柏忠毅的 'the Daily Biff' - Movie Review: Star Trek

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Thu, 07 May 2009

Movie Review: Star Trek

Title:	Star Trek (2009)
Rating:	5/10

I just got back from seeing the much hyped Star Trek at the PacSci IMAX theater. It was just OK. I'm not a fan of time travel themed plots, so that was a major hindrance for me enjoying the movie. Time travel is commonly a convention used exclusively in science fiction movies (Somewhere In Time 之外) and I think science fiction is worse for it. The time traveler (typically a villain) attempts to alter the past such that some event X will not occur in the future. However, these plot devices always introduce the logical paradoxical loop that effectively requires that the time-traveler's personal knowledge of history already includes their future travels to their own experience of the past. Or in other words, the time traveler already should know if his or her efforts will succeed or fail. Furthermore, since the time traveler's presence in the past is vital to the future, cause and effect is turned on its head. It's stupid.

That being said, there is quite a bit to like about the movie. For example, there are lots of *wink wink* moments in the film that were included only for people that are already steeped in the Star Trek mythology, but that would be lost on "normal" people... like say, um, my wife for instance? (For the record, Kristy stayed home.) By the way, loved the Uhura romantic relationship with a crew member that I will not name (for fear of spoiling it). Some members of the cast are thoroughly introduced and developed. For example, Kirk, Bones, Uhura, and Spock all get good treatment. But the rest (Scotty, Checkov, Sulu) not so much. But the cast, by and large, does a decent job of "rebooting" the Star Trek franchise.

The Romulan villain also got very little screen time, and as a result the conflict seemed like an afterthought. Just a flimsy narrative used to introduce us to all the young original Enterprise crew. The narrative is so thin, that the chance events that occur often in this movie invariably elicit a huge eye roll. (Like, for example, how Scotty is rolled into the film - oh brother - isn't it "convenient" that Scotty was right were he happened to be at just at the right time that he was needed? Give me a break). And "Red Matter" ... um, what?

Perhaps future Star Trek flicks with this cast will be more meaty.

:: Posted by rus on Thu, 07 May 2009 11:59 pm
:: Filed under /reviews/movies

[1 comment] [permanent link] [print]

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