| AlexLegroux |
01-12-2017 07:31 AM |
Star Trek 2009 Reboot review
The intro sequence with the Muslim captain of the Federation ship, is in keeping with the choice of a Russian in the 60s; a future free of bigotry where all races and creeds get along, an optimistic view of the future. The man was well cast Starfleet is evidently a meritocracy. I wonder if there was drama overload in the opening sequence, a man who saves his crew and sacrifices himself to save his wife and his son. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Something that Kirk Senior exemplifies in his actions.
Chris pine's Kirk was convincing, a young man with an absent father who gets into bar brawls true to life, based on real characters, on reflection myself and an aquaintance from school who used to start fights with people twice his size at gigs.. Pike was a convincing captain and quite a good father figure. Zacchary Quinto plays a convincing spock, his use of English contrasts with Nimoy's more human language. He does suppressed rage well and reminds us what it means to be human. McCoy is convincing, the scene with the shuttle craft joining the Enterprise is good. Good relatable themes staples of Star Trek, what it fatherhood, service.the judge at Kirk's tribunal was well cast and well played. I wondered why Spock said such hurtful things Kirk at the hearing, all he did was cheat in his test. Perhaps because logic is very important to vulcans.
Nero was well played by Erik Bana, a believable motive for a war like race, a good name for a people inspired by the Romans. A rogue soldier driven to genocide by grief. Reminds me of the first recorded coup detat in an ancient Greek City State. Spock's location of the new colony for the Vulcans Leaves possibilities open for the future. Are the Romulans and Vulcans ever going to reconcile their differences. Hardly seems likely Nero is gone. The action sequence on the Narada was good, the phasers shots have a lived in feel. The choice of the cockroach like “slug” is good, it elicits a primal response in the view. In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indie's love interest gets covered in insects. This is an effective use of CG. The action scene where Kirk and Sulu, parachute on to the Romulan drill head is good, it was interesting seeing how this was filmed. The ending is superb, the music is moving and Kirk being given a medal and relieveing Pike after saving him is superb. I found the time travel part of the plot difficult to understand. But this has been done before In the Voyage home and worked quite well I thought. The Romulan casting was good. The ending with the Enter prise nearly being sucked into a black hole was quite exciting, having the windscreen crack was nice touch.
Kirk is a Maverick, and I liked the opening with child kirk driving his step fathers car. Some one in the crew likes the Beastie Boys.
I found the Vulcan music to be hauntingly beautiful. The Vulcans seemed to have an over reliance on technology to be odd. I wonder if we could have more demotic speech in Vulcan with subtitles, per haps the Vulcans make a show of being logical to humans to show superiority. The dark and possibly unhygenic conditions on the Narada, played by the convincingly mad and grieving Romulan Nero, are atmospheric.The Centaurian slug is an example of mature CG used to good effect. Spock is presented as a know it all early on in the film, we have all encountered annoying know it alls in our time, perhaps his extremely callous remark made to Kirk after cheating the Kobiyashi Maru, comes from his family back ground as a worshipper of logic, and does not like the fact that someone could out logic him. Kirk wrote the code himself, perhaps implying that while thinking with his gut, Kirk has a greater capacity for logical thought than Spock. Uhura's green room mate was wearing ropy make up, perhaps as a not to TOS, but at odds with the convincing costumes elsewhere. I liked “Enterprising Young Men” this moved me, someone in the crew likes the Beastie boys. Having twelve year old Kirk, driving a car is a good demonstration of a child in need of adult supervision, perhaps we could have seen him hotwire the car beforehand. A child with a death wish. When we are introduced to boy Kirk in IOWA, the rural setting and the carphone with the familiar ring tone root us into the present day. The alien at the abr between Uhura and Kirk, while Kirk is trying to pick her up, seems to be offended at the two humans talking across him. In this film it is made clear that Kirk is exceptional and that he has to face his demons by signing up to Starfleet. The Romulans hhave tattoos on their faces in this film, this is a nice addition, everything about them speaks of decay, their ship which is extremely cool,is sort of insect shaped. The action sequences on the Narada are good, there is a good twist with Kirk using the Romulan's gun against him. There is character development in Kirk and Spock, we also see that Uhura is good at talking Spock around when she is assigned to the Farrogate. Nimoy's Spock alternates between stilted formal speech and more human language. We have seen Zacchary Quinto's Spock suppress emotions but per ahps we could have Vulcan expletives in the Vulcan language, when things get too tough. I enjoyed watching Spock's mind meld. I liked the feel good ending of the film.
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