Letterboxd — Your life in film

It was alright. Some good, hilarious bits, some weak bits, some bits lasted too long. If I'd been drunk, I'd probably laugh my ass off.

This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.

This was great! Fantastic story - I saw Space Sees first, which was also great - with terrific character moments and great pacing, in addition to a genuine sense of wonder, in contrast to The Motion Picture's mechanical approach to it. I am, however, a little underwhelmed by Khan, though that might be because I'm suffering from a cold and am a bit loopy.

I very nearly loved this. I'll rewatch it in not too long, after I shake this damned cold; I'm sure it'll earn those two remaining half-stars then. I don't have any reasons as to why it doesn't get that star; blame it on my cold and loopy head. It makes it hard to focus and details slip.

I hate being sick.

Having seen the first three episodes of The Original Series - the unaired pilot "The Cage", "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and The Man-Trap" - I felt ready to embark onto the series first motion picture, before returning to the series in order to see "Space Seed" before Wrath of Khan. I was prepared for a slow film, even a flawed one, as I knew this was a 70's sci-fi film and not one that ventured high in the various ranking of the Star Trek-films, but I was also intrigued by the premise of something massive, something we had no idea what was, heading towards Earth, with the Enterprise on its way to solved the mystery and stop it from destroying our planet.

It's a good mystery with a terrific and clever answer; the story in the film is quite good, but the screenplay less so. Comparisons to 2001: A Space Odyssey have been made and not without their merits, as the film is veeeeeery slow-paced for what is really a simple story. Its focus of wonder and the massive scale of the universe is admirable, but one doesn't need ten minutes of panning shots of the Enterprise before it's even out of the dock and on its way to the... thing. I get that the film is a nostalgic trip for many, seeing both the Enterprise and the old crew for the first time in ten-or-so years, but that really isn't an excuse to do so much of this.

The slow pace could've instead been used to get some of the wit and character interplay that this film is sorely missing, giving it up for long, pandering shots of space, the space cloud or the Enterprise. The first hour or-so is devoted to reintroducing the crew and get them all back to the ship, something that's done a bit clumsily. Bones gets his moment and some fun backs-and-forth, while Spock is pushed back to full, feelings-less Vulcan; a cipher for most of the film, a shadow of his self from even early episodes of the series. I can't imagine why they did this. Maybe it has something to do with the end of the series. I don't know. It's mentioned a few times and then ignored; he doesn't really have an arc and he doesn't get to have fun back-and-forths with Kirk. James T. Kirk, on the other hand, gets some fun moments, but not nearly enough.

The script should've focused more on the crew than the mystery; there's very little banter here, the pacing is way too slow and the whole thing feels like a way to set-up sequels, with Kirk as Captain and the rest of the crew back in their respective positions. It feels strangely like a reboot, which is good in a way, introducing the show and its characters, as well as what kind of stories it's likely to tell, but the story here could've easily been a single, 50-minute episode of the series, dragged out over 2 hours plus. It's needlessly long and director Robert Wise could've done a better way of making it more fun and adventurous, in addition to philosophical and mysterious.

The acting is also a bit poor; Leonard Nimoy is a shadow of his past selves, a mere annoyance where he earlier have been smart and collected. It's one thing to not have any feelings, but Spock was not this much of a cunt (sorry, there was no other way to say it). It's not just Nimoy's fault though; again, the fault lies with the writing.

Douglas Trumbull's special effects are as jaw-dropping and amazing as ever, but that goes without saying.

It's a spectacular-looking film, but it's too slow-paced and clumsily written to be truly great. A decent science fiction film that, sadly, could've used more time with the characters instead of focusing solely on the story.

God I love science fiction. I was grinning through pretty much the entire thing, I gasped, I laughed, I was on the edge of my seat. Sure, it doesn't reinvent the wheel, and if you're playing "spot the cliche" you'll find much to fuzz over, but it's badass, awesome, suspenseful filmmaking, with Abrams once again proving he can direct both exciting action scenes, his actors and handles pacing, as well as all the emotional moments, quite well.

The film would be nothing without its cast, the ones from the first film reprising and amplifying their great performances, while newcomer Benedict Cumberbatch is great as John Harrison. Not a weak link there either.

It's a classic, sci-fi, Hollywood picture. You'll find nothing particularly new or original here, but if you're looking to be entertained with a good ol' sci-fi blockbuster, a suspenseful, funny and interesting one at that, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

There's a number of interesting choices they've made, sequel-wise, for instance not having an all-out space-war but instead a more intimate conflict, with larger personal and moral stakes, that work very well. The vague "set-up" for the third film has promise, and I'm excited to see where they go. I do have a number of other things to say about this, but I'll keep this review spoiler free, watch some of The Original Series and the movies, then come back to discuss that. For now, I'll just say that this is a typical, classic, fun and adventerous Hollywood blockbuster. If this and Iron Man 3 are anything to go by, this'll be the best blockbuster year in a long, long time.