Star Trek


Finally saw Star Trek and it gets a big thumbs up from me.
What I liked:

- the costumes. Number 1 reason is the costumes. They went back to the original costumes, albeit with a slight tweaking.
I even like the cadet costumes from the Starfleet Academy.
They seem slightly military to me, formal.
Humanitarian explorers yes, but they have a code of conduct...
Those primary colors are eye-pleasing.
I noticed the insignias on some of the badges were different than others. Maybe cinemabon can explain that one.

- the special effects. They've obviously been mentioned and trumpeted here and everywhere else because of their really high quality. Amazing sfx wizards worked on this film. Of particular note for me was the camera (dolly? no way!) shot where the camera reverses from the Enterprise bridge window and the image just tilts and tilts until you see that *MONSTER* Romulan ship. That was pure cinema right there. Pure glorious spectacle.
The black hole was very awesome as well, not to mention the sequence where Kirk and Sulu and that other dumb dude skyrocket in their flightsuits. That was really really great CGI.
All around the special effects are just Oscar-worthy.
They make this movie. That's it, that's all.

-Spock. The actor playing this young Spock is spot-on. I had no trouble believing him as the great Vulcan. All of the others replacing the classic crew members irked me one way or another.
They *basically* got it right, but it's just not the same.
The guy playing McCoy had the perfect voice. Voice was dead-on.
But when you look at him it's like, "that's Bones?!"
Sulu doesn't look anything like George Takei and neither does the woman playing Uhura. I thought it was Jada Pinkett!!
Kirk is actually not bad. He's obviously no William Shatner, but if you're gonna get a guy to play James T., he's it.


Things that bugged me:

- the bridge.
It doesn't bother me in the sense that that is how a bridge of a high-tech Starship should look, but when I think of the old set from the TV show, WOWZA. The difference is staggering.
Those transparent techie screens, the sleekness, the chairs- man, this is quite an upgrade from that old TV show! It just shocked me how off-the-charts futuristic it was when the original set was so.....basic.

- the rapid-fire lines. Can't get a handle on all that jargon, man.
They rattle this shit off like a bat out of hell- especially during the space wars: "Influx decapitators at 56%!!" "Double up on your gamma liquidating molecules Mr. Sulu!!" "Eradicate First-Force-Thrust Dildoinators- shields down!!"
It's crazy, that dialogue.
I'd fail Starfleet Academy. No question.

-the villains. Eric Bana is great as a baddie, but these are your stock "enemies" in Star Trek. They brood, they make threats, they have disturbing visages, they utter ultimatums, they scuffle with the good guys... Man, why can't they get some villains who're more than one-dimensional?
I want Galactus!
I want Magneto!



Great movie overall.
I'm glad that Star Trek films now have some serious juice to them. Cinematically, it's suceeded in spades.
And that's all you can ask for.