We went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness last night. The initial take on it was that it was satisfactory, but as we thought it over later -- even just on the drive home from the theater -- we decided that no, actually, it wasn't. There are several reasons for this.
For one, much of the movie could be an Arnold Schwarzenegger or Bruce Willis flick -- lots of noise, things blowing up, crashing together. Several times we looked at each other and said what did he just say? Wait, who are those guys? This thing that just happened, is it good or bad? You need a cheat sheet. There's a line in Moss Hart's autobiography where he talks about a play he has written, one that isn't quite working, and he isn't sure why -- it's funny, and people are laughing, but still, they seem unsatisfied. He consults a friend who suggests that he insert a quiet scene to give the audience a chance to catch their breath. Would that that friend was available to JJ Abrams.
For another, the plotting seems to be at the level of Saturday morning kids shows. I'll get you next time, Kirk! Next time!!!! There's not much of a backstory for the bad guy. There's a vague one -- this guy did something really bad, then they toss in a well wait maybe he's not a bad guy,
followed by other not-really-much-of-a surprise events, including Kirk
going out to kick ass and take names after several attempts to display emotion on the part of the lead characters. (Kirk and Spock don't fist-bump, but if they did, it would be better than the existing Kirk looks chagrined or Spock looks perplexed.)
Yet another problem is that they have several cute little references to Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. (Okay, fair's fair: the first reference is unexpected and actually kind of neat.) They do everything but the Monty Python wink-wink-nudge-nudge -- including, in places, using exactly the same dialogue as was used in Wrath of Khan, down to the identical accompanying hand gesture. Exactly. My mento, the kid I mentor at the school, will sometimes say, referring to an event in a video game, Really? They're really doing that? I had the same reaction. Was this scripted by JJ's 13 year old son?
Plus, they killed off a character who, objectively, was minor, but I liked him. They didn't use Cumberbatch nearly enough. They seemed fascinated by this thing between Spock and Uhura. They inserted another character who added virtually nothing to the plot, apparently so viewers would say awwww....look who it is! There's at least one then a miracle occurred moment. And....and... oh, you get the idea.
I don't think this is the death knell for the Star Trek series, but I think it's wounded.
2 comments:
I did not like the first one to this series, but assumed it was because I wanted to capture something from a younger age, but perhaps I needed to look at it with a more clinical eye. I have no real need to go see this one and will wait until it comes on TV.
Oh, I can't see anyone who did not like the first liking this one. It's not terrible, but it's not captivating.
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