Star Trek into Darkness
Jun. 16th, 2013 08:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodelWell, I couldn't spend time with my actual father today, so why not celebrate Father's Day with a film about daddy issues?
This film, the second in the JJ Abrams "reboot" of TOS Trek, is one of those things that's a big gushy love letter to the original creation and all of its fans. I think it's telling that the characters aren't actually billed as James T. Kirk and Montgomery Scott-- they're "Kirk," "Bones," Scotty" and so forth in the credits. All that and a Leonard Nimoy cameo. Anyway, my complaint about the previous Trek film was that it was a fun and funny whole lotta nothin'-- if you were drawn to the various television series because of the distinct Trek vision and ethics and Prime Directive stuff, you didn't get any of that.
Anyway, this installment is better on those counts, at least marginally.
So, first off, the action part of this flick is basically dumb. Actual planets don't get blowed up this time around, but London gets bombed, San Francisco and the Enterprise both get trashed, scores of unnamed extras die as summer-blockbuster collateral damage despite the film's stated concern for human and alien life, and we're subjected to all the usual cinematic hijinks in which "three minute" crisis windows take a hell of a lot longer than that to play out and yet complex behind-the-scenes actions get resolved no time at all. Main characters take beatings and chances that really ought to kill them and yet keep on truckin'. And people jump from high things a lot. All the action was pants, frankly.
On the other hand, all the character interaction completely made up for the crap action sequences. Deeply engaging characters and funny-- nay, witty-- dialogue made this deeply, deeply enjoyable. Also, I quite liked the plot, at least in terms of its high-level structure. Kirk and his crew are basically pawns in an unspooling web of treachery, and while some of the plot mechanics were, again, pants, I loved the essence of the plot.
Oh, and it was slashy as hell. Slashy. As. Hell.
Highlights:
Karl Urban is definitely "playing Bones" rather than inhabiting the character of Dr. McCoy, but he's dead sexy and I enjoy every moment of his screen time.
Sulu got to take the captain's seat and that scene was awesome.
Chekov got to do some things.
Scotty was flat-out fucking awesome.
Uhura got to do some things, like speaking Klingon. And taking Spock down a peg, which was warranted because new!Spock is kind of an asshole. She and Spock kind of need to break up though IMO so she can do her own thingand he can do Kirk.
Spock and Kirk seemed to actually IDK learn stuff this time around and maybe it'll stick? Also, slashy as hell.
Bruce Greenwood fucking owned as Christopher Pike.Until he got owned.
Peter Weller, aka Robocop, played Admiral Jack D. Ripper to great effect. OK that wasn't the character's name but it should've been.
Some blonde chick played someone named Carol Marcus and honestly that was the least convincing part of the film character-wise but w/e. She was a walking plot device and a means of injecting more Daddy Issues into things.
Benedict Cumberbatch was OMG jaw-dropping amazing. There is one sour note to his casting as "John Harrison," which I'll discuss below.
Teh Plot:
So, anyway, we open in a tiresome action sequence with saintly near-sacrifice and lots of Crisis Mode and breaking the Prime Directive and shit. Most interesting thing in this scene was that the planet involved had red chlorophyll vegetation, which I thought was cool. Then cut to London, where a despairing family man is driven to do Bad Things to save his young daughter. Then cut back to Starfleet HQ for more Daddy Issues as Kirk gets disciplined by his stern but ultimately loving surrogate father Pike, who is willing to give Jimmy Boy another chance even though the dipshit hasn't convinced me as the audience that he deserves one. (Kirk's actual father got offed in the opening moments of the previous movie, if you haven't seen it. That's the stated reason this Kirk isn't like the Shatner version, just like this Spock is all messed up because of Human Mommy.) Anyway, the London plot thread and the Starfleet HQ stuff come together in a scene in which Pike dies horribly[*], thus giving Kirk a motive for balls-out revenge against "John Harrison," who has it in for Starfleet because Reasons. Then Admiral Ripper gives Kirk the Enterprise back and tells him to go take out Harrison on a mission that totally contravenes everything Starfleet is supposed to be about.
Then Admiral Ripper's daughter shows up. And we get to see her in her underwear for no very good reason. I mean, it highlights what a perv this Kirk is, but we already saw him in bed with twin catgirls so I think we got the point.
Then this whole mess of backstabbery plays out and we find out "John Harrison" is actually... Khan.
KHAAAAAAAN!!!
Well, shit. I didn't realize on the front end this was a Wrath of Khan reboot, but that's EXACTLY what this is. And that's where Cumberbatch is kind of... problematic. Because the original Khan character was not supposed to be a blue-eyed Anglo. And the actor who played him wasn't one either. So I can see why the very white Cumberbatch taking the role has upset quite a few people-- I mean, having a Mexican actor playing a character with alleged Sikh heritage is kind of problematic in retrospect, but B.C. is white, man. Yeah, yeah, Khan was genetically engineered and all, but still-- not Anglo. Sorry.
Anyway, aside from that "mm" moment, a bunch more stuff happens and Teamwork and Sacrifice and Stuff Blows Up and Khan is finally apprehended alive, not because it's the right thing to do but because McCoy and Uhura have ulterior motives. I mean, Kirk already decided once to take Khan alive and give him a proper trial, but that plan went south in a hurry. But in the end Kirk avenges Daddy #2 through civilized Starfleet-compliant means and gives a speech about it, and then the nicely repaired Enterprise leaves on its five-year-mission and I guess we'll have some sequels?
I'd pay money to see more of this. I'll just take potty breaks when the Enterprise gets blown up... again. There are stupider ways to blow it up than what we saw in this film, but I'm really tired of trashing the good ship. And of trashing San Francisco.
* Reboot!Kirk has worse luck than a Fire Emblem Lord when it comes to father figures.
This film, the second in the JJ Abrams "reboot" of TOS Trek, is one of those things that's a big gushy love letter to the original creation and all of its fans. I think it's telling that the characters aren't actually billed as James T. Kirk and Montgomery Scott-- they're "Kirk," "Bones," Scotty" and so forth in the credits. All that and a Leonard Nimoy cameo. Anyway, my complaint about the previous Trek film was that it was a fun and funny whole lotta nothin'-- if you were drawn to the various television series because of the distinct Trek vision and ethics and Prime Directive stuff, you didn't get any of that.
Anyway, this installment is better on those counts, at least marginally.
So, first off, the action part of this flick is basically dumb. Actual planets don't get blowed up this time around, but London gets bombed, San Francisco and the Enterprise both get trashed, scores of unnamed extras die as summer-blockbuster collateral damage despite the film's stated concern for human and alien life, and we're subjected to all the usual cinematic hijinks in which "three minute" crisis windows take a hell of a lot longer than that to play out and yet complex behind-the-scenes actions get resolved no time at all. Main characters take beatings and chances that really ought to kill them and yet keep on truckin'. And people jump from high things a lot. All the action was pants, frankly.
On the other hand, all the character interaction completely made up for the crap action sequences. Deeply engaging characters and funny-- nay, witty-- dialogue made this deeply, deeply enjoyable. Also, I quite liked the plot, at least in terms of its high-level structure. Kirk and his crew are basically pawns in an unspooling web of treachery, and while some of the plot mechanics were, again, pants, I loved the essence of the plot.
Oh, and it was slashy as hell. Slashy. As. Hell.
Highlights:
Karl Urban is definitely "playing Bones" rather than inhabiting the character of Dr. McCoy, but he's dead sexy and I enjoy every moment of his screen time.
Sulu got to take the captain's seat and that scene was awesome.
Chekov got to do some things.
Scotty was flat-out fucking awesome.
Uhura got to do some things, like speaking Klingon. And taking Spock down a peg, which was warranted because new!Spock is kind of an asshole. She and Spock kind of need to break up though IMO so she can do her own thing
Spock and Kirk seemed to actually IDK learn stuff this time around and maybe it'll stick? Also, slashy as hell.
Bruce Greenwood fucking owned as Christopher Pike.
Peter Weller, aka Robocop, played Admiral Jack D. Ripper to great effect. OK that wasn't the character's name but it should've been.
Some blonde chick played someone named Carol Marcus and honestly that was the least convincing part of the film character-wise but w/e. She was a walking plot device and a means of injecting more Daddy Issues into things.
Benedict Cumberbatch was OMG jaw-dropping amazing. There is one sour note to his casting as "John Harrison," which I'll discuss below.
Teh Plot:
So, anyway, we open in a tiresome action sequence with saintly near-sacrifice and lots of Crisis Mode and breaking the Prime Directive and shit. Most interesting thing in this scene was that the planet involved had red chlorophyll vegetation, which I thought was cool. Then cut to London, where a despairing family man is driven to do Bad Things to save his young daughter. Then cut back to Starfleet HQ for more Daddy Issues as Kirk gets disciplined by his stern but ultimately loving surrogate father Pike, who is willing to give Jimmy Boy another chance even though the dipshit hasn't convinced me as the audience that he deserves one. (Kirk's actual father got offed in the opening moments of the previous movie, if you haven't seen it. That's the stated reason this Kirk isn't like the Shatner version, just like this Spock is all messed up because of Human Mommy.) Anyway, the London plot thread and the Starfleet HQ stuff come together in a scene in which Pike dies horribly[*], thus giving Kirk a motive for balls-out revenge against "John Harrison," who has it in for Starfleet because Reasons. Then Admiral Ripper gives Kirk the Enterprise back and tells him to go take out Harrison on a mission that totally contravenes everything Starfleet is supposed to be about.
Then Admiral Ripper's daughter shows up. And we get to see her in her underwear for no very good reason. I mean, it highlights what a perv this Kirk is, but we already saw him in bed with twin catgirls so I think we got the point.
Then this whole mess of backstabbery plays out and we find out "John Harrison" is actually... Khan.
KHAAAAAAAN!!!
Well, shit. I didn't realize on the front end this was a Wrath of Khan reboot, but that's EXACTLY what this is. And that's where Cumberbatch is kind of... problematic. Because the original Khan character was not supposed to be a blue-eyed Anglo. And the actor who played him wasn't one either. So I can see why the very white Cumberbatch taking the role has upset quite a few people-- I mean, having a Mexican actor playing a character with alleged Sikh heritage is kind of problematic in retrospect, but B.C. is white, man. Yeah, yeah, Khan was genetically engineered and all, but still-- not Anglo. Sorry.
Anyway, aside from that "mm" moment, a bunch more stuff happens and Teamwork and Sacrifice and Stuff Blows Up and Khan is finally apprehended alive, not because it's the right thing to do but because McCoy and Uhura have ulterior motives. I mean, Kirk already decided once to take Khan alive and give him a proper trial, but that plan went south in a hurry. But in the end Kirk avenges Daddy #2 through civilized Starfleet-compliant means and gives a speech about it, and then the nicely repaired Enterprise leaves on its five-year-mission and I guess we'll have some sequels?
I'd pay money to see more of this. I'll just take potty breaks when the Enterprise gets blown up... again. There are stupider ways to blow it up than what we saw in this film, but I'm really tired of trashing the good ship. And of trashing San Francisco.
* Reboot!Kirk has worse luck than a Fire Emblem Lord when it comes to father figures.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-17 02:45 am (UTC)I usually let my suspension of disbelief kick in during movies, so I'm usually only half aware of flaws on the get-go and get more into them afterwards. I agree with the flaws you pointed out, but I still overall thought that the movie was one of the best I've seen in awhile.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-17 03:08 pm (UTC)I did truly enjoy the film, but the action sequences are so lengthy, so pointless... and this after sitting through trailers for Man of Steel, Elysium, and World War Z. Enough. I can only watch a great metropolis knocked down like Tinker Toys so many times before I just don't care. For one, I know it's coming because it always comes. There is no shock. There is no sense of horror. There's only the question of which beloved landmark gets trashed this time around. And with everything keyed up to be an eternal franchise, there's no sense of loss when anyone dies, because only useless, faceless characters really DIE. If a main character is in peril, I don't believe for a second they won't come through. If a main character dies, it ain't gonna stick.
Movies have turned into soap operas. No wonder TV series wherein characters actually die and consequences actually stick have usurped the role of movies in terms of actual drama.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-17 11:33 am (UTC)Double funny: Going to see this was my Father's Day present from Mrs. Samu.
And I agree on most points. Loved the movie to bits, but am more than happy to admit that it's got its share of plot holes. And yes, the Cumberbatch is a magnetic actor, but Khan ... is totally not supposed to be white. Not even close.
But that fact will likely be submerged in the tidal wave of slashfic.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-17 02:59 pm (UTC)But that fact will likely be submerged in the tidal wave of slashfic.
I've seen complaints that the "death scene" in this one didn't have the resonance of its Wrath of Khan counterpart because Kirk Prime and Spock Prime had been together for years and we'd seen all the bonding leading up to that moment. Which... is true.
Honestly, this reboot isn't really centered around the idea that Kirk and Spock have this deep, abiding, transcendent brotherhood/love/whatever, because we ain't seen that. No, they're not comrades who've been through a hundred scrapes together. They're two young punks (this new Spock is, in his own way, a surly little punk) who want into one another's pants and can't admit to it because Not Gay.
Oh well. If millions of people can be moved by some shitty het "love" story like the Jack and Rose farce in Titanic, I can enjoy the intended emotional impact of the farewell between punk!Spock and punk!Kirk. It's not the same as TOS but hell, that's the point.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-17 10:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-06-18 07:35 am (UTC)She is a huge Cummerbach fan, and felt he did really good, but she didn’t like the way they handled Khan in the story, though it wasnt' much about his race IIRC, and more about his backstory and abilities. And how the Eugenics War apparently doesn't necessarily line up properly with the new timeline or something...but, yeah. I really had no clue what she was talking about. She also was mad with the way they handled Harrison, who she felt was a genuinely interesting and creepy villain in the original.
I liked all of it, honestly. Except for the Uhara/Spock bits, because while funny, they lack complete chemistry on Spock’s end. It’s troubling.