice to have a family,” at the end just seemed to point in that direction. Hopefully they build on her development as a scientist and maybe tackle the Genesis project. I’d love to see something new happen for the crew, but Genesis seems like the obvious next step after this.

** Shouldn’t he be more angry at Marcus anyhow? He was the one who sabotaged the warp core.

sirmitchell: AMC made a Breaking Bad art book to give out to...

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:29:27 -0500

sirmitchell:

AMC made a Breaking Bad art book to give out to the cast and crew and they sent me a copy along with a bag of meth from the prop department!

Oh god, I want this.

theneedledrop: Review: Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:28:55 -0500

theneedledrop:

Review: Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

fuckyeahdirectors: Joss Whedon on-set of his Television series...

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:41:53 -0500

fuckyeahdirectors:

Joss Whedon on-set of his Television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Baby Whedon

Today is the 10-year-anniversary of the series finale, apparently.

Photo

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:15:02 -0500

Felicia's Melange: Star Trek Movie: SPOILERZZZZ

Sun, 19 May 2013 19:34:21 -0500

Felicia's Melange: Star Trek Movie: SPOILERZZZZ:

thisfeliciaday:

You are officially spoiled if you read below, NO COMPLAINTS!

Up front I will say I enjoyed this latest Star Trek movie a lot. It was super noisy, but enjoyable, beautifully executed, and I particularly like some of the secondary characters, Spock was excellent, etc etc. I just want to share an…

Photo

Sun, 19 May 2013 16:26:12 -0500

Photo

Sat, 18 May 2013 21:18:26 -0500

yugi-oppa: Favorite Anime OP/ED || Naruto» “Seishun Kyosokyoku”...

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:23:26 -0500

yugi-oppa:

Favorite Anime OP/ED || Naruto
» “Seishun Kyosokyoku” by Sambomaster

aproperman: Mamoru Hosoda Out of alllllllll the Japanese...

Fri, 17 May 2013 02:29:47 -0500

aproperman:

Mamoru Hosoda

Out of alllllllll the Japanese artists I’ve drooled over, this man takes the drool cake.

jennylandia: Melanie Lynskey

Fri, 17 May 2013 02:25:15 -0500

jennylandia:

Melanie Lynskey

Photo

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:01:08 -0500

sirmitchell: The Lamborghini EgoistaThis is an actual car they...

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:22:40 -0500

sirmitchell:

The Lamborghini Egoista

This is an actual car they are making (a whopping three of)

Otherwise known as the Mach 5.

Star Trek Into Darkness was the 69th movie I’ve seen this year.

Thu, 16 May 2013 02:57:48 -0500

Star Trek Into Darkness was the 69th movie I’ve seen this year.

Photo

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:50:27 -0500

Kirk and Spock Gender Swap… INTO DARKNESS

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:09:00 -0500

Kirk and Spock Gender Swap… INTO DARKNESS

coryschmitz: anamanaguchi: “ENDLESS FANTASY (NOW ON...

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:00:48 -0500

coryschmitz:

anamanaguchi:

“ENDLESS FANTASY (NOW ON iTUNES)”

Get it. Proud of y’all.

“They truly are purer archetypes. They’re literally Biblical....

Tue, 14 May 2013 07:59:57 -0500

“They truly are purer archetypes. They’re literally Biblical. If you get the DC characters right, they can be important, they can be about us.”

- Zack Snyder

Photo

Mon, 13 May 2013 22:52:56 -0500