So. Star Trek.

[emmagrant01]

Well... I liked it, of course, but I didn't love it. And I expected to, so...  Hmmm.

Bits I really liked:

The first 15 minutes. That was the best part of the movie, frankly.

Spock's emotional journey, from his little selfish/generous moment of mind-melding* with Pike right before he died to his tears at Jim's "death". I just love Spock being humanized a bit, apparently. (*Isn't it canon that Vulcans mind-meld with dying friends/relatives to comfort them in their last moments? Or did I read that in a fic?)

The K/S. OMG the Kay fucking Ess. It shipped itself, I swear. Spock's suspicion/jealousy of Carol was particularly lovely.

It's cheesy and cliched, but I will never tire of Bones saying, "I'm a doctor, not a ______." Ever.

"The Mudd Incident."

Sassy!Spock and all his attitudes. :-D

Simon Pegg. Whenever he was on the screen, I was smiling. And watching him run down that hangar made me laugh and think of his story about puking after filming it!

Benedict Cumberbatch. I don't think his role was terribly well-written, but that man can work magic with even the clumsiest dialogue. (Just like Harrison Ford.) And he looked so good in this film. SO GOOD.

Bits I didn't like:

There were just some writing issues that bugged me. I went into it unspoiled but frankly found it easy to work out the entire plot as I watched. I expected to be surprised and I wasn't, and I think that's the reason I left the cinema feeling a little disappointed.

John Harrison/Khan wasn't quite as malevolent as I'd expected - which frankly could be a result of my love for BC. The cast had said so many times in the media junket interviews and appearances that BC's character was playing mindgames and pitting them against each other, but... he didn't? I mean, not really. I was expecting something on the level of Moriarty-style mindgames, I guess.

The real bad guy was easy to spot early on. Over-the-top American military guy = evil these days, amirite?

Was there any reason Alice Eve had to take her clothes off in that one scene? No, I didn't think so. If we'd gotten some shirtless BC or CP**, I'd be able to overlook it, but seriously? Clearly I wasn't the intended audience. :-/ (**There was that little scene where Kirk was shirtless in bed with the two tailed-women, but I'm not counting that because he wasn't intended to be an object of sexual gaze there.)

The reversal of the death scene from ST II was interesting and a nice tip of the hat to the alternate universe, but... Spock yelling "KHAAAAANNN!!11!" Shatner-style threw me out of the moment. I get that they needed him to get mad and have a reason to go after Khan, so they could get the blood sample (saw that coming from the first scene - oh, Khan's magic blood can revive a dying child? Someone important is going to die and need resuscitating! And hey, let's hammer it in with this revived Tribble!) but it seemed like a gratuitous fight scene at that point. A point in the "like" column for Uhura beaming down to save Spock's ass, though.

...

Yeah. I need to process for a bit. I'll definitely go see it again, but I think my expectations were too high and probably weren't going to be met. Four years is a long time to wait, you know?

OTOH, I think the writing here could have been better. A lot better. And that’s what I keep coming back to. I walked out of the first film blown away, totally sucked back into the fandom after a good decade, and dying to write fanfic. I fully expected to come out of this one feeling the same way, and I didn't. :-/

Cross-posted to my Tumblr

Comments

[dracavia]

I think in some ways my saving grace with this movie was going in expecting to be disappointed. I was expecting a movie where JJ fulfilled all of my worst worries about this film based on what I'd been hearing in dribs and drabs in the last 6 months and... well, some of it was there, but a lot of it wasn't, and we got some really good character moments. The science was laughable, the plot was about as subtle as a semi and the KHANNNNN scream threw me out of the otherwise very touching homage that moment between Spock and Kirk was. But looking at it strictly from the perspective of the Kirk/Spock relationship building, that I was happy with. So, while I left the cinema with mixed feelings, they were tipped more in the direction of enjoyment, which was better than I'd expected.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I worked so hard to stay unspoiled for this one, and now I'm wondering if that was the right choice, you know? But hey, next time I see it, I'll have much more reasonable expectations, and I'll be able to enjoy it more. :-)

[dracavia]

I avoided blatant spoilers, but I'm a sucker for actor interviews and trailers, so I'd seen hints of things around. I think I'll be able to enjoy it more on my second viewing since I'll know to go in with Slash Goggles on and my science brain turned off, lol

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

I did too, and also came out disappointed--I'd had higher hopes than I should have, I guess. But the odds/evens thing just seems to have been flipped for the reboot, at least I hope so, so the next one may be better?

[drarryxlover.livejournal.com]

I honestly can't say I'm surprised. I haven't seen it, and have no intention to. I didn't particularly find the first one good. It was enjoyable sure, I've seen it once but there wasn't much in it so I could tell you now (about a year later) everything that happened.

I really disagree with you about the writing of the first one, I don't think it was good. I think it was Hollywood. I don't expect the second to be much better. I think a huge draw card for this film is Cumberbatch... he seems to be the new 'it' man.

So, really, this is a relatively pointless comment but you've firmly cemented in my mind that I've made the right choice not to see this in the cinema, maybe when it comes out on dvd or, like the first, when it comes on tv...

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Actually, I agree with you that the first one wasn't all that well-written either! But it was such a surprise for me, and I loved the whole fanficcy feel of it, if that makes sense. I love reboots of old canons in general, and it really got me back into the fandom after a good decade. I enjoyed it for exactly the same reasons I like Sherlock, actually (though the writing in Sherlock is SO SO much better.)

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

Just seconding so many of your reactions. I wish I'd written up my own because I ended up really liking things I thought I wouldn't (e.g. all the press made me wonder if Cumberbatch so overshadowed everyone else that it would be unbalanced, but I thought there were strong performances by the regular cast) and there were also things I did not like so much (e.g. how misleading that we only hear about one villain when there were in fact two).

There were other things I went in expecting to be uncomfortable with and was. I enjoyed Benedict's portrayal at the same time I was made uncomfortable by the whitewashing and this was only heightened by talking with another Cumberbatch/Sherlock/HP fan who is British of Indian heritage and who was deeply disappointed and pointed out certain things that could be inferred from such a casting decision.

Due to leaks and rumors from last summer, I've had months to get used to the idea that Cumberbatch was involved in whitewashing of a pivotal character in a franchise known for directly tackling issues of racism in its storylines and casting. Still, this weighed on me throughout the film and took me out of being able to connect emotionally with the retelling of the storyline. All I could think was 'was this really necessary'?

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I'm sure we'll talk about this in a couple of hours, but yes: there's that one gifset on Tumblr where Spock asks Khan why he's white with a name like that, and Kirk says the classic Mean Girls line of, "OMG, you can't ask people why they're white!"

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

I love that gifset for how it uses humor to so pithily comment on what is and isn't being said about this issue.

I actually feel kind of uncomfortable talking about this at all. Too much of fandom discourse about -isms and other transgressions tends to come from those who are in the dominant group. This is probably why I didn't end up blogging about it my in my LJ, among other reasons.

[darthrami.livejournal.com]

I really, really enjoyed it, but didn't go in entirely unspoiled.

But my main/one of my only complaints (and mind, it's a big one!) was the writing. The dialogue was good, but the plot, just. You could've driven tractor trailers through there in many places.

Luckily, the cast (all of them) really stepped up to the plate and let me forget that.

But I didn't go in expecting much more than a summer blockbuster, and I got that, so I was happy, I guess? (I mean, I know I was happy. I guess that's why.)

[jya-bd-cp-ttgb.livejournal.com]

*has head on desk* Thanks for the review. I shall now spend 6 for the matinee instead of 11 for the prime time showing. Many thanks from my wallet. *walks off muttering* Whitewash, no K/S smoochies, bimbo barrage..nope, saving that Lincoln....

[sorion.livejournal.com]

I loved it :) I thought the writing was quite layered and interesting; more so than I'd expected. I was surprised at how they incorporated the military paranoia that would have surfaced after the incident with Nero, and how it changed the waking of Khan.

I don't think the audience was supposed to hate Khan. He's the monster in the story, as opposed to Marcus, who was the villain. Everyone hated Marcus... (I was briefly disappointed that I no longer have to write papers for uni, this semester XD I would have loved to work with the monster/villain theme in this film.)

And the dialogues were brilliant :D (My favourite scene was Khan and Spock negotiating XD So much fun to watch two geniuses outsmart each other :3)

[elizabeth-rice.livejournal.com]

Hey Emma. I was thinking of getting myself a tumblr account. I wanted to know if you get any spammy emails or something? Thanks.

[liesbyomission.livejournal.com]

Saw this on your tumblr and came back over here to comment... I was also so annoyed about the scene with Alice Eve in her underwear. So gratuitous! Even a bit of shirtless BC or CP wouldn't have really made me able to overlook it though... From the interviews it seemed like the point of the BC topless scene was to show how muscular and powerful his character was. Meanwhile, Alice's character was just talked up as this amazing weapons specialist with a doctorate -- gotta take her down a notch by showing her with her clothes off to make her less intimidating, I guess!

I've never seen any of the original Star Trek and I admit I only watched the 2009 film to prepare for this film so I could see BC. So I can't really comment on how it relates to canon.

Overall I did enjoy it, especially seeing BC up close on a massive screen. It was entertaining, just not necessarily satisfying.

[critterel.livejournal.com]

I did enjoy it but, as you say, there were definite weaknesses in the script. The biggest error that hit me and really pulled me out of the moment was when Kirk states that the "Space, the final frontier..." monologue is the "Starfleet Captains Oath." That made NO sense at all. Honestly, this is the first five year mission, right? So why would they *all* swear to that? And every Captain serves on the Enterprise? I felt like the script needed a Beta reader! : ) Someone to go, uh... dude, this bit here... really doesn't make sense.

I did try to lower my expectations before I saw it, which is probably why I liked it overall. I have been watching a LOT of British TV and, well... honestly their writing is just BETTER. They do have some bad moments, they *are* human...but overall? Really the quality doesn't compare. So, did I expect a Mark Gatiss or Steven Moffat quality script? No, obviously they were going to focus on action over tight writing.

What did surprise me, though, was that there actually were some nice character moments interspersed amongst all the action. I really liked the Spock/Uhura argument in the shuttlecraft. Honestly, of COURSE they were going to have that fight then... she's not dumb!! He's stuck in a little room with her and she's got the Captain as back up... what better time to confront him?? I liked that Scotty got a nice storyline and that he stood up for his beliefs & quit--even though he did come back to help his friends once Kirk pulled his head out. I did not like that they seem to have "promoted" Uhura to the part of the Command Triad that was occupied by Dr. McCoy. Karl Urban has captured Dr. McCoy in a way that I didn't think was possible and it would be nice if there was a bit more of him.

I did think the Kirk "apology" was a bit too heavy handed. Yes, we were supposed to realize that he'd grown up and accepted responsibility for his crew. (To hammer it in AGAIN, we get reminded as he dies that he's concerned about the crew... yes, we GET IT!) To me that would have played a little better if they had resolved it in a different manner. Sometimes you CAN resolve a situation through brainwork--you don't always have to do fancy stunts! It seemed like most of the script was written around-- 'Hey Guys! Change this around, there hasn't been any action in 5 whole minutes!' or 'Dude, talking that out won't work--re-write it so that we can have a kick-ass stunt there!!'

Other than them trying to out-superhero the Marvel movies, it was good. (Ironically, in Iron Man 3-the strength of the movie for me was that Tony solved most of his problems with his BRAIN not brawn and fancy stunts!)

This was the first time I've seen Benedict Cumberbatch on a big screen and I just enjoyed the hell out of it. It was interesting to see him play such a physical role, rather than focusing on his intellect. I was so proud of him, and just kept thinking how many directors or producers are watching this film going... have I got a part for you!

As far as Khan's race goes I wonder if they prioritized casting an actor with a very strong presence over specific physical characteristics. The film would be MUCH weaker if they had cast someone who looked to be of Middle-Eastern descent, but didn't have the incredible gravitas Benedict does. I'm not saying there are no actors who could have done it, but how many actors are as compelling as Benedict? Also, if you are looking at today's headlines, I LIKE that the "bad-guy-terrorist-bomber' was NOT of Middle-eastern descent, when that is the stereotype. It's scarier if he doesn't fit the "terrorist" profile.

As far as *Quality* filmmaking goes, I'm looking forward to "August:Osage County." That looks almost like they made it with the words "Give us Oscars" emblazoned in the end credits somewhere. If there is a checklist of things to do to get Academy notice, that film's checked the boxes.

And speaking of end credits... did anyone else tear up when the Original Star Trek theme started to play over the end credits?? It was a beautiful moment and I'm glad they forked up the dough for it!!

Clare

[cherrysyllabub.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed the movie! Maybe I am just easy to please but I thought it was a great time!

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Just popped in to say hi and read your thoughts as well! It does all seem to lead back to 'special effects are no substitute for good writing'. Also, I think if one ships K/S it's a lot more enjoyable than if you don't *g*

(I shipped the original, but here I'm just... not. Idk.)

[splix.livejournal.com]

Just reading everyone's reviews now and I'm nodding my head at a lot of this. The obviousness, the badly written role for BC, so much. Gah.