Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, Benedict Cumberbatch , John Cho
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
I'm going to make you aware right now, there will be spoilers in this review. I think that's fair considering it's been 6 days since the movie's release. If you haven't seen it yet, GO SEE IT! Don't wait.
I was a huge fan of J.J. Abram's remake of Star Trek in 2009. Fresh, exciting, well directed, and well written. I think most people are with me in that sense. It also cleared up some confusion. Were these movies going to be a reboot of the franchise? Well, kind of. They used a time loop to connect Spock to his future self. Not only was it a cool homage, but it was clear then that these films would be occurring in an alternate universe. So yes, these films have a connection to the original, but they're a new franchise on their own. A lot of criticism I've been reading on the web has compared this film with Wrath of Khan, which I think is a shame.
Review
I wrote a paragraph beginning to explain how the movie unfolds, but I deleted the whole thing. There is WAY too much going on for me to repeat and summarize without missing key parts. Instead, I'm just going to explain why I liked this movie so much.
In the beginning there are clear character flaws. Kirk is irresponsible and never listens to any criticism. Spock's inability to feel is the only thing holding him back from being a better Captain than Kirk. Kirk cares for his men more than he does logic, often neglecting his low chances out of sheer emotional connection to his tasks. There are some funny moments where Kirk tries to pry emotion out of Spock to no avail, often times leaving him frustrated. I just loved how these developed throughout the film. Kirk ultimately ends up giving his life to save everyone, but the change is most apparent through Spock. As he watches his best friend die, Spock sheds a tear. This moment of emotion is so heart-felt due to the amount of attention paid to his flaw leading up to it. When he yells out "KHAAAAAN!", his reaction is that of anger and revenge. He wants to kill Khan, but not because it's the logical thing to do, because it's personal now. Spock's character development was believable and emotionally compelling and really put this movie over the top.
THE MYSTERY! Who is Harrison? Why did he blow up Section 31? Why did he launch an attack on Starfleet? After they capture him, is he really a bad guy? What/who is in each of the 72 torpedoes that the crew was ordered not to open? Oh shit he's Khan. Is he telling the truth though? What is at the coordinates Khan gave Kirk? Yes, he is telling the truth, but he's also evil as well. What's going to happen? How will Spock defeat him? This script was filled with mystery. It kept my interest because I was also curious. Mystery also makes the dialogue better and adds a bit of mystique to it. This is the best writing tool out there in my honest opinion. Who better than Lindelof, the writer of Lost, to implement mystery in this screenplay? He did a fantastic job.
Goals were always clear. Find Harrison and kill him without causing a commotion. Find out what's in the torpedoes. Find out what's at the coordinates. Escape the USS Vengeance ship led by Admiral Marcus that wants to destroy them. Kill Khan, or put him back in cryogenic sleep.
Stakes? If they fail killing Harrison without a commotion, a war breaks out as they're in hostile territory. Wrong about the torpedoes? People die. Wrong about Admiral Marcus? Treason. Unable to kill Khan? He kills everyone he deems inferior.
Urgency? SO much. How about when the Enterprise is crashing down and about to hit the Earth's atmosphere? If the ship isn't fixed, they'll all burn into ashes. How about when being chased by USS Vengeance? Urgency really made the set pieces intense. Which brings me to my next point.
SET PIECES! Amazing. Can't say anything more. They just were.
Another thing: Chris Pine was impressive. I've never been a huge fan of his acting, but he really stepped up to the plate here. I could feel his emotion as he cried. This was something that concerned me, but now I can breathe easy waiting for Trek 3.
And to top it off, this was by far my best IMAX 3D experience and in my opinion, the BEST use of the 3D feature in any film to date. The sound was amazing and so were the visuals. Only problem is that IMAX glasses are so tight they could give you a headache. Luckily the movie was so good I didn't care.
Topic of the Day
Blockbusters breaking formula and doing the unexpected.
The clear goal in the beginning was to find Harrison/Khan and kill him. Instead of this being the main goal throughout the entire film, the story changes course rather quickly and unexpectedly. Khan surrenders and they capture him. The Avengers did a similar thing with Loki. The goal was to find and kill him and unexpectedly they capture him rather early and he's kept in a similar glass cell. I like this. It's new, it's a twist on the formula, and it paves way for some clever dialogue scenes with a smart villain.
Consensus
This might just be one of my favorite movies ever. I loved everything about it. If there was anyone questioning Damon Lindelof's screenwriting before, it should surely be put to rest now after this well plotted story that not only kept my attention, but had me at the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen. Emotionally compelling, well structured, and mystery galore lands this film as my favorite of this year by a landslide. Definitely a must see and well worth the price of IMAX 3D.
9.5/10
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