20 May 2009

Star Trek

Exceeded expectations. I loved it. It was done with even more affection than I could have hoped for. And really, that's all I wanted -- a treatment done with a bit of love and panache, in which everyone's having fun but embracing their characters rather than standing off in parody. Kirk is perfect. Karl Urban as McCoy is awesome (but I expected him to be good, he's so underrated he nearly rescued Doom). Chekov goes so far beyond over-the-top that he comes out the other side and seems perfectly reasonable. Sulu very nice. Uhura great. Only Simon Pegg seemed to be having a bit too much fun. I half-expected Nick Frost to turn up, pint in hand, ready to smack the accent off him. Cute, yet eminently trekkie, way to brush aside continuity issues, too. Bring on the sequels! (Can we get some tribbles in there?)
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9 comments:

  1. zim21 May 2009 at 03:44

    highly enjoyed it here, as well. agreed, Karl Urban was excellent.

    but, as much as i enjoyed it, i'm not certain i feel like watching it again. that bothers me somehow.

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  2. Rick21 May 2009 at 04:56

    I was amazed at how well all actors seemed to be the younger versions of TOS cast. Heartily agree on the film's general excellence. Urban was stunning. I thought Pegg was fantastic -- I always wanted Scotty to be a bit more bawdy. Did not like hist cutesy alien sidekick, though. I'm torn about Uhura -- on one hand, the TOS character was pretty thinly drawn. BUt I'm not certain about this turn.

    Also LOVED the nods to fandom -- Capt. Pike in a wheelchair, Quickdeath McRedshirt falling to his doom, etc.

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  3. KnuckleSplitter21 May 2009 at 05:27

    Agreed. My son and I enjoyed it a lot. Def. exceeded expectations. A great cast, but Karl Urban was my fav. - the perfect younger McCoy. Didn't expect Nemoy to have such a big part, but it worked pretty well.

    Terminator 4 is one I've been looking forward too for a while, but I think it may disappoint. Will find out tomorrow...

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  4. KnuckleSplitter21 May 2009 at 05:29

    Oh... another "nod to fandom" was when McCoy first met Kirk and got the "Bones" nickname.

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  5. pyker21 May 2009 at 07:17

    Scottie didn't do enough engineery things for my liking, but he was a late joiner.

    One review hilariously pointed out that Quickdeath McRedshirt had obviously not seen Galaxy Quest.

    The nods to both Star Trek and other sci fi movies (kirk w/ green-skinned woman, khan mind-control slug, empire-strikes-back ice planet, hint of a firefly-esque drive on the advanced vulcan ship) are almost too numerous to mention, but I'm sure there are frame-by-frame sites up already.

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  6. pyker21 May 2009 at 07:38

    I must admit I haven't been looking forward to the new terminator. I was mildly surprised to discover a couple months ago that there was going to be one. But I enjoy Christian Bale and may go see it. My expectations are suitably low. On the other hand, since Transformers was, shockingly, so mindlessly enjoyable, the new Terminator movie just looks ludicrously melodramatic and un-fun.

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  7. JustJoeP21 May 2009 at 15:35

    http://www.theonion.com/content/video/trekkies_bash_new_star_trek_film

    "If I wanted to see young attractive people, doing cool exciting things, you know, I'd go watch sports"

    LOL

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  8. KnuckleSplitter22 May 2009 at 06:07

    Well, Terminator Salvation met my recently-lowered expectations. I would give it almost 3.5/5 compared to Star Trek being at least 4/5 for me. Dark but very action packed. Bale did well. Sam Worthington did really well. Nice job on the cameo CGI version of a young Arnold. The story is a little thin and lots of strain to my credulity, but enjoyable.

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  9. Unknown30 May 2009 at 13:51

    I think my favorite nod to the original was Kirk in almost constant fist fights.

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