Star Trek
The good news about Star Trek the movie, is that it has wonderful characters.
The bad news is that it was directed by JJ Abrams. What’s wrong with him? you ask.
Nothing if you like movies shot in extreme closeup in all scenes, to the extent that you can count the actor’s pores, if not their nostril hairs. Closeups are meant to convey tension and intimacy, and because they are used throughout the movie, they lose those attributes and become meaningless. I can’t review this film as I walked out after 40 minutes of flashing, epileptic, and closeup (let’s not forget that one) shots. These close shots render the films vision myopic, and you lose the scope that most of the other movies had.
Starting with the opening scenes of a Federation Starship in trouble. All I could comprehend was that some large ship that resembled Witchblade in space was blowing up the starship. The battle scene was like staring into some strobelight that people ran in front of. I have no idea what the bridge looked like as once again everything was shot tight. Paramount must have saved a fortune on set design because you don’t get to see it.
Making use of lens flares, close shots that almost let you see under the skin, and shaky camera techniques that remind me of the Blair Witch Project, this film is a disaster for the franchise. When you see this film, notice the scene in the closed bar with Kirk, after he’s had the snot kicked out of him. The officer he’s talking to is right there, and yet the shot is so tight, so close, that the camera pans. It also trembles and shakes. I can see using that technique if you’re in a battle sequence, but this is just a conversation between two people. It’s like the cameraman has palsy, it’s so amateurish, and amateur filmakers have no business in the Trek franchise. This movie called for a visionary director and writer who knew what they were doing.
If Ron Moore or J Michael Stazinski are out there, please take the helm for the next one. And if I may add something for every future Trek movie to ever to be filmed... No more time travel devices, they’re overdone and amount to hitting a Berman and Braga reset button. To sum up: by changing history, the powers that be have “rewritten” the series so that what was once Canon is now fodder; they can do anything with the series. Having grown up watcing every series, with the exception of Enterprise, I can say with deep feeling that this is wrong. Admiral Kirk is dead. Long live Captain Kirk ! The old Kirk, that is, not the new one.
Live long and prosper, friends.
The bad news is that it was directed by JJ Abrams. What’s wrong with him? you ask.
Nothing if you like movies shot in extreme closeup in all scenes, to the extent that you can count the actor’s pores, if not their nostril hairs. Closeups are meant to convey tension and intimacy, and because they are used throughout the movie, they lose those attributes and become meaningless. I can’t review this film as I walked out after 40 minutes of flashing, epileptic, and closeup (let’s not forget that one) shots. These close shots render the films vision myopic, and you lose the scope that most of the other movies had.
Starting with the opening scenes of a Federation Starship in trouble. All I could comprehend was that some large ship that resembled Witchblade in space was blowing up the starship. The battle scene was like staring into some strobelight that people ran in front of. I have no idea what the bridge looked like as once again everything was shot tight. Paramount must have saved a fortune on set design because you don’t get to see it.
Making use of lens flares, close shots that almost let you see under the skin, and shaky camera techniques that remind me of the Blair Witch Project, this film is a disaster for the franchise. When you see this film, notice the scene in the closed bar with Kirk, after he’s had the snot kicked out of him. The officer he’s talking to is right there, and yet the shot is so tight, so close, that the camera pans. It also trembles and shakes. I can see using that technique if you’re in a battle sequence, but this is just a conversation between two people. It’s like the cameraman has palsy, it’s so amateurish, and amateur filmakers have no business in the Trek franchise. This movie called for a visionary director and writer who knew what they were doing.
If Ron Moore or J Michael Stazinski are out there, please take the helm for the next one. And if I may add something for every future Trek movie to ever to be filmed... No more time travel devices, they’re overdone and amount to hitting a Berman and Braga reset button. To sum up: by changing history, the powers that be have “rewritten” the series so that what was once Canon is now fodder; they can do anything with the series. Having grown up watcing every series, with the exception of Enterprise, I can say with deep feeling that this is wrong. Admiral Kirk is dead. Long live Captain Kirk ! The old Kirk, that is, not the new one.
Live long and prosper, friends.