* * * *Director
J.J. Abrams
Cast
Chris Pine
Zachary Quinto
Leonard Nimoy
Screenplay
Roberto Orci
Alex Kurtzman
Alex Kurtzman
Certification
12a
Running Time
126min
This blog contains * Spoilers *!
It’s that time of the year again, when the summer starts and all the blockbusters start to flow out of Hollywood. We have X-Men Origins Wolverine, Angels & Demons, Terminator Salvation and Transformers 2 to look forward to. And the first film I saw in this high explosive month was J.J. Abram’s Star Trek. Now first thing I’m going to mention is that I am in no way a so called ‘Trekky’, so this is from a purely outsider view on it. I did however, watch Star Trek: Enterprise with Patrick Stewart and I thought it was ok at best. Anyway the only thing I have really liked from J.J. Abram was his 2008 monstermentuary Cloverfield which he produced. I personally loved Cloverfield and thought it was a good step forward in monster movies, but is this going to follow in the wake of his success?
If you compare the cinematography from Star Trek to Abram’s other film titled movie Mission Impossible 3, you can tell that’s he’s really developed his skills. I was a fan of the Mission Impossible franchise up until I saw IM: 2 (Mission Impossible 2) directed by the great John Woo. I felt that MI:3 was sloppy and easily forgotten, it felt more like a long trailer then a movie because the dialogues were boring but the action was pretty good. But that’s not enough to make a good movie in my books.
Back to Star Trek, even though this film is a reboot of the old franchise (this being the eleventh film), the story is actually quite impressive. For a Start Trek film it doesn’t get bugged down with its incredible back story. Apart from few references to the original Star trek series, new audiences are welcomed in. The film kicks off with a big space battle steeped in special effects to emphasise that they are indeed in space and there will be space fights. After a pointless introduction to Kirk (Pine) and Spock’s (Quinto), which involves them rebelling before their paths cross at a Space Academy. Soon follows an attack on Spock’s home planet of Vulcan, both Kirk and Spock (whilst being at each others necks) fight an evil space miner Nero out for revenge on Spock.
Now let’s move onto the review; cinematography was very creative for what could be perceived as a regular mainstream blockbuster. J.J. Abram not only kept the plot interesting, but also the cinematography and mise en scene. The sets were unlike Star Wars (episodes I-III) which was just lame CG, its really looked good. The only thing that was a recurring nightmare was in ever few slates (when on the Star Ship Enterprise), there would be a very bright light that would draw notice. This is a problem you w
ould have to see for yourself but after the film I had a headache. But that was its only fault.
The casting was pretty damn impressive. Chris Pine’s ‘James Kirk’ looked similar to the James Kirk ‘William Shatner’ portrayed, but the real brilliance falls with Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy. When Spock Prime meets with Spock at the end, their looks are so close that it’s weird. But the cast was an interesting one. John Cho, known for Harold and Kumar films, plays Hikaru Sulu and Simon Pegg plays Scotty (for the last half an hour of the film).
Now onto my complaints; first one is how hard is it design an enemy space ship that isn’t generic. The Starship Enterprise is a nice sleek space ship with floors you can eat off. However Nero’s mining ship is a ugly, dirty, sweaty ship with lots of spikes that wouldn’t pass inspection. Anton Yelchin’s (Pavel Chekov) accent is strained which is curious because he’s from the USSR, so why does his accents sound so put on? Now onto the last and maybe worst? When Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman where penning the script, they seemed to hate Kirk’s character. He’s just the most unlikable character in the film. So when Spock beats him up after Vulcan is destroyed and his mother (Ryder) killed, I felt a lot happier. He’s the type of character who’s an obnoxious womaniser who gets ever thing he wants.
To some up all everything I really liked this film and would happily watch it again at the cinema or even buy it on DVD in the following much. The special effects were excellent, script was remarkably good and even though you would think the film ticks of the list of generic clichés, it actually doesn’t. If you’re not a Trekky then you’ll be one step closer to becoming one. The film is going to be one of the best blockbusters of the year and will get you splitting you fingers and saying-
“Live long and prosper!”
Oliver Hunt
This blog contains * Spoilers *!
It’s that time of the year again, when the summer starts and all the blockbusters start to flow out of Hollywood. We have X-Men Origins Wolverine, Angels & Demons, Terminator Salvation and Transformers 2 to look forward to. And the first film I saw in this high explosive month was J.J. Abram’s Star Trek. Now first thing I’m going to mention is that I am in no way a so called ‘Trekky’, so this is from a purely outsider view on it. I did however, watch Star Trek: Enterprise with Patrick Stewart and I thought it was ok at best. Anyway the only thing I have really liked from J.J. Abram was his 2008 monstermentuary Cloverfield which he produced. I personally loved Cloverfield and thought it was a good step forward in monster movies, but is this going to follow in the wake of his success?
If you compare the cinematography from Star Trek to Abram’s other film titled movie Mission Impossible 3, you can tell that’s he’s really developed his skills. I was a fan of the Mission Impossible franchise up until I saw IM: 2 (Mission Impossible 2) directed by the great John Woo. I felt that MI:3 was sloppy and easily forgotten, it felt more like a long trailer then a movie because the dialogues were boring but the action was pretty good. But that’s not enough to make a good movie in my books.
Back to Star Trek, even though this film is a reboot of the old franchise (this being the eleventh film), the story is actually quite impressive. For a Start Trek film it doesn’t get bugged down with its incredible back story. Apart from few references to the original Star trek series, new audiences are welcomed in. The film kicks off with a big space battle steeped in special effects to emphasise that they are indeed in space and there will be space fights. After a pointless introduction to Kirk (Pine) and Spock’s (Quinto), which involves them rebelling before their paths cross at a Space Academy. Soon follows an attack on Spock’s home planet of Vulcan, both Kirk and Spock (whilst being at each others necks) fight an evil space miner Nero out for revenge on Spock.
Now let’s move onto the review; cinematography was very creative for what could be perceived as a regular mainstream blockbuster. J.J. Abram not only kept the plot interesting, but also the cinematography and mise en scene. The sets were unlike Star Wars (episodes I-III) which was just lame CG, its really looked good. The only thing that was a recurring nightmare was in ever few slates (when on the Star Ship Enterprise), there would be a very bright light that would draw notice. This is a problem you w
ould have to see for yourself but after the film I had a headache. But that was its only fault.The casting was pretty damn impressive. Chris Pine’s ‘James Kirk’ looked similar to the James Kirk ‘William Shatner’ portrayed, but the real brilliance falls with Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy. When Spock Prime meets with Spock at the end, their looks are so close that it’s weird. But the cast was an interesting one. John Cho, known for Harold and Kumar films, plays Hikaru Sulu and Simon Pegg plays Scotty (for the last half an hour of the film).
Now onto my complaints; first one is how hard is it design an enemy space ship that isn’t generic. The Starship Enterprise is a nice sleek space ship with floors you can eat off. However Nero’s mining ship is a ugly, dirty, sweaty ship with lots of spikes that wouldn’t pass inspection. Anton Yelchin’s (Pavel Chekov) accent is strained which is curious because he’s from the USSR, so why does his accents sound so put on? Now onto the last and maybe worst? When Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman where penning the script, they seemed to hate Kirk’s character. He’s just the most unlikable character in the film. So when Spock beats him up after Vulcan is destroyed and his mother (Ryder) killed, I felt a lot happier. He’s the type of character who’s an obnoxious womaniser who gets ever thing he wants.
To some up all everything I really liked this film and would happily watch it again at the cinema or even buy it on DVD in the following much. The special effects were excellent, script was remarkably good and even though you would think the film ticks of the list of generic clichés, it actually doesn’t. If you’re not a Trekky then you’ll be one step closer to becoming one. The film is going to be one of the best blockbusters of the year and will get you splitting you fingers and saying-
“Live long and prosper!”
Oliver Hunt
Fantastic as always olly, Indeed i felt the urge to do the same but was stopped when i saw about 3 trekky's next to me say it in unison at the end, :P good post, nice review, liked your re-search into the film, keep it up
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