Star Trek IMAX review

[dizzyjam]

I just saw the new Star Trek movie in IMAX tonight and I've got some things to say about it. So please go over to my blog on my MySpace page and see what I thought about it.

www.myspace.com/beyondthecharts

[veryblessedmom]

I want to see this movie so bad. I had the biggest crush on Spock as a kid, and then Data on TNG.

I might try to go alone since my husband doesn't like going to the movies. He says, "You know that feeling you get when the movie is really good and you forget you're watching a movie? I hate that feeling." He's so logical.

I married my dream man.

**He just told me he's taking me for Mother's Day! ;D

[dizzyjam]

I know you'll enjoy it. And you'll have a double dose of Spock as it were. Live long and prosper. Or shall I just say, "Good luck"? Heh-heh. You'll know what that means later. Enjoy!

[Jeff Gerke]

Great movie.

[jinn]

I'm going to see that tonight, even though I'm not a hardcore Star Trek fan. J. J. Abrams is directing though. I anticipate greatness.

[dizzyjam]

You won't be disappointed. And looking at the time I'm posting this, you may have already seen it. Tell us what you thought about it.

[Teskas]

Some of you may know from my blog that I have been a fan of the original television series of Star Trek. I got into it when I was trying to encourage my very young daughter and son to enjoy science and math at school. It worked.

I had some reservations with the series because Gene Roddenberry was an atheist and had a secular view that science and reason would eventually make an ideal world. The ST:TOS universe has no need for money. War is ancient history. The only bad guys live on the other side of the star field. But Roddenberry hired some good writers who sneaked Judeo-Christian values into their story-telling. So, I could live with some of my qualms about his view of the future, and got to really enjoy the episodes. When TNG turned up, with its full-blown secular agenda, I quit the fan base, and went on to other enthusiasms.

So, it was with some interest that I went to see the new movie. It was quite entertaining, and JJ Abrams is to be congratulated at how well he handled the retro-techno difficulties of bringing the original series to the big screen. He was sensitive in the way he handled the characters and stories of the original television series. I liked Christopher Pike in the wheelchair at the end. Nice bit of reference to The Menagerie. The film was sprinkled with all sorts of little details for the fans of the old series to relish.

Casting was pretty good. I loved Sulu. He came to life for me. Especially as an accomplished martial arts specialist, which was only alluded to in Mirror, Mirror. Scotty was comic, but not a fool. McCoy was returned in a way which was true to the original, but also, a little more life-like. As for Kirk, well, I'll reserve judgment. I can't tell from this script. For me, he was a little bit too young to believably take charge of a 400 crew Federation starship. Spock was excellent.

I laughed with several of the scenes. I thought the special effects were great. The story clipped along at a thrilling pace. In short it was a terrific piece of entertainment. So why is part of me unhappy with the end product?

Firstly, I found the use of four-letter words unnecessary. The scene with Kirk and Spock, and the use of the word bulls**t stands out in my mind. It didn't strike me as emphatic dialogue. It was boorishly crude, and, well, un-TOS Trek. This is supposed to be a make-believe world. If I were watching a documentary of soldiers fighting, and some four letter word was picked up on audio, I'd take it for what it was, real soldiers under pressure, and I'd think the editor would be nuts to bleep it. But canon was established years ago in the TOS universe that vulgar words were out of fashion in the 23rd century. Some witless slob reintroduced them in TNG, of course, but we TOS fans knew TNG was freaky in a lots of ways so we just ignored the scripts.

Secondly (and this is my real beef), I was repelled by the characterization of the women in the story. They seem to be nothing but eye-candy for immature boys. I disliked both Uhura and her roommate stripped off for the camera. Was it really necessary to show them in their underwear? The scene was cute--sort of. Kirk's personality of being a lover-boy is presented to the audience. But why does Kirk have to be a rake? and why so much skin flashing from the screen?

Despite his reputation, in the original series Kirk's liaisions are kept firmly off-screen, and the general suggestion is that he sleeps with women to save his ship and the lives of his crew, not to indulge his impulses. In the original series he has the morals of Odysseus, pagan but heroic. There's no redeeming heroism in his libidinous behavior this time.

I floundered with Uhura's characterization. I am beginning to wonder whether Hollywood is deliberately trying to destroy the human race. In America (forget the rest of the western world), 40% of children are born to unmarried mothers. That is a lot of children growing up disadvantaged. 80% of young people under 30 years of age are carrying HPV. HPV leads to a ferocious type of uterine cancer which can kill in six weeks. There is no cure for this particular type of cancer. Scientists are not sure whether the new vaccine will actually protect women from the disease.

So, with these statistics in mind, why do they present a woman with such sexual assertiveness as Uhura? Okay, I know the scene on the transporter pad was funny, but honestly, isn't it time to call a halt to casual sex as a sub-plot? Between Kirk's bedroom antics, and Uhura's aggressive come-on with Spock, I think Abrams hired the village idiot to write these scenes.

I really liked Uhura presented as an intelligent, capable linguist. She is plausible as a communications officer aboard a starship. Her character is well-developed in so many ways which are an advance on Uhura-prime of forty years ago. But bottom line, she comes across to me as a smart tart. Is this what Hollywood thinks of women? I thought it was pretty disrespectful.

Most of the reviews I read of the film mentioned Uhura. They liked her. Me? My stomach churns as the secular world view of women, and their bodies, continues to gain traction. I pray Abrams has second thoughts. As Mr. Spock says, "in space there are always possibilities".

[veryblessedmom]

Saw it with my Hubby today. (Mother's Day--too busy celebrating our moms) LOVED IT. I loved Kirk, and Spock. I'm a mother of 3 boys, so gotta love a guy who loves his mom.

Bones cracked me up. Had flash backs every time he spoke. I loved how they wrote it so a franchise does not have to be limited to the Star Trek we already know.

Great Movie.

My husband said it was alright. Imagine going to a movie with Spock. Alright is like a thumbs up from him.

[Divides the Waters]

Teskas,

I can definitely see your point about the objectification of women, but I have to say that I think that the new "take" on Kirk (showing him for the womanizer Shatner was) was probably a more accurate reflection. The comparison to Odysseus is most gracious, and fascinating, but I think that nobility had little to do with Shatner's insistence on having Kirk fall in love with every curvy alien he meets. I thought the interaction between Uhura and Spock was "fascinating," as it showed a side of both of them we had never seen (and yes, some could argue, was never there). But it seemed to make sense to me in the context. I saw Uhura's scenes as meant to be compassionate and desperate to show it, not sexually aggressive.

I have to admit, though, that Bones and Scotty absolutely stole the show. Though Karl Urban is taller and broader than DeForest Kelly ever was, he was absolutely hysterical, playing that role as straight as he could, and owning it in a way that many of the other actors did not. And Scotty just had me rolling...though I haven't seen the original series in long enough that I don't really recall if the "take" was accurate.

[torainfor]

Teskas, the original Kirk's morals aside, I thought this was a good representation of what would have happened to Kirk without his father around. In fact, I thought that was the point of the entire first third of the movie.

As for Uhura, considering how she got Spock to change her assignment, I took the scene in the elevator to mean they had a strong relationship before the launch. Not necessarily sexual, but she must have had a special relationship if she, a human cadet had the nerve to even speak so personally to a Vulcan officer. That fact that he didn't put her off more forcefully confirmed it, in my mind. I was more in shock that an officer would fool around with a cadet than that Uhura kissed him first.

Yeah, the scene with her in her undies was gratuitous. The short skirts were obviously an homage to the original and the mod fashions of that day. And, you're right about her character--she's a fair distance further than Sigourney Weaver in Galaxy Quest!

[duchessashley]

I did get teary-eyed when Spock Prime said, "I have been and always shall be your friend." And when he started into the "Space, the Final Frontier..." lines at the end. Lots of good STrek memories launched into a "Trek for a new generation."

[courageforever]

I really enjoyed this movie, but was I the only one that winced at some of the science--specifically the astronomy--of this movie?? The whole supernova endangering the galaxy thing was pretty farfetched, and the idea that replacing said supernova with a black hole...well, how is that an improvement exactly? <g>

[morganlbusse]

Okay, you all are making me jealous because I haven't been able to go see the movie yet ;P My hubby and I have been waiting until next Friday when we have free babysitting. Unfortunately, we live in a tiny weeny town and it looks like Star Trek might have already moved on from our theater *sob*

[J Jack]

Muahahaha aside from the actors and such who saw their screening I saw this movie before it opened, such are the benefits of being a projectionist in a movie theater.

[JenLenaMom]

Oh those sneaky projectionist! My brother in law is a technician for one of the theater companies and gets to see all of them early. The plus side is that they get tons of passes every year and since neither my sis or b-i-l have to pay to go to the movies we get lots of passes. But since we have to kids we mostly end up seeing G and PG rated stuff which alas means no Star Trek until we can find a babysitter.