Star Trek
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Tigermegatron
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Re: Star Trek
Can someone please post a 2013 Star Trek 2 movie review from start to finish. please include all the spoiler details.
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andersonh1
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Re: Star Trek
Why not just go see the movie? Or Google spoiler reviews, they're out there already.Tigermegatron wrote:Can someone please post a 2013 Star Trek 2 movie review from start to finish. please include all the spoiler details.
My wife and I want to go see it, but of course for us there's always the necessity of finding a babysitter, so it may be a few weeks before we can go. I should probably avoid spoilers so I can be surprised, but I doubt I'll be able to.
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Sparky Prime
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Re: Star Trek
I'll probably be seeing it Saturday. Although I'll also be helping someone move some stuff so I don't think I'll be able to post a review until Sunday night or Monday...
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Sparky Prime
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Re: Star Trek
So I saw Into Darkness on Saturday. I have to say I really enjoyed this movie. Still not without some faults but I thought it was much better than the 2009 film. And with that, here's some of my thoughts about the film...
So yeah, because it's a bit late I'll wrap it up there for now.
Spoiler
The film starts out on an alien world where the crew is trying to prevent a volcano from erupting and killing everything on that world. Spock of course is concerned with violating the Prime Directive by revealing themselves to the local population. But technically, they are violating that by just trying to stop the volcano in the first place and it's a nice touch this doesn't get over looked, seeing that Admiral Pike does point that out when he meets with Spock and Kirk back on Earth. I don't know why they decided to hide the Enterprise in the ocean though. I mean, there really was no reason it needed to be under water, and not in orbit where it belongs, other than it looked "kewl" to fly the ship out of the water and gave them a reason to get Kirk into big trouble.
Afterwords, Kirk looses his command, and Admiral Pike is given command of the Enterprise, but then Pike is killed and Admiral Marcus (who has a nice collection of models that includes the Phoenix, the NX-01 among other starships) gives command back to Kirk with special permission to end Harrison with 72 new long range photon torpedoes. That seems like a bit of overkill for just one man. Of course there is a specific reason for having so many torpedoes, but you'd think someone in the film might question it long before they actually question it. It's a nice touch they comment that the Enterprise earlier happened to confiscate Mud's ship in order to go to Kronos, so as not to make it look like a Starfleet operation.
Speaking of Starfleet operations, I like that the destruction of Vulcan in the previous film is a big part of the motivations here. Why Starfleet is a bit more aggressive with their explorations to see what other threats are out there, leading to the earlier discovery and reasoning for waking Khan, building Starfleet's first true warship long before the Defiant was built in response to the Borg threat... And I was surprised to see Leonard Nimoy show up for another cameo in this film. They really had some great references for the fans to pick up on. I've mentioned a few already of course, but there are so many more. A mention of Nurse Chapel. A tribble. The obvious Wrath of Khan scene...
Afterwords, Kirk looses his command, and Admiral Pike is given command of the Enterprise, but then Pike is killed and Admiral Marcus (who has a nice collection of models that includes the Phoenix, the NX-01 among other starships) gives command back to Kirk with special permission to end Harrison with 72 new long range photon torpedoes. That seems like a bit of overkill for just one man. Of course there is a specific reason for having so many torpedoes, but you'd think someone in the film might question it long before they actually question it. It's a nice touch they comment that the Enterprise earlier happened to confiscate Mud's ship in order to go to Kronos, so as not to make it look like a Starfleet operation.
Speaking of Starfleet operations, I like that the destruction of Vulcan in the previous film is a big part of the motivations here. Why Starfleet is a bit more aggressive with their explorations to see what other threats are out there, leading to the earlier discovery and reasoning for waking Khan, building Starfleet's first true warship long before the Defiant was built in response to the Borg threat... And I was surprised to see Leonard Nimoy show up for another cameo in this film. They really had some great references for the fans to pick up on. I've mentioned a few already of course, but there are so many more. A mention of Nurse Chapel. A tribble. The obvious Wrath of Khan scene...
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andersonh1
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Re: Star Trek
I went and saw it myself. My wife and I got the grandparents to keep the kids, and they even gave us a movie gift card someone had given them since "we can't sit through movies any more". So date and free movie, woo!!
Good movie all around. Not perfect, and some winks at fans work while others go too far.
Overall, they did a good job, and improved on the first movie considerably. I really enjoyed it. I have fan nitpicks and no movie is perfect, but it's nice to revisit the Trek universe again.
Good movie all around. Not perfect, and some winks at fans work while others go too far.
Spoiler
Spock yelling "KHAAAAAAN!" and running off for rage-fueled revenge just was not believable at all, for example, while the starship models on the desk were pretty cool. I loved the cameo by Leonard Nimoy and the mention of Christine Chapel. The Klingons look different, but enough like the old design that they're recognizable.
So, some thoughts:
- Nice action-packed opener, and I loved the red foliage on white trees. It said "alien world" without the need for a lot of exposition. And the Prime Directive is simply explained for once. Rather than some impenetrable philosophical standard that Picard pontificates on at length, it's illustrated in one scene as the aliens on Nibiru sketch the Enterprise in the sand and it appears their way of life has been altered drastically by Kirk's actions. And all of this is the equivalent of the old pre-credits teaser.
- As the tribute at the end makes clear, the bombing in London and the impact of the Vengeance with San Fransisco allude to 9/11 and modern-day terrorism. Not much is done with this other than simply to depict it, but it's an example of how topical issues have always bled into Trek's storytelling.
- Scotty gets a very good role in this movie compared to the last. Uhura's role is reduced, but she gets a couple of good scenes, including the one where she goes out alone to talk with half a dozen Klingons. The character balance seemed much more akin to that of the old series in this movie, with Kirk, Spock and McCoy as the top three, Scotty as second tier, and Uhura, Chekov and Sulu as a sort of third tier. It was always clear in Star Trek that there were the big three and everyone else, but Scotty gets quite a few larger roles than the others as the old show goes on. And that's reflected here.
- They picked a good actor to play Khan. He's no Ricardo Montalban, but then none of the actors are as good as the originals, in my opinion. They're all "consolation prizes" since the originals are too old for a movie like this. They do a good job, and I enjoy watching them all, but I can't help but wonder how Shatner, Nimoy and company would have looked in a big budget action movie. I'd love to have seen it. Cumberbatch is one of the best actors in the film and makes an outstanding villain.
- I hate that they killed Pike. Bruce Greenwood is an actor I always enjoy watching, and he did a great job with the character. And here I was thinking that Pike was going to have a better fate in the new universe than he did in the old one. No such luck.
- I'm still not buying Transwarp beaming, but if nothing else the ability to beam halfway across the galaxy seems to be a feature rather than a bug if Khan can beam from Earth to Kronos. So that covers one plot hole from the last movie.
- Recycled idea: the warmongering Starfleet Admiral, though having him turn out to be Carol Marcus' father was a nice touch. So was the inclusion of Carol Marcus in the film. It's nice to learn more about that particular character.
- Section 31 gets a mention! Nice!!
- I love the design of the warp core. It looks like a massive engine to drive a massive starship. Well done, movie designers.
- Recycled villain: Khan Noonian Singh. We get, not a remake of "Space Seed", but a what if variation of that episode. What if Starfleet found him and his crew and put him to work for them in this new more militaristic Starfleet? Scotty references Picard's line from "Insurrection" about being explorers rather than military showing that characters in-universe recognize what's happening to Starfleet. And for the most part, the story works well, though as I mentioned earlier, the reversal of the scene from Wrath of Khan is perhaps a fan-joke too far since it pulled me out of the story in a very meta way. Though I have to admit, Nimoy's line about defeating Khan "at great cost" almost makes up for it, since we as fans know that cost was Spock's life.
So, some thoughts:
- Nice action-packed opener, and I loved the red foliage on white trees. It said "alien world" without the need for a lot of exposition. And the Prime Directive is simply explained for once. Rather than some impenetrable philosophical standard that Picard pontificates on at length, it's illustrated in one scene as the aliens on Nibiru sketch the Enterprise in the sand and it appears their way of life has been altered drastically by Kirk's actions. And all of this is the equivalent of the old pre-credits teaser.
- As the tribute at the end makes clear, the bombing in London and the impact of the Vengeance with San Fransisco allude to 9/11 and modern-day terrorism. Not much is done with this other than simply to depict it, but it's an example of how topical issues have always bled into Trek's storytelling.
- Scotty gets a very good role in this movie compared to the last. Uhura's role is reduced, but she gets a couple of good scenes, including the one where she goes out alone to talk with half a dozen Klingons. The character balance seemed much more akin to that of the old series in this movie, with Kirk, Spock and McCoy as the top three, Scotty as second tier, and Uhura, Chekov and Sulu as a sort of third tier. It was always clear in Star Trek that there were the big three and everyone else, but Scotty gets quite a few larger roles than the others as the old show goes on. And that's reflected here.
- They picked a good actor to play Khan. He's no Ricardo Montalban, but then none of the actors are as good as the originals, in my opinion. They're all "consolation prizes" since the originals are too old for a movie like this. They do a good job, and I enjoy watching them all, but I can't help but wonder how Shatner, Nimoy and company would have looked in a big budget action movie. I'd love to have seen it. Cumberbatch is one of the best actors in the film and makes an outstanding villain.
- I hate that they killed Pike. Bruce Greenwood is an actor I always enjoy watching, and he did a great job with the character. And here I was thinking that Pike was going to have a better fate in the new universe than he did in the old one. No such luck.
- I'm still not buying Transwarp beaming, but if nothing else the ability to beam halfway across the galaxy seems to be a feature rather than a bug if Khan can beam from Earth to Kronos. So that covers one plot hole from the last movie.
- Recycled idea: the warmongering Starfleet Admiral, though having him turn out to be Carol Marcus' father was a nice touch. So was the inclusion of Carol Marcus in the film. It's nice to learn more about that particular character.
- Section 31 gets a mention! Nice!!
- I love the design of the warp core. It looks like a massive engine to drive a massive starship. Well done, movie designers.
- Recycled villain: Khan Noonian Singh. We get, not a remake of "Space Seed", but a what if variation of that episode. What if Starfleet found him and his crew and put him to work for them in this new more militaristic Starfleet? Scotty references Picard's line from "Insurrection" about being explorers rather than military showing that characters in-universe recognize what's happening to Starfleet. And for the most part, the story works well, though as I mentioned earlier, the reversal of the scene from Wrath of Khan is perhaps a fan-joke too far since it pulled me out of the story in a very meta way. Though I have to admit, Nimoy's line about defeating Khan "at great cost" almost makes up for it, since we as fans know that cost was Spock's life.
Re: Star Trek
All in all sounds like they did a good job with this one. One of my main complaints about the last one is that, while they maintained the characters' charm, a lot of the charm of the what made the series great to begin with had been lost. Sounds like they got it back with this one.
Also, who does Cumberbatch play? Kahn? This "Henderson" guy (you didn't elaborate on who he is or why Starfleet needs to kill him with 72 photon torpedos)?
Also, who does Cumberbatch play? Kahn? This "Henderson" guy (you didn't elaborate on who he is or why Starfleet needs to kill him with 72 photon torpedos)?
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Sparky Prime
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Re: Star Trek
Shockwave wrote:Also, who does Cumberbatch play? Kahn? This "Henderson" guy (you didn't elaborate on who he is or why Starfleet needs to kill him with 72 photon torpedos)?
Spoiler
He is indeed Khan. Section 31 decides to use him to make a more militaristic Starfleet and give him the name John Harrison as a cover. To get Khan to cooperate with them, they use the rest of his crew against him, all 72 of them. Not wanting to remain under their control, Khan manages to transfer his crew and ties to hide them by placing them (still in cryo tubes) in these new torpedoes he designed, but he is found out before he can get the crew away from Sector 31, and Admiral Marcus has them placed aboard the Enterprise when they go after him as a means to cover everything up. But Kirk instead captures Khan, forcing Admiral Marcus to go after them himself.
Re: Star Trek
Oh ok. Thanks for clearing that up. Sounds interesting, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this now.
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Sparky Prime
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Re: Star Trek
Thought this was interesting... Some images of the models that Admiral Marcus had along with some other props. Apparently QMx, the company that made them for the film, will be making replicas available for the public.
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Tigermegatron
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Re: Star Trek
I suspect the writer & director are trying to show various GRIM REAPER situations. similar to what's shown in various movies like "final destination" & "The time machine." ------> Where it's possible to alter history BUT SADLY ONE CAN'T ESCAPE THE GRIM REAPER & certain key elements like death,injuries,relationships failures,career goals,love,are destined to be played out similar no matter how hard one tries to alter his past,present or future.andersonh1 wrote: - I hate that they killed Pike. Bruce Greenwood is an actor I always enjoy watching, and he did a great job with the character. And here I was thinking that Pike was going to have a better fate in the new universe than he did in the old one. No such luck.
Kirk taking spocks spot & dying of radiation exposure in the 2013 ST 2 movie,Is the writers/directors way of showing that scene was always destined to happen. due to the time interference & history change,the grim reaper still got a body,only it was kirk this time instead of spock. That body the Grim reaper got was always destined to temporary. like I said in my above paragrapgh,This is classic sci-fi writting at it's best taking ques from "the final destination",time machine movie" & other similar movies/novels.