Star Trek (2009) - OFFICIAL REVIEW THREAD

[MrToilet]

I went and saw it in IMAX over the weekend with my GF, and thought the movie was fantastic. My favorite parts were the character intros at the beginning (McCoy, Scotty, etc). JJ Abrams took the right approach in referencing the previous movies without being too over the top about it, and mixed in plenty of sarcastic humor (Kirk and the "green" alien chick was hilarious).

My only real complaint about the movie was the use of time travel, AGAIN. I swear every Star Trek movie seems to use it in one way or another... ah well it was still a damn good movie.

Going to see it again with some people tonight, actually. Hehe.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
It didn't nullify anything. It is an alternate reality. If you are a true Sci-fi geek you would understand this and be ok with it, if you're not a geek and were not a star Trek fan to begin with then what's the big deal, it's all new to you.
Well there can still be a Search for Spock ANd a Voyage home, the events will just play out differently. They can still meet Khan on the Botany Bay and exhile him to a planet, but in order to pull off the Wrath of Khan, the cast is going to have to wait 14 years or so. I think this is a good way to explore the Kirk, Spock, McCoy relationship and give us more stories, I just hope we get the following movies with a little more depth to the story. I loved that trek finally had big space battles, but I really want to see stories with personal internal conflicts and moral dilemas. Not oh noes it's a bad guy what do we do.

I don't know. I'm not a trekky, but have watched all Star Trek episodes of Voyager, TNG and DS9. Every time-travel plot since has involved going back in time, leaving shit alone, or fixing shit to keep the future the way it is suppose to be (or something similar). First Contact would be the best example: if the Borg went back and assimilated Earth in an alternate reality, who gives a shit. According to TNG (episdoe with Worf time jumping), there's already a reality where the Borg have taken over most of the Federation.

Unless of course the Spock that went back in time was the old spock of an already separate reality than the one we know. Maybe I missed an explanation in this movie, or it wasn't clear enough. If it is an alternate reality, and they outright say that Spock jumped to a different reality, and not the one where all of the previous Trek took place, then I'm cool with that.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: zerocool84
I enjoyed the movie but it's impossible to give it higher than a 7/10 with how messed up everything was.

That sounds about right. It looks like we agree with this part of the review from The New Republic:

I'm not going to describe the rest of the story in any detail because, if I did, you wouldn't believe me. It is not without reason that the movie itself withholds its explanations until about the 90-minute mark and, even then, delivers them by expository Vulcan mind meld, presumably to avoid the otherwise inevitable "You have got to be kidding me" response. Suffice to say that the script (by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman) may be the most preposterous since Lex Luthor decided to take over the world by way of kryptonic real estate: This is a film with, literally, a black hole where its plot should be. There were moments when I couldn't help but wonder whether George Lucas had somehow gotten his cinematic butterfingers on yet another iconic movie franchise.

Despite the above, the guy gives it a very positive review. I too think it deserves a good review, but continue to be surprised at how positive those good reviews are.

 

[Pepsei]

i enjoy the movie, it's better than some of the past crappy movies.

 

[Locut0s]

It's not the trek that us star trek lovers have been waiting for that's for sure. On that scale I give it a 5/10. But it's still better trek than the original it was based off of and some trek is better than to trek when it comes to reviving the seriese.

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: Eug

Originally posted by: zerocool84
I enjoyed the movie but it's impossible to give it higher than a 7/10 with how messed up everything was.

That sounds about right. It looks like we agree with this part of the review from The New Republic:

I'm not going to describe the rest of the story in any detail because, if I did, you wouldn't believe me. It is not without reason that the movie itself withholds its explanations until about the 90-minute mark and, even then, delivers them by expository Vulcan mind meld, presumably to avoid the otherwise inevitable "You have got to be kidding me" response. Suffice to say that the script (by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman) may be the most preposterous since Lex Luthor decided to take over the world by way of kryptonic real estate: This is a film with, literally, a black hole where its plot should be. There were moments when I couldn't help but wonder whether George Lucas had somehow gotten his cinematic butterfingers on yet another iconic movie franchise.

Despite the above, the guy gives it a very positive review. I too think it deserves a good review, but continue to be surprised at how positive those good reviews are.

I feel about the same. The cast, action, etc made up for a really shoddy story. Didn't ENTIRELY make up for it, but enough for a lot of people to not realize how messed up it all really is.

 

[ProfJohn]

Originally posted by: PlasmaBomb
Edit: I am available for continuity checks for a very reasonable fee

Which one of these guys in you??

 

[Spike]

All I can say is "eh...."

As a Star Trek fan this movie was somewhat a dissapointment. Taken from a purely action movie it was great, lots of explosions and great visuals. From the Star Trek universe it was pretty dang out there. For now I'm going to ingore all the alt universe stuff and focus on what just does not work.

1) Romulans... I know this has been mentioned before but since when did they look like that? Where are the brow ridges, gray/whiteish skin, square hair cuts, and wierd eyebrows? Basically where are the Vulcans with emotions like they are supposed to be? Apparently romulans who work on minning ships have odd shapped heads, no hair, and tatoo's...

2) Phasers. Minor complaint here but what the heck is with the pulse phasers from both the ships and the hand held weapons? And what is with the cheesy reload thing they do? This is nothing like the continued beam phasers we all know and love (looks more like the Defiants pulse phasers).

3) Ship. Ok, they changed the outside a fair bit and I'm ok with that but what the heck is up with the inside? I realize people here think the engine room look is more "realistic" (how people can know what is realistic on a 23rd century ship I have no idea) but to me it was horrible. Lets forget for a moment that the look of an engine room has been well established from the shows and movies. Even outside of this why would a future spaceship have an engine room that looks like a freaking 20th century power plant? And why would there be tubes of water that go through complicated meandering routes when their end destination is close by?

There are about a dozen more issues I have that are not realted to this whole "alt reality" thing but whatever. Hopefully the next movies bring things back to a more "Star Trek" feel but I'm doubting it.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: gorcorps

Originally posted by: Eug

Originally posted by: zerocool84
I enjoyed the movie but it's impossible to give it higher than a 7/10 with how messed up everything was.

That sounds about right. It looks like we agree with this part of the review from The New Republic:

I'm not going to describe the rest of the story in any detail because, if I did, you wouldn't believe me. It is not without reason that the movie itself withholds its explanations until about the 90-minute mark and, even then, delivers them by expository Vulcan mind meld, presumably to avoid the otherwise inevitable "You have got to be kidding me" response. Suffice to say that the script (by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman) may be the most preposterous since Lex Luthor decided to take over the world by way of kryptonic real estate: This is a film with, literally, a black hole where its plot should be. There were moments when I couldn't help but wonder whether George Lucas had somehow gotten his cinematic butterfingers on yet another iconic movie franchise.

Despite the above, the guy gives it a very positive review. I too think it deserves a good review, but continue to be surprised at how positive those good reviews are.

I feel about the same. The cast, action, etc made up for a really shoddy story. Didn't ENTIRELY make up for it, but enough for a lot of people to not realize how messed up it all really is.

If the story wasn't so bad, it could have been one of the best movies in recent memory.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Okay, I saw it tonight and I fucking loved it! The story kind of had me wondering about the historical accuracy but the plot was well developed to address that with the alternate reality angle.

The script was well written and the cast was great. I love this movie. What a total home run for JJ Abrams and Paramount. I really hope they make many more and that they devote as much effort at coming up with a good screenplay like they did with this one. :thumbsup:

I hope they can keep the same cast if they do some sequels because this group works...damn Uhura is hot!

BTW-I've always loved Star Trek. I remember watching the series back in the early 70s on TV when I was a kid, I remember sitting in the aisle to watch Star Trek-The Motion Picture when it came out and being packed in to watch The Wrath of Khan when it was in theaters too.

 

[alrocky]

Originally posted by: PlasmaBomb

Originally posted by: alrocky

One question for ya'll though - why was the Nimoy Spock sitting in a cave waiting for young Kirk to show up instead of going to the Federation Outpost and trying to stop the destruction of Vulcan? I must be off on my timeline of the movie or something but I thought he was "stranded" there so he could witness the destruction of his planet? So couldn't he jog over to the outpost, hop a shuttle, and try to do something?

He may not know or remember that the Outpost was there. This timeline was altered 25 years ago.

Enjoyed the new Enterprise crew but didn't care for whacking Sylar's mum and the whole bloody planet. The mind meld voice over back story sounded un-Spock-like. At least it wasn't too long.

----

^ I believe it was Spock who told Kirk about the outpost in the movie, although he heard about it from the escape pod too.

You are forgetting that Nero had to wait 25 years for Spock to arrive. He could well have just dropped him off when he arrived in the system.

However, for being on a different planet, why was vulcan visible and huge??

Even if Spock knew there was a Federation Outpost, we don't know when or where he was dropped off on that planet. It's also true that from the size of Vulcan from that vantage point, it would make more sense if Spock were standing on Vulcan's moon instead of a nearby planet. It was just a movie cheat.

The basic premise of the solar systems swallowing supernova was a bit farfetched. Spock has to design a solution and travel from Federation space to Romulan space. Surely the Romulans would've evacuated the planet ahead of time.

The Federation ships enroute to Vulcan didn't use long range scanners to see the mining vessel? Kirk has to argue for raising sheilds. They all warped within spitting distance of said ship?

I feel about the same. The cast, action, etc made up for a really shoddy story. Didn't ENTIRELY make up for it, but enough for a lot of people to not realize how messed up it all really is.

That's about how I feel about the moive. Loved the crew and script, but black holes in the story.

 

[JEDI]

and why only 10k vulcans left?

didnt they have warp tech waaaay b4 earth?

shouldnt they have colonized hundreds of planets already?

 

[guyver01]

The only main inconsistency i found as well was the mention of "Admiral Archer and his prized Beagle" ...

now granted there could have been many descendants of Captain Archer from Enterprise, and his Beagle.... but why throw that line in there ...

Wouldn't Johanathan Archer, from Enterprise, be well over 150+ years old at that point?

 

[TruePaige]

Originally posted by: Locut0s
It's not the trek that us star trek lovers have been waiting for that's for sure. On that scale I give it a 5/10. But it's still better trek than the original it was based off of and some trek is better than to trek when it comes to reviving the seriese.

This work, trek....you used it too much.

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: TruePaige

Originally posted by: Locut0s
It's not the trek that us star trek lovers have been waiting for that's for sure. On that scale I give it a 5/10. But it's still better trek than the original it was based off of and some trek is better than to trek when it comes to reviving the seriese.

This work, trek....you used it too much.

but TREK is the nerd buzzword today... much like "synergy" and "leverage" and "paradigm shift" and "benchmarking" are business/IT buzzwords

 

[TruePaige]

Originally posted by: guyver01

Originally posted by: TruePaige

Originally posted by: Locut0s
It's not the trek that us star trek lovers have been waiting for that's for sure. On that scale I give it a 5/10. But it's still better trek than the original it was based off of and some trek is better than to trek when it comes to reviving the seriese.

This work, trek....you used it too much.

but TREK is the nerd buzzword today... much like "synergy" and "leverage" and "paradigm shift" and "benchmarking" are business/IT buzzwords

I want to leverage the synergies of the Trek/Wars franchises to create a paradigm shift and set a new benchmark for the early-summer/late-spring, post 13/under 30 teeny-bopper (and or) adult-targetted market.

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: TruePaige

Originally posted by: guyver01

Originally posted by: TruePaige

Originally posted by: Locut0s
It's not the trek that us star trek lovers have been waiting for that's for sure. On that scale I give it a 5/10. But it's still better trek than the original it was based off of and some trek is better than to trek when it comes to reviving the seriese.

This work, trek....you used it too much.

but TREK is the nerd buzzword today... much like "synergy" and "leverage" and "paradigm shift" and "benchmarking" are business/IT buzzwords

I want to leverage the synergies of the Trek/Wars franchises to create a paradigm shift and set a new benchmark for the early-summer/late-spring, post 13/under 30 teeny-bopper (and or) adult-targetted market.

see.. ya catch on quick... i scored 25 points in my Buzzword Bingo card on that

 

[ViRGE]

It was a good popcorn flick, but it wasn't very Star Treky.

 

[Jjapplees]

Agree about RT.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
It was a good popcorn flick, but it wasn't very Star Treky.

Just saw it last night----this is my review as well. They took all the deep philosophical aspects of Star Trek stories out of the mix, and made an action flick. They keep having to dumb down things to get people to watch them. I bet if War and Peace were written today, it would be 10 pages.

I liked the movie- it was a good time, but it was kind of sad that I left the theater feeling like I just got off an amusement park ride instead of having read a good book.

 

[middlehead]

Originally posted by: Newbian
Also where did the ability come from where they are able to transport people light years away?

I never saw anything about that in the tv shows.

Scotty had figured it out in the future, Spock Prime is a super genius and remembered the calculations, showed it to New-Scotty. They sort-of explained it with a (possibly unintended) nod to Futurama. "It never occurred to me to think of space as the thing that was moving!"

 

[lokiju]

Did anyone else notice the pop culture phrases used in the film like "flop sweat" and "mouth breather"?

I found that amusing...

 

[Baked]

It was epic. Way better than star wars in terms of epicness for a sci-fi flick. That is all. The opening scene and next scene made my cry. True story.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: Baked
It was epic. Way better than star wars in terms of epicness for a sci-fi flick. That is all. The opening scene and next scene made my cry. True story.

I very nearly cried when Kirk's dad was talking to his wife as he was flying the Kelvin into the Narada. I probably would have if I was alone.

 

[nageov3t]

I'm not a trekkie or anything (never really watched any of the series except DS9 and that only sporadically, haven't seen any of the movies), but I saw it today and really liked it :thumbsup:

8/10