I’ll just go ahead and say it: I don’t like Star Trek.

It’s been a difficult road to travel to commit to this opinion; after all, there’s been so much fun and anticipation over the last two years on this board--SHOUTING SPOCK, Blue Warp Nacelles, the sombreros, Badass Robau and, of course, the Generic Parody Thread which was the reason I registered after lurking for years. And I’ve really had a wonderful time looking forward to the premier with everyone on this forum. But I’ll just say it.

Star Trek is not good. I watched it twice, and, after careful consideration, I don’t like it.

I considered titling this “Thread for People of Conflicted Opinion,” because that’s also how I feel right now. Sitting in the theater, surrounded by lots of other people, watching the movie was very enjoyable. I laughed when we were expected to laugh, I cried at Kirk’s birth and over Spock and Sarek’s conversation on the transporter pad. I loved seeing Nimoy again. All the new actors had their characters spot-on. I dug the references to all the past Trek productions. And yet, somehow, a malaise set in over the course of the film and as it entered the third act I felt unfulfilled as a viewer. After my friends and I left the theater opening night, having enjoyed ourselves immensely, I got to wondering why it seemed like I hadn’t had as good a time as I thought I had. When I get right down to it, I asked myself “Was this a good movie?”

And my gut reaction was: “no.”

Sure, it was fun, funny, moving, energetic, shiny, charming, charismatic, and all the things that should make for a great film, but somehow they didn’t gel, and I can’t escape the impression of the movie as a fast-talking car salesman who keeps the patter going so you feel good and don’t notice that you’re being fleeced.

It’s difficult to articulate why; I’m one of those people who often finds that others can articulate how I feel about things better than I can, and so I often look to other posters to find a better version of what I wish I could post. But in this case, the majority opinion is that ST is very, very good. And I’m happy for them; it’s the reaction we’d all been hoping for, and that I’d been wishing to experience myself. And while there is a dissenting minority, it seems to consist of whiny unhappy fanboys whose primary concern is keeping things in line with a stilted checklist of minutiae from past productions; these two viewpoints find themselves at odds in every thread of this forum and stifle productive discussion about the merits and failings of the movie and how things could have or should have been improved. Hell, the one thread here where some of that seemed to be happening got shut down as a result of actions by two of the film’s supporters. I think there are grounds for serious critiques of what Abrams and company have created, yet it can’t seem to find a voice around here thanks to a polarization of the forum that had its groundwork laid years ago.

So I’m left to wonder: where is the constructive criticism? The input from people who don’t think this movie is all that but still want to see it, or some variation of it, succeed? Are constructive criticisms or grey-area opinions even possible? Because I’m not against the concept of a reboot, or rejuvenation, or remake, or whatever you want to call it; quite the contrary. The promise of JJTrek was more than we’d seen in years, and on some level I’m upset that I don’t feel the way about the movie that I’d hoped I would. But the whole production was so glib, so willing to crack the joke or take the teeth out of the drama by pulling some silly-but-entertaining stunt that it was all too often impossible to invest emotionally in what was happening. It seems to be failing of a lot of Hollywood films these days, to use character drama to set up a final, third-act fight, which, once underway, makes characterization extraneous and that reduces the finale to a string of meaningless punches and explosions. That’s not where I wanted to see these characters or this world go, and I don’t know that there’s a place here any more for this kind of discussion, at least not as a way to score a cheap shot against the other side.

So...what say you, denizens of the Trek XI forum? Am I alone on this?

 

I have to say it was a great movie IMO, but certainly not a perfect movie. It had it's plot holes of course, but thats the thing about fiction. If you want something that fills every hole, go read Tolkien.

It was more action packed then trek movies in the past, but they've got a little more to work with nowadays, so that seems like a good thing to me.

Destroying vulcan came outta left field, but at the same time opens many doors for stories about how the vulcans lost their home world.

The new design doesn't bug me, like I said, they have more to work with these days. I personally still think she's gorgeous even with her make over.

Chekov was WAY over the top imo, but I'm sure most would say he's spot on.

So yeah, I guess I could look for things I didn't like, but I always thought that it detracted from the entertainment. To each their own though.

 

I don't feel as negatively about the movie, but I see where you are coming from. My reaction after viewing was "good, not great".

There is a lot of positive reaction now. But the real success, or failure, will be in the future films, imo. This film really wasn't too difficult to succeed. All of us more "hardcore" fans were pretty much going to see it. The marketing was excellent and brought in many new viewers. The budget towards special effects and design really helped the movie.

Will the new fans and old fans come back for a second movie? I think so. But if that movie doesn't have a better story, will nuTrek as a franchise succeed? I don't think so.

Awesome effects, sexy casting, nostalgia will only lead so far. This movie seemed very setup to me, which is ok. But if overall storylines don't improve, I can't see this franchise maintaing the success of this film.

 

Well, my thoughts about it have always been that it needed to be entertaining first..and that it is..there are problems..but heck, TMP had REAL issues too...

Yes it was far fetched, but so is Warp Drive..and to attract the younger audience they strained credibility..but then again, so did Top Gun and lots of other mainstream movies..yet, despite the mad dash pace, Star Trek (11) allowed me to suspend my disbelief and get into the story and follow along...yes it is, if you will VERY compressed, but that is what the mainstream movie goers are used to..the sedate shots of the Big E floating in Spacedock during TMP would cause people of Generation Y (or is it Z?) to walk out of the theater.. and that is where the fans of the future will come from..

I'd like to have seen this as 2 movies..the first to set up Kirk in Starfleet..and the second to his command of the Big E a few years later..but that wasn't gonna happen and probably shouldn't have happened..

So we got a roller coaster ride...

I happen to like roller coasters...

 

I didn't like it. I felt the dialogue was too dumbed down. And sorry just can't understand why the Grand Canyon is in Iowa.

 

I do have some legitimate criticisms of the film, but I'd like to see it one more time to put thought to keyboard. Unfortunately, I'm leaving the country for a few weeks. So who knows when I'll have time to gather them.

Moreover, anytime there is a critique of the film it quickly degenerates into a pissing contest about canon and dogmatic hyperbole.

Overall I liked the film. I thought it was a good, entertaining movie. A real motion picture. Far from perfect. But what Trek film has been? I see this outing as Batman Begins; necessary to get the characters and setting going again. Hopefully, they'll go The Dark Knight for the sequel rather than Quantum of Solace.

 

well you'll always have that movie that opened may 1, right?

 

Yeah but Warp Drive doesn't make a story suck. It's easy to suspend belief about what makes a starship go.

If you think deeply about this film, alternate universes, red matter, the way black holes are used, etc... it just doesn't offer a lot intellectually.

Which is fine, for now. Good, but not great.

 

How anyone can say this with a straight face I'll never know, considering half of it is derivative of things said in Star Trek's past!

It was a quarry. End of discussion.

 

Ultimately, I found the new movie to be uncompelling. To me, it was a mediocre summer popcorn action flick, suffering from a weak plot and cardboard villain (who seemed oddly like a more petulant version of Shinzon).

Hopefully Abrams' next attempt will have a bit more substance.

 

to me it gets marks for capturing so much of what i saw in trek.
was it as deep as a select few of the episodes.. no but also not all of trek was either.

as for..

but then even some of the more classic tos episodes did that.
how many times did we see just horrible things happen like entire star systems destroyed just to end on some joke among the bridge crew.
at the end of this we got another reminder of what was lost with the scene between the two spocks.

 

I agree in general... I too was "Conflicted" leaving the theaters... on 1 side:

a) The success of this movie..keeps the franchise alive/viable for years to come
b) Good (not great) movie--well paced...story, action, effects, a few memorable scenes
c) Entertaining.

BUT on the other hand

a) Uhura and Spock ? C'mon
b) Throw the word "Canon" out..this Ain't your Father's Star Trek is right.
c) a Cadet -> CAPTAIN so quickly ?
d) The engineering section of the ship looks like a crappy refinery
e) Space battles/ Hand Phaser sequences--copies look and feel of Star Wars
f) Every Cadet -> Senior officer positions so quickly
g) Is this alternate universe or a new timeline ?
h) The Warp reactor is now multiple Warp Reactors
i) The new Hand Phaser design are ugly
j) Where's Kirk love interest ?-- no Romanlus ? in the original timeline we knew then...the Enterprise looks more sophisticated than the NCC-1701E...
k) The whole idea of Star Trek "exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations" OUT --- IN: Action, fighting, Phaser fights, fist fights, cute one liners , fast paced story -masked as: "Character Development"
l) Gene Roddenberry would Not have approved...But again, this movie brings back/reboots the franchise alright...and hopefully draws in new fans...but this isn't the Star Trek of old...this should be called: STAR TREK-Lite. or Star Trek: The Derivative


Sounds like griping..But Hey, i care enough alright ?

Who out there agrees with me ???

 

In some ways it was incredible, in some ways it was incredibly bad.

I think that if they had done a true reboot it could have approached perfection.

 

Ok, crazy hypothesis... but here it goes.

One of the things that keeps coming up from the reader reviews is how utterly loud this movie is. There is a scientifically observed correlation between very loud noise and steadily increasing levels of dopamine and adrenaline. IIRC, 100 dba caused noticable spikes in dopamine, norepinephrine, and adrenaline levels in people over a considerable period of time. Unsure as to what shorter exposures would produce, however.

In conjunction with intense visual effects and a very fast pace, I don't think it's a surprise that many people seem to be abnormally elated after watching this movie.

Just a crazy hypothesis, though. I would be surprised if it had any validity.

 

See, now this is how you do it. The difference between a Gep Malakai negative review and someone like Captain Robert April just being pissy and condescending is like night and day!

 

It was a quarry. End of discussion.[/QUOTE]

Welll good. Then the wait is over. Heil Devon!!!!!!!!

 

no, but it's okay.

 

Damn straight..But Canon is a word overused in Trek entertainment..

 

I feel similarly about it all. Personally i liked the movie, it was fun to watch, it had great moments and the best part were the character's themselves, they were great to see again, especially in their youths and such.

That said, when i look back on this movie, I'm left thinking, as good as it was, it wasn't good enough to justify undoing all of past Trek. Especially when you look at it and realise that it's not really anything more than a thing a Space action flick and has little particularly depth to it beyond that, and thus could very easily have been done to fit in to existing trek while being just as action packed and just as fun to watch. (I am not a fan of blowing up Vulcan, it's like Star Wars without the Force to me, heh) It just felt like they didn't want to bother.

So in the end it's a little odd, I liked the movie and had a lot of fun watching it, but i don't like what it did to Trek at all... I'm left a bit conflicted by it.