Star Trek-Into Darkness
Suspension of disbelief pretty much went out the window the moment....
Mickey Smith was looking at Sherlock Holmes.
Nice to see Noel Clarke getting the work, but that puts two Who alumni in the movie and that's a little too much stream crossing. Not to mention the fact that Star Fleet is now borrowing their on-ship prison cells from the Avengers Initiative. I practically expected Khan to call someone a mewling quim.
Over-all entertaining, but a lot of disappointments starting with Benedict Cumberbatch. Not even the "white-washing" thing, as much as the fact that Ricardo Montalbán was a fucking force of nature and BC is not. He was just another baddie with who could punch really hard and say smart stuff. And honestly, I've seen no indication that BC was ever right for THAT part. He's a good actor. He's well-suited for Sherlock Holmes and was amazing in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but he's not a Brian Blessed sized canned ham, which is what he would have had to be to fit into the part.
Presumably this is why the Cumberbitches like to Woobie-fy their Sherlock so much. He's scrawny. There's was just no reason for this baddie to be Khan and the fact that it was all clearly fan-service (in it's non-slash sense) left a bad taste.
When Spock tried to go the full Shatner for his big "Khhhaaaaaaan" it was totally unearned. And did anyone for a nano-second think Kirk was staying dead anyway? In Wrath of Khan, Dead-Spock was real and Shatner's pain in conjunction with Ricardo Montalbán meant something. I supposed I should be glad that at least JJ realized BC wasn't capable of pulling off any Moby Dick references.
Putting Checkov in the engine room for the whole movie only served to point out that there was never any reason for him to be on the bridge in the first place except that NBC wanted a cute young guy. Then letting Sulu have some crowning moments of badassery made Anton Yelchin seem more inept as a stand-in Scotty. What, you can be chief engineer as long as you have a red shirt and a goofy accent?
I felt like Zachary Quinto was being pushed to make Spock more of a caricature than he should be or even was in the first re-boot movie. I do like that we saw CLEARLY womanizing Kirk. He is. He was. He always will be. No Kirk revisionism. Pulling Nimoy out of the moth-balls was just painful. The modern sounding snark interwoven with old-school Trek portentiousness didn't really work for me either. And on behalf of Christine Chapel and Majel Barrett Rodenberry (RIP) I'm pretty offended by her shout-out messing with her TOS canon. It wasn't pretty watching her throw herself at Spock, but she did. Making her a Kirk one-nighter that he can't remember? BLECH.
British Carol Marcus? WHUT? So when is Kirk going to knock her up?
What did I like?
1. Keenser in the back-ground sitting on one of the photon-torpedoes while Scotty is throwing his plot-point hissy fit. In fact, I really love Scotty and Keenser together. They should have their own series.
2. Hey, Peter Weller....nice to see you.
3. Pike/Kirk---OOH actually chemistry. Can't have that on screen for too long. KABOOM!
4. Tribble! Although that was one DAMN big looking Tribble.
5. The old music at the end still makes me cry.
Mickey Smith was looking at Sherlock Holmes.
Nice to see Noel Clarke getting the work, but that puts two Who alumni in the movie and that's a little too much stream crossing. Not to mention the fact that Star Fleet is now borrowing their on-ship prison cells from the Avengers Initiative. I practically expected Khan to call someone a mewling quim.
Over-all entertaining, but a lot of disappointments starting with Benedict Cumberbatch. Not even the "white-washing" thing, as much as the fact that Ricardo Montalbán was a fucking force of nature and BC is not. He was just another baddie with who could punch really hard and say smart stuff. And honestly, I've seen no indication that BC was ever right for THAT part. He's a good actor. He's well-suited for Sherlock Holmes and was amazing in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but he's not a Brian Blessed sized canned ham, which is what he would have had to be to fit into the part.
Presumably this is why the Cumberbitches like to Woobie-fy their Sherlock so much. He's scrawny. There's was just no reason for this baddie to be Khan and the fact that it was all clearly fan-service (in it's non-slash sense) left a bad taste.
When Spock tried to go the full Shatner for his big "Khhhaaaaaaan" it was totally unearned. And did anyone for a nano-second think Kirk was staying dead anyway? In Wrath of Khan, Dead-Spock was real and Shatner's pain in conjunction with Ricardo Montalbán meant something. I supposed I should be glad that at least JJ realized BC wasn't capable of pulling off any Moby Dick references.
Putting Checkov in the engine room for the whole movie only served to point out that there was never any reason for him to be on the bridge in the first place except that NBC wanted a cute young guy. Then letting Sulu have some crowning moments of badassery made Anton Yelchin seem more inept as a stand-in Scotty. What, you can be chief engineer as long as you have a red shirt and a goofy accent?
I felt like Zachary Quinto was being pushed to make Spock more of a caricature than he should be or even was in the first re-boot movie. I do like that we saw CLEARLY womanizing Kirk. He is. He was. He always will be. No Kirk revisionism. Pulling Nimoy out of the moth-balls was just painful. The modern sounding snark interwoven with old-school Trek portentiousness didn't really work for me either. And on behalf of Christine Chapel and Majel Barrett Rodenberry (RIP) I'm pretty offended by her shout-out messing with her TOS canon. It wasn't pretty watching her throw herself at Spock, but she did. Making her a Kirk one-nighter that he can't remember? BLECH.
British Carol Marcus? WHUT? So when is Kirk going to knock her up?
What did I like?
1. Keenser in the back-ground sitting on one of the photon-torpedoes while Scotty is throwing his plot-point hissy fit. In fact, I really love Scotty and Keenser together. They should have their own series.
2. Hey, Peter Weller....nice to see you.
3. Pike/Kirk---OOH actually chemistry. Can't have that on screen for too long. KABOOM!
4. Tribble! Although that was one DAMN big looking Tribble.
5. The old music at the end still makes me cry.