Posted July 22, 2016
So, let's talk about the new Trek movie, shall we? Take care, spoilers may follow.
I was rarther concerned about Beyond. A Fast & Furious director, first script reportedly rejected for being too "treky" and the studio wanting something more like Guardians of the Galaxy all seemed to spell disaster, and the first trailer seemed to confirm that.
To my great relief, it's actually good, fun and "treky" enough. It's not a masterpiece of cinema, nor among the very best of the franchise, but it's still fun and well acted, and gets a "treky" adventure right. I think Pegg's script really nailed the "voices" of the main characters, striking a nice balance between the "traditional" versions and the way we've seen them in the previous two movies. Pretty much every second with McCoy and Spock together is gold. Unsurprisingly Scotty is probably the character that benefitted most from Pegg's writing, funny and likeable and very "Scotty", even if Pegg never tries to mimc Doohan. Interestingly, I felt pine was somewhat closer to Shatner's Kirk in this movie. In the scene of his conversation with the admiral at the end I thought he even looked a little more like him. Maybe it's just me seeing things.
The villain initially seems rather uninteresting anda waste of Elba's time, however the twist at the end, which I really did not see coming, and that in itself is a rare thing in movies today, gives him an interesting parallel to Kirk from the movies begininng. Unfortunately it's never explored for all it's worth, not nearly, but still- it's good that it's there. The whole movie is a little like that, only skimming matters that I would like to see explored deeper (and I imagine in the first draft they might have been), but it's a fun ride and even unexplored depth is better than none.
There's a number of nice nostalgic nods, and original Spock's death playsa surprisingly important part in the movie, but it never feels forced. In fact most of it is played nicely subtle, and the photograph at the end, even if one might question the "how" and "why" of it feels a fitting tribute to the original cast for the 50th anniversary.
It's not a perfect movie- sometimes the editing feels a little choppy, sometimes it seems a scene or two are missing, probably left on the cutting room floor, which makes some action sequences a little hard to follow. Also, sometimes the movie is way to dark- and I don't mean "serious" I mean it's literally too dark to see things. As consolation, the Yorktown starbase is probably the most impressive construction we've yet seen on Star Trek, except for maybe V'Ger way back in The Motion Picture, and the "swarm" is a new kind of enemy to battle in space for sure, even if the way it's defeated is a bit too close to a parody for it's own good.
Despite these problems, it's hard not to feel happy, as a longtime fan, as we see the Enterprise-A launch and continue the mission, as the crew delivers the famous "These are the voyages...". It may not be the best Trek has to offer, but it's still good and has it's heart in the right place. With the next movie already announced (hopefully this one will do well enough not to make the studio rethink that) and a new series coming, it's a good time to be a Trek fan.
Now if only we could get more Trek games here on GOG...
I was rarther concerned about Beyond. A Fast & Furious director, first script reportedly rejected for being too "treky" and the studio wanting something more like Guardians of the Galaxy all seemed to spell disaster, and the first trailer seemed to confirm that.
To my great relief, it's actually good, fun and "treky" enough. It's not a masterpiece of cinema, nor among the very best of the franchise, but it's still fun and well acted, and gets a "treky" adventure right. I think Pegg's script really nailed the "voices" of the main characters, striking a nice balance between the "traditional" versions and the way we've seen them in the previous two movies. Pretty much every second with McCoy and Spock together is gold. Unsurprisingly Scotty is probably the character that benefitted most from Pegg's writing, funny and likeable and very "Scotty", even if Pegg never tries to mimc Doohan. Interestingly, I felt pine was somewhat closer to Shatner's Kirk in this movie. In the scene of his conversation with the admiral at the end I thought he even looked a little more like him. Maybe it's just me seeing things.
The villain initially seems rather uninteresting anda waste of Elba's time, however the twist at the end, which I really did not see coming, and that in itself is a rare thing in movies today, gives him an interesting parallel to Kirk from the movies begininng. Unfortunately it's never explored for all it's worth, not nearly, but still- it's good that it's there. The whole movie is a little like that, only skimming matters that I would like to see explored deeper (and I imagine in the first draft they might have been), but it's a fun ride and even unexplored depth is better than none.
There's a number of nice nostalgic nods, and original Spock's death playsa surprisingly important part in the movie, but it never feels forced. In fact most of it is played nicely subtle, and the photograph at the end, even if one might question the "how" and "why" of it feels a fitting tribute to the original cast for the 50th anniversary.
It's not a perfect movie- sometimes the editing feels a little choppy, sometimes it seems a scene or two are missing, probably left on the cutting room floor, which makes some action sequences a little hard to follow. Also, sometimes the movie is way to dark- and I don't mean "serious" I mean it's literally too dark to see things. As consolation, the Yorktown starbase is probably the most impressive construction we've yet seen on Star Trek, except for maybe V'Ger way back in The Motion Picture, and the "swarm" is a new kind of enemy to battle in space for sure, even if the way it's defeated is a bit too close to a parody for it's own good.
Despite these problems, it's hard not to feel happy, as a longtime fan, as we see the Enterprise-A launch and continue the mission, as the crew delivers the famous "These are the voyages...". It may not be the best Trek has to offer, but it's still good and has it's heart in the right place. With the next movie already announced (hopefully this one will do well enough not to make the studio rethink that) and a new series coming, it's a good time to be a Trek fan.
Now if only we could get more Trek games here on GOG...
