Star Trek XI

[Zandrax]

It is as good as hyped. Oh I could nitpick about a few silly little things (Pike had the Enterprise helm for 20 years before Kirk, phaser fire looks an awful lot like blasters, Spock didn't design the Kobiashi Maru nor did he even take it, etc....) but dammit it's an enjoyable film and I'm not going to get my pants in a wad over trivial things.

[Tripe]

Lots of spoilers, Mathew felt disappointed:

Spoiler

[RobtheBarbarian]

I thought it was great. About my only criticism is that Kirk ends up being a bit too much of a butt monkey, with a little too much comedy relief at his expense.

[BBQ Platypus]

I liked it.  I thought the villain wasn't all that great (he got less interesting as the film went on) but I think they hit all the right notes for the characters and brought the opportunity for a new, fresh take on the franchise.  I enjoyed it thoroughly.  I'd give it 3 out of 4 stars.

Overall, I don't look at this as a reboot that negates the previous continuity.  Rather, I like to think of this as a way to make a sequel with all the original characters.  Rather than erasing 40 years of Trek, it's a way to give us 40 years more.

Now, maybe they can explore a larger theme in the next movie - the big, "human condition" type stuff that Star Trek is known for.  That'd be perfect.

[Artie]

Great movie, everything a summer blockbuster should be.  It's the shot in the arm the franchise needed.

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

Just saw it last night, awesome, awesome movie

Abrams tackles Trek, knows he has the same kind of fan base and the same movie problem to face, and says "oh yeah, f*ck you guys, by the way". 

-dale

If that's what he said with this film, then I'm with him

[Zandrax]

For what it's worth, I have not met a single Trekker that disliked it, nor have I read a single fanpage review that has been negative.

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

For what it's worth, I have not met a single Trekker that disliked it, nor have I read a single fanpage review that has been negative.

It seems like most the people who don't like it are the ones who haven't seen it, well, to me at least

[BBQ Platypus]

I think I should elaborate a bit on what I felt about this movie.

The strength of this movie was not in the plot but in the characterization.  Before I saw it, I was afraid I was going to be thinking "Oh, look at these talentless hacks trying to imitate my beloved characters."  But instead, I got a feeling of "Hey, the gang's all back!"  This is due to both the actors and the writers hitting all the right notes.  Kirk was a bit different, of course, but these differences had an in-universe justification, and it wasn't like there wasn't ANY Kirk present in him - I liked the actor who played Kirk in this one.  This, I think, is where the movie's charm comes from - seeing all the characters together again.

Now, while I find the writing to be praiseworthy, I don't particularly find this to be the case with the plotting.  I won't get into the details, but there were a couple problems there that kept me from giving this movie a ten.  It didn't bother me much this time, but I don't think the "pure action Trek" lightning can strike twice.

The only theme that can be said to actually exist in this movie is maybe the notion of acknowledging your feelings and not being afraid to face them (as exemplified by the internal conflict with Spock), but you REALLY have to look hard to find it, which isn't the case with most Star Trek films.  Hell, I didn't really realize that might be considered an actual theme until today.

All in all, though, it was a good movie, and I think it really gave the franchise some new life.

[daltysmilth]

Well, character is and always has been the hallmark of Trek.  You could have the crew facing a giant space-clown and the audience will still buy it as long as the characters are solid.

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

For what it's worth, I have not met a single Trekker that disliked it, nor have I read a single fanpage review that has been negative.

Nice to meet you.

Yes, I saw it. Got talked into it by a friend - they even paid. So I went and tried to keep an open mind.

Two words: New Coke. Change for no good reason.  There was no frustration with the TOS characters by the fan base. Just couldn't ask the original actors to go on and on. Rather than just do a prequel and recast the parts they have to change everyone's lifestory.

Zachary Quinto was wonderful. He played Spock (as the part was given to him) perfectly.  And I liked Karl Urban as McCoy as far as that went.  Don't know what to think of Pine as Kirk since 90% of the time he spent either on his back being beaten and/or choked or hanging off the edge of something....and the rest of his time being an insufferably smug asshole.

That having been said.

Spoiler

• So in the future they don't have the capacity to tell the sex of a baby before birth? Or did Nero showing up change that too? How could it...it was before he showed?
• Nero showing up changes the reality of Kirk's life since just before his birth. Including that he no longer has a brother named Sam (see the episode Operation: Annihilate!). Except that Sam was his older brother.  Ooops.  Guess they left him to die on the ship with Dad?
• "Spock Prime" as he's called needed this ttime's Spock to develop a friendship with Kirk...says it will make him a better person and all of that. Only how can he know that? The Kirk he knew was a man raised by his father and mother in a family with an older brother.  This reality's Kirk was raised by a Step-Dad who could be a saint or a jerk and as an only child perhaps. These two people would grow up to be the exact same person? Why? Are we back to this "Nature vs. Nuture" crap from Nemesis? Didn't we decide that it's the latter?
• Did Nero showing up change that Spock was married as a child to T'Pring as well? Spock Prime was always keeping Nurse Chappel at arms length for that reason.
• When you divorce in the future - even though people don' t use money anymore - your wife can still take everything you have. Sounds like the former Mrs. McCoy got his Southern accent in the divorce as well.
• Why didn't Krik just wear a t-shirt that read "I screwed with the computer program" while he was at it? How obnoxious was that? And the way that the scenario was beat wasn't even halfway clever - say a lucky shot or something programmed in. No, the simulation has a glitch and the Klingons have an unexplained brain fart and their shields are down for no reason. But then,your main character is rarely smarter than your writers (who, btw, left out all the stuff about deciding whether or not to go into the neutral zone - and if this was before the Kilingon Wars and there was none, why are the Klingons the bad guys in this?).
  
• The change in timeline somehow turned Vulcan into Alderaan. They have no weapons, no ships of any kind even though - according to ENT which predates Nero's arrival and not effected - Vulcan gave Earth all of these things after First Contact. This Vulcan also doesn't have the brain power to figure out what's happening to it even though one can clearly see a laser boring into the planet's surface from a ship over the planet.  They call for Starfleet's help and the leaders go to a cave to pray?  How is it these people managed to travel through space to make first contact with earth to start with?
• in fact, was I the only one who heard "You must go to the Dagobah system" in my head as Kirk was walking across the icy tundra? And thought Snow Beast when that thing came running toward him?  And - again - bigger monster has meal right there, leaves it behind to chase our "hero". Um, yeah.
• Gravity will pull someone towards a planet even when they're outside that planet's atmosphere (wont bother with the thing about the heat of re-entry involved). Really? And Romulan sensors from the future won't pick up anything launched from a shuttle coming toward their ship?
• Red still means 'dead man walking" even if it's red jump armor.
• The Romulans that Spock promises to deal with the supernova in the mind-meld flashback look like run of the mill Romulans. Nero and all his crewmen are bald and have facial tribal tattoos. WTF?
• In this timeline, black holes/singularities stop eating up things at one planet/ship.
• How would launching the red matter into the supernova keep Romulus from being destroyed since the singularity would have sucked up the only star in the system? The planet would die either way.
• Romulus doesn't have scientists either...they have to get help from Vulcan...whom they generationally hate
• Always remember - when you all need a marble sized amount of red matter to cause a artificially created black hole, make sure you take an amount the size of Rover from "The Prisoner". And if the guy who you know is pissed at you for not saving his planet captures your ship, don't destroy the red matter. Let him have it. He won't do anything bad with it, right?.
• It is possible for a Romulan ship from the future to hide in Federation space for 25 years and only have one encounter that anyone notices?
• Anyone remember a scene with this Kirk, Spock and Bones together on their own? In fact, did it seem like they were trying like hell not to?  Remember a previous TOS movie that didn't have one.  Dare I say that the three actors have NO chemistry at all?
• New Spock mind-melds with the Romulan and finds out where the ship is...but somehow learns nothing about who was flying it when it's pilot had been this crew's 25 year obsession
• At no time in those 25 years did someone think "You know, Federation or not, the sun is still going supernova on a certain date. Maybe we should tell someone on Romulus...take this red matter to them?"
• When did Ben Cross forget how to act?  He looked amazingly uncomfortable in his own skin throughout the movie
• Am I the only one who finds a Romulan who opens his ultimatum to a beaten opponent with "Hi" laughable?
• JJ Abrams sure likes the look of dead bodies floating in space, doesn't he?
• He also really, really likes close ups of Chekov...who somehow became a transporter genius in this timeline when I think I remember him operatng one once in TOS.
• Which of these is more annoying: The Constantly Moving Camera Trick (that even as Kirk and Pike are sitting at a table and talking the freaking camera won't hold still for a second)? Or the lights being shined straight into your eyes over and over?

And that's just from one viewing.   

[Destin]

I thought that this was the worse Star Trek movie I have ever seen!



















No joking. Im looking forward to seeing it =)

[BathTub]

I enjoyed it a lot. The people I went with were talking about seeing it again.

[Zandrax]

Well, character is and always has been the hallmark of Trek.  You could have the crew facing a giant space-clown and the audience will still buy it as long as the characters are solid.

This is true, and that's ultimately why I thought this was a good Trek movie on top of being a good summer blockbuster. I'm not Trekkie/Trekker, but if I was, I would still have the same opinions as I would comic superheroes. I really don't care if what happens doesn't mesh up perfectly with what happened on Panel 3 of page 17 Issue #128. Just keep the characters intact, and tell a good story and I'm happy. This is why the first two Spidey and X-Men movies were so good.

And that's why this is good.The characters are still intact. This is still very much Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.

[dignan]

It was good.  Although JJ does seem to enjoy using big red balls of stuff as a repeated maguffin.