(This review is spoiler-free, and contains only references to what's been seen in the official trailers for the movie. There are a couple spoilers for the original reboot, but you've had four years to see that.)
When I saw J.J. Abram's Star Trek reboot in 2009 (twice, in the theater!) I thought it was great. Forking Star Trek off into an alternate timeline is a great way to escape the strait jacket of fifty years' canon and try some new things.
But the longer I thought about it, the greater my dissatisfaction with the screenplay by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Having traveled back in time, why didn't the bad guy (Nero) go warn his homeworld of its impending doom, instead of chasing Spock around the galaxy?
I had many other issues, some quite massive. For example, destroying the planet Vulcan just to make Spock a tragic figure was unforgivable, and struck me as Abram's way of pissing on Roddenberry's tree to mark the franchise as his own.
Here's another case: that Spock (I misremembered it as Kirk) could watch Vulcan's destruction from an entirely different star system, as if it were no more distant than our moon, shows the writers' monumental ignorance of the nature of space. I don't expect screenwriters to have PhDs in physics or astronomy, but a few minutes' research on the internet can prevent such blunders. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with bending the rules in the service of a good plot. Star Trek has a history of doing just that, but at least the original Trek writers attempted to stay within plausibility. In my opinion, Orci's and Kurtzman's epic failure to do so disqualifies them from writing for Star Trek. It's called "science fiction" for a reason. Why not just power the warp drive with Smurfs on treadmills, then? Just because it's an alternate universe doesn't mean the laws of physics are different too.
As you may have guessed, I approached Star Trek: Into Darkness with a fair amount of negativity, but I was curious to see whether Abrams and his writers (joined now by, Damon Lindelof of Prometheus and Lost fame, ugh) had learned any lessons. Sadly, no.
My first inklings of trouble came with the teaser trailers. Another revenge film? Didn't we just do that with the reboot? Star Trek is supposed to be about finding new worlds, new civilizations, boldly going where no men have gone before. Sorry, maybe in the next film.
And even I was surprised by my own nerd rage over seeing clips of the Enterprise rising from beneath the ocean of an alien world. The Enterprise is a starship, not a submarine, and there are serious reasons why such a vessel would not do such a thing. An inauspicious start, to be sure.
I understand this is a bold new take on the Star Trek universe. I actually love the idea of an alternate timeline. But in almost every detail I dislike the writers' specific choices. Case in point: Starfleet dress uniforms now look exactly like those worn by Nazis. Who approved this? It's incredibly creepy and off-putting.
I'm tempted to scold the writers on their misuse of the term "cold fusion" too, but explaining how they screwed that up would be a spoiler. Still, it's a perfect example of the writers' total lack of due diligence.
Here's another example of plot stupidity: If a ship's artificial gravity system malfunctions in a way that endangers the crew, the obvious safety measure is to shut it down. A mercury switch or accelerometer (as found in a smart phone) would do it automatically. Unfortunately, that's not how we do things in an Abrams film, where adrenaline trumps intelligence.
There are a couple of technologies shown in this movie that would utterly transform life in the Federation, yet they're simply treated as throwaway plot points with no thought given to their ultimate repercussions. Again, that's lazy.
In fact, the plot of Star Trek: Into Darkness makes even less sense than the original reboot. It is little more than the wet dream of people who don't understand the first thing about the Trek universe, let alone actually care about it.
And I could have done with fewer lens flares and fist-fights.
There is an underlying question posed by the plot of STID, namely "what would you do to protect your family?" In all but one case the answer we're given is "act selfishly, screw the rules, and screw everyone else". In the Abramsverse people are quite willing to cause mass slaughter just to save their own family, in a way that reminds me of Gandhi's warning: "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." On steroids.
All that being said, there were a few things I liked about STID. I was pleasantly surprised by the final reveal of the plot which drove the conflict in this movie, however badly it was handled. I liked all of the principal characters with the exception of Kirk, who is incredibly annoying. Benedict Cumberbatch makes a charismatic villain, and he does a fine job despite the terrible lines they gave him. The visuals were top-notch, though I find today's visual effects so overwhelming they induce a kind of perceptual numbness. Maybe I'm just getting old. :)
I give this movie 2 out of 5 stars.
If you want to see Star Trek rebooted the right way, go watch Galaxy Quest. It's quite evident those writers love their source material in a way the Abrams crew does not.
This spoilerific FAQ from io9.com identifies many of my own deep dissatisfactions with the plot Star Trek: Into Darkness. Do not read it unless you've seen the film first.
By the way, I should mention that I don't hate *everything* Abrams has ever done. Cloverfield was kind of cool as an experiment in extreme cinema verite, and I enjoyed Super 8 so much I saw it twice in the theater and bought the DVD. The monster and the climax are pretty dumb, but the movie perfectly captures the feeling of being fifteen and struck with a crush.
When I saw J.J. Abram's Star Trek reboot in 2009 (twice, in the theater!) I thought it was great. Forking Star Trek off into an alternate timeline is a great way to escape the strait jacket of fifty years' canon and try some new things.
But the longer I thought about it, the greater my dissatisfaction with the screenplay by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Having traveled back in time, why didn't the bad guy (Nero) go warn his homeworld of its impending doom, instead of chasing Spock around the galaxy?
I had many other issues, some quite massive. For example, destroying the planet Vulcan just to make Spock a tragic figure was unforgivable, and struck me as Abram's way of pissing on Roddenberry's tree to mark the franchise as his own.
Here's another case: that Spock (I misremembered it as Kirk) could watch Vulcan's destruction from an entirely different star system, as if it were no more distant than our moon, shows the writers' monumental ignorance of the nature of space. I don't expect screenwriters to have PhDs in physics or astronomy, but a few minutes' research on the internet can prevent such blunders. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with bending the rules in the service of a good plot. Star Trek has a history of doing just that, but at least the original Trek writers attempted to stay within plausibility. In my opinion, Orci's and Kurtzman's epic failure to do so disqualifies them from writing for Star Trek. It's called "science fiction" for a reason. Why not just power the warp drive with Smurfs on treadmills, then? Just because it's an alternate universe doesn't mean the laws of physics are different too.
As you may have guessed, I approached Star Trek: Into Darkness with a fair amount of negativity, but I was curious to see whether Abrams and his writers (joined now by, Damon Lindelof of Prometheus and Lost fame, ugh) had learned any lessons. Sadly, no.
My first inklings of trouble came with the teaser trailers. Another revenge film? Didn't we just do that with the reboot? Star Trek is supposed to be about finding new worlds, new civilizations, boldly going where no men have gone before. Sorry, maybe in the next film.
And even I was surprised by my own nerd rage over seeing clips of the Enterprise rising from beneath the ocean of an alien world. The Enterprise is a starship, not a submarine, and there are serious reasons why such a vessel would not do such a thing. An inauspicious start, to be sure.
I understand this is a bold new take on the Star Trek universe. I actually love the idea of an alternate timeline. But in almost every detail I dislike the writers' specific choices. Case in point: Starfleet dress uniforms now look exactly like those worn by Nazis. Who approved this? It's incredibly creepy and off-putting.
I'm tempted to scold the writers on their misuse of the term "cold fusion" too, but explaining how they screwed that up would be a spoiler. Still, it's a perfect example of the writers' total lack of due diligence.
Here's another example of plot stupidity: If a ship's artificial gravity system malfunctions in a way that endangers the crew, the obvious safety measure is to shut it down. A mercury switch or accelerometer (as found in a smart phone) would do it automatically. Unfortunately, that's not how we do things in an Abrams film, where adrenaline trumps intelligence.
There are a couple of technologies shown in this movie that would utterly transform life in the Federation, yet they're simply treated as throwaway plot points with no thought given to their ultimate repercussions. Again, that's lazy.
In fact, the plot of Star Trek: Into Darkness makes even less sense than the original reboot. It is little more than the wet dream of people who don't understand the first thing about the Trek universe, let alone actually care about it.
And I could have done with fewer lens flares and fist-fights.
There is an underlying question posed by the plot of STID, namely "what would you do to protect your family?" In all but one case the answer we're given is "act selfishly, screw the rules, and screw everyone else". In the Abramsverse people are quite willing to cause mass slaughter just to save their own family, in a way that reminds me of Gandhi's warning: "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." On steroids.
All that being said, there were a few things I liked about STID. I was pleasantly surprised by the final reveal of the plot which drove the conflict in this movie, however badly it was handled. I liked all of the principal characters with the exception of Kirk, who is incredibly annoying. Benedict Cumberbatch makes a charismatic villain, and he does a fine job despite the terrible lines they gave him. The visuals were top-notch, though I find today's visual effects so overwhelming they induce a kind of perceptual numbness. Maybe I'm just getting old. :)
I give this movie 2 out of 5 stars.
If you want to see Star Trek rebooted the right way, go watch Galaxy Quest. It's quite evident those writers love their source material in a way the Abrams crew does not.
This spoilerific FAQ from io9.com identifies many of my own deep dissatisfactions with the plot Star Trek: Into Darkness. Do not read it unless you've seen the film first.
By the way, I should mention that I don't hate *everything* Abrams has ever done. Cloverfield was kind of cool as an experiment in extreme cinema verite, and I enjoyed Super 8 so much I saw it twice in the theater and bought the DVD. The monster and the climax are pretty dumb, but the movie perfectly captures the feeling of being fifteen and struck with a crush.
