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pockysquirrelI HAVE AN AWFUL LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THIS MOVIE.
Not all of them are good. Not all of them are bad. There are just a lot of them.
I have read several very articulate and thorough reviews about this movie. This post will not be one of them. My higher thought processes have been utterly fried by the sheer force of fangirl vitriol flowing through my veins right now, to the point that I am nigh incapable of a full analysis. (Actually, a post of that type would likely require me to liveblog the movie while watching it on Netflix in my living room, and result in a noise complaint from my neighbors due to the mass amounts of yelling.) Seriously, if any of you guys remember when I was marathoning PR seasons, the amount of yelling at my computer I did when I was watching Operation Overdrive? It was like that. Only in a movie theater. With people. There were times I felt like my head was going to explode from the effort of restraining myself from shouting variations on "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" at the movie screen.
How do you even quantify something like this? Typical modes of movie rating can't accurately measure the intensity of my ambivalence. One thumb up, one lodged in my ear canal in an effort to gouge the memories from my brain? The number of times I teared up vs. the number of times I felt like screaming obscenities? I am simultaneously seized by the desires to squee and spit venom, and I have no idea which reaction will win out.
It is not a pleasant feeling.
I suddenly have a level of empathy for fandom purists of all stripes that I never had before. This must be what the Transformers G1 fans felt when Beast Wars aired. (Just what IS the Trekkie equivalent of 'trukk not munky', though? 'Montalban not Cumberbatch' certainly does not have the same ring to it.) I will stop short of taking up the immortal battle cry that is "RUINED FOREVER" because I'm still not yet quite convinced that it is. Star Trek is a very old, very large franchise. It has been through radical changes before, and each incarnation brings something new to the table for good or for ill. I remember when people thought that Deep Space Nine was the ruination of Star Trek. And Voyager. And Enterprise. Hell, I might have been too young to even know what fandom was at the time, but I'm sure there was a large contingent of people who thought Next Generation would be the ruination of Star Trek when it aired. None of them were right. It's been almost 50 years and there is still Star Trek, and there are still Trekkies, not because of what this writer or that director or this cast did or didn't do, but because of a shared belief and commitment to an ideal.
That's the part that bothers me the most. Sitting here and wondering whether or not we have finally reached the tipping point where the idealistic value of Star Trek has been outstripped by the commercial value of Star Trek.
And I'm fairly sure Gene Roddenberry is spinning in his grave.
That much being said...
- STID probably has the best damn soundtrack I have heard in any movie since Lord of the Rings. I am probably going to buy it.
- One common beef I've heard about the movie and DON'T agree with is that Uhura and/or the supporting cast got shafted in terms of screen time and character development. If anything, I feel like this one was LESS 'The Kirk and Spock Show' than the first. Everyone got a goodie or two, and I was pleased with almost all of them. Except McCoy. The movie needed more McCoy. But I say that with an admittedly large and estrogen-fueled bias toward Karl Urban.
- Benedict Cumberbatch is simultaneously the best and worst thing about the movie. On one hand, I now understand what 90% of the internet seems to see in him. On the other, WORST CASTING EVER, DAMN IT ALL. And that's all I'm going to say about that, lest I start spewing feels again.
- That is now TWICE in two movies that Spock has been reduced to a raging emotion-fueled beast, and I am not amused. That is not Spock, Abrams. You're thinking of the Incredible Hulk. Spock is not the Incredible Hulk. Just because one bleeds green and the other IS green does not make them the same person. If I wanted to see the Incredible Hulk, I would fucking watch The Avengers. Mark Ruffalo is better at it anyway.
- OF COURSE they dedicated it to people who served in the aftermath of 9/11; you can't show a fucking suicide bombing and then RAM A STARSHIP INTO A BUILDING and not acknowledge 9/11. It's been over a decade since the actual attack, over 5 years since Enterprise tried it, and we are STILL managing to completely fail at properly allegorizing these things.
Not all of them are good. Not all of them are bad. There are just a lot of them.
I have read several very articulate and thorough reviews about this movie. This post will not be one of them. My higher thought processes have been utterly fried by the sheer force of fangirl vitriol flowing through my veins right now, to the point that I am nigh incapable of a full analysis. (Actually, a post of that type would likely require me to liveblog the movie while watching it on Netflix in my living room, and result in a noise complaint from my neighbors due to the mass amounts of yelling.) Seriously, if any of you guys remember when I was marathoning PR seasons, the amount of yelling at my computer I did when I was watching Operation Overdrive? It was like that. Only in a movie theater. With people. There were times I felt like my head was going to explode from the effort of restraining myself from shouting variations on "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" at the movie screen.
How do you even quantify something like this? Typical modes of movie rating can't accurately measure the intensity of my ambivalence. One thumb up, one lodged in my ear canal in an effort to gouge the memories from my brain? The number of times I teared up vs. the number of times I felt like screaming obscenities? I am simultaneously seized by the desires to squee and spit venom, and I have no idea which reaction will win out.
It is not a pleasant feeling.
I suddenly have a level of empathy for fandom purists of all stripes that I never had before. This must be what the Transformers G1 fans felt when Beast Wars aired. (Just what IS the Trekkie equivalent of 'trukk not munky', though? 'Montalban not Cumberbatch' certainly does not have the same ring to it.) I will stop short of taking up the immortal battle cry that is "RUINED FOREVER" because I'm still not yet quite convinced that it is. Star Trek is a very old, very large franchise. It has been through radical changes before, and each incarnation brings something new to the table for good or for ill. I remember when people thought that Deep Space Nine was the ruination of Star Trek. And Voyager. And Enterprise. Hell, I might have been too young to even know what fandom was at the time, but I'm sure there was a large contingent of people who thought Next Generation would be the ruination of Star Trek when it aired. None of them were right. It's been almost 50 years and there is still Star Trek, and there are still Trekkies, not because of what this writer or that director or this cast did or didn't do, but because of a shared belief and commitment to an ideal.
That's the part that bothers me the most. Sitting here and wondering whether or not we have finally reached the tipping point where the idealistic value of Star Trek has been outstripped by the commercial value of Star Trek.
And I'm fairly sure Gene Roddenberry is spinning in his grave.
That much being said...
- STID probably has the best damn soundtrack I have heard in any movie since Lord of the Rings. I am probably going to buy it.
- One common beef I've heard about the movie and DON'T agree with is that Uhura and/or the supporting cast got shafted in terms of screen time and character development. If anything, I feel like this one was LESS 'The Kirk and Spock Show' than the first. Everyone got a goodie or two, and I was pleased with almost all of them. Except McCoy. The movie needed more McCoy. But I say that with an admittedly large and estrogen-fueled bias toward Karl Urban.
- Benedict Cumberbatch is simultaneously the best and worst thing about the movie. On one hand, I now understand what 90% of the internet seems to see in him. On the other, WORST CASTING EVER, DAMN IT ALL. And that's all I'm going to say about that, lest I start spewing feels again.
- That is now TWICE in two movies that Spock has been reduced to a raging emotion-fueled beast, and I am not amused. That is not Spock, Abrams. You're thinking of the Incredible Hulk. Spock is not the Incredible Hulk. Just because one bleeds green and the other IS green does not make them the same person. If I wanted to see the Incredible Hulk, I would fucking watch The Avengers. Mark Ruffalo is better at it anyway.
- OF COURSE they dedicated it to people who served in the aftermath of 9/11; you can't show a fucking suicide bombing and then RAM A STARSHIP INTO A BUILDING and not acknowledge 9/11. It's been over a decade since the actual attack, over 5 years since Enterprise tried it, and we are STILL managing to completely fail at properly allegorizing these things.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-21 03:21 am (UTC)For what it's worth, I refused to watch the Next Generation for Two Years because "that's not Star Trek." I'm glad I changed my mind! ♥
no subject
Date: 2013-05-21 03:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-21 03:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-21 04:07 am (UTC)If they are indicative of what the future of Star Trek as a franchise is going to look like, I can easily predict myself losing interest.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-21 04:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-21 03:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-21 04:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-21 04:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-21 04:44 am (UTC)