Star Trek again

[emmagrant01]

The more I think about this film, the more disappointed I am.

Here are links to great fan commentaries picking apart exactly what a clusterfuck this film is. I'll probably add to this list as I come across new ones. Feel free to suggest more!

SPOILERS, obviously:

http://liviapenn.dreamwidth.org/530032.html

http://greywash.dreamwidth.org/43081.html

Edit: But this is heeeelarious.

Comments

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Well, the first one is reasonable, but the second is on par with thinking 9/11 was entirely planned by the CIA. Conspiracy theorists, anyone?

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

If you read the comments on the second one, I think you'll see that it's clear she knows there's no way to prove this is what actually happened, and that she's not even really sure herself. But it's undeniable that the whole "it's a spoiler" situation makes it difficult to discuss it openly in fandom, which is sad, because this really something that should be discussed.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Ah, I hadn't read the comments.

But I really stand with Neil Gaiman on that one - "G.R.R. Martin is not your bitch." The new team want to preserve the surprise, go them. It's their movie.

[shadowfireflame.livejournal.com]

I always like Movie Bob's reviews, and also daasgrrl has two reviews that I enjoyed. :)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Thank you for those links. Even more insight into why this movie was such a disappointment. :-)

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links. As I just said to greywash, I'm not a fan (haven't seen the older movies, won't see this one) but I was shocked to read that Khan was being played by BC--so much so that I went looking for reviews online to confirm that there were other folks as taken aback as I was. I hope discussions like these gain traction in fandom. M.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I was unspoiled, but a couple of days before I saw it, it seemed pretty clear he had to be Khan, so when the line came, I wasn't shocked. But the sheer lack of character development? That shocked me. :-/

[megyal]

Thanks for the links. I left a comment on the second one explaining how my dad is half-Indian and he also likes Star Trek (mostly, he LOVES how the Enterprise travels through space), and that particular aspect pisses me off so much.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

It's just... sad, you know? I feel so fucking sad about all of it, and I really hate feeling that way about a fandom.

[lettered.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for that link to greywash.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I really wish everyone would read it and think about it. Including JJ Abrams...

[jamoche]

The TWoP review likens it to "big kids plugging their Trek action figures into a series of loosely connected scenarios that they've wanted to play out".

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, that was a good one. Thank you!

[ausmac.livejournal.com]

I liked the film, though I recognise it had faults. In the scale of the Trek universe, using things like ST:MP and ....what was the one everyone forgets deliberately to save their brains? yes that one...as comparisons, its faults are relatively minor.

One of the entries you link to mentioned this:

"It has to do with the fact that I think that it is necessary and appropriate to boycott major Hollywood films who are failing that spectacularly on racial awareness and sensitivity..."

See, I don't quite get this. The character's name is Khan Noonian Singh. This is an Indian name and the character was reported to be Indian. In the original TV series and film the character was played by Ricado Montalban. How does having an Indian character played by an Englishman stack up any more oddly than having the character played by someone Hispanic? Yes, both odd choices. I dont know why the film makers didnt fill the role with a more ethnic actor. To my mind, however, they filled it with a very capable actor. And whose to say he wasn't Indian? Appearances could mean very little to someone who is the result of genetic engineering.

There were a lot of other points raised in the two reviews I disagreed with. Things like...why didn't Kirk know Spock wouldn't back him? Well maybe because they had only known each other a few months, Kirk knew very little about Spock and Vulcans as a whole, and he is afflicted with outrageous optimism, something he always had.

I could go on and on, but its not really useful. Let just say - I enjoyed it, I got what they were trying to do, I liked the attempts to link up the original timeline with the changed one, and if I have quibbles its that I dont much like amazing life saving pills/injections/treatments; people die all the time over a series or films and using a God mechanism like that and then having us conveniently forget it is a bit much to ask. Its a flawed storytelling technique and shouldnt be used.

[franzi1981.livejournal.com]

Ricardo wasn't even Hispanic - he was European, born to Spanish parents. So a European playing an Indian was replaced by a European...

[coendou.livejournal.com]

I feel bad, somehow. I loved the movie with only a few caveats (like the whitewashing), and I know dozens of other people who also loved it. I've read several detailed critiques and just generally don't agree with many of the points made.

But I don't have time to write my own meta in support of the movie, and it seems like ONLY the people who don't like it are taking the time to write anything so detailed, none of the people who liked it are doing that. So I feel guilty for some reason for not having time to rebut all these critiques, even though it's not like it's my job or anything, and the movie will do just fine without Random Fan #8213 putting in her two cents.