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I posted what I thought would be brief thoughts in the Movie Tab but it came out longer than anticipated so hoped some points raise can be discussed here:
Star Trek Into Darkness
(Potential Spoilers)
Undecided if this one was inspired or lazy.
The film jumps straight to the end of a mission which serves to primarily setup the dichotomy of Spock's pragmatism and Kirk's brashness to echo over the film. Secondarily to pay lip service to the 'Prime Directive' although any of Spock's adherence to this (which is what sets the aforementioned theme into play) is overshadowed by hypocrisy inherent in their mission itself. It left a funny taste in my mouth querying a Vulcan's logic (!), at least until they directly addressed back on Earth by an excellent head of Star Fleet played by Robocop.
Cut to John Harrison setting up the films main narrative by pulling some explosive pranks on Star Fleet back on Earth. All very enigmatic, nicely staged and shot, leading to Kirk's mission. There's some rather unsubtle foreshadowing that all is not what it seems with his task. We meet the remodelled Klingons, which wasn't too keen on but they're mostly a plot device to set some peril and show that John Harrison is maybe not such a bad guy but definitely a bad ass. The Enterprise forget that he's massacred a few chaps back at the office and buddy up against Robocop who turns out to be the real villain. The whole bureaucrat pulling strings is quite a tired trend and he turns out to be ultimately disposable. And it all serves as a very thinly veiled distraction to John Harrison's actual agenda and inevitable deception. There's a lot of wasted time when they could be turning JH into a much more active and threatening villain. Shame, considering. The film suffers by getting distracted between the core Kirk/Spock dynamic and trying to include uneven and diluted antagonists, neither quite getting into the full swing of the job. I don't know if it's me but a lot of films seem to reach the second act and just convert to real time and forgo building any tension or drama in favour of quick fire action. Like Prometheus last year, a lot of the finale was given away in the trailers, even the same bloody type of scene! Advertising campaigns need a reassessment.
It's a fun ride and full of big lovely effects and overused digital lense flares, and isn't actually too bad in 3D. They definitely enjoy throwing nods to fans, which I won't spoil as they're the real treat in the film. However, they become possibly too preoccupied with them and the deviations don't serve any purpose other than to avoid being verbatim of another film. What was an inspired universe device in the previous entry is a nice mask to reuse and redo canon. The foundation of the film is meant to be dichotomy of Spock and Kirk; Quinto does a marvellously nuanced Nimoy impression but Kirk is written as near incompetent to facepalm proportions. So when it comes to the character climax, it doesn't quite have the same emotional hit or reflect any development as it should - yet you get the feeling the makers were giving themselves a big pat on the back with it. As is symptomatic with Hollywood these days, it also lacks any conviction to the actions, utilising an unfortunately similar deus-ex (ish) as Iron Man 3. The scene they borrow from still makes me well up after several viewings, this didn't manage it once. It may work differently for non-Trekkies, mind. Goes to show, too, that throwing simplicity out the window for spectacle doesn't benefit emotional moments.
It seems like the final piece before a traditional Trek film arrives and does at least know the right buttons it should be hitting, even if doesn't quite push them hard enough. It's one of those films that needs a second viewing to appreciate, I feel. I did vocally cheer one point in the film, which i've tried to avoid revealing. All in all, the best compliment I can pay to it is it's firmed a resolve that I do not want JJ directing Star Wars. He's created a fantastic Trek universe and don't want to see him doing another franchise and replacing characters into a same world, be to the detriment of both.
I didn't hate Simon Pegg this time either (accent aside) so gets a bit of extra credit.
(Potential Spoilers)
Undecided if this one was inspired or lazy.
The film jumps straight to the end of a mission which serves to primarily setup the dichotomy of Spock's pragmatism and Kirk's brashness to echo over the film. Secondarily to pay lip service to the 'Prime Directive' although any of Spock's adherence to this (which is what sets the aforementioned theme into play) is overshadowed by hypocrisy inherent in their mission itself. It left a funny taste in my mouth querying a Vulcan's logic (!), at least until they directly addressed back on Earth by an excellent head of Star Fleet played by Robocop.
Cut to John Harrison setting up the films main narrative by pulling some explosive pranks on Star Fleet back on Earth. All very enigmatic, nicely staged and shot, leading to Kirk's mission. There's some rather unsubtle foreshadowing that all is not what it seems with his task. We meet the remodelled Klingons, which wasn't too keen on but they're mostly a plot device to set some peril and show that John Harrison is maybe not such a bad guy but definitely a bad ass. The Enterprise forget that he's massacred a few chaps back at the office and buddy up against Robocop who turns out to be the real villain. The whole bureaucrat pulling strings is quite a tired trend and he turns out to be ultimately disposable. And it all serves as a very thinly veiled distraction to John Harrison's actual agenda and inevitable deception. There's a lot of wasted time when they could be turning JH into a much more active and threatening villain. Shame, considering. The film suffers by getting distracted between the core Kirk/Spock dynamic and trying to include uneven and diluted antagonists, neither quite getting into the full swing of the job. I don't know if it's me but a lot of films seem to reach the second act and just convert to real time and forgo building any tension or drama in favour of quick fire action. Like Prometheus last year, a lot of the finale was given away in the trailers, even the same bloody type of scene! Advertising campaigns need a reassessment.
It's a fun ride and full of big lovely effects and overused digital lense flares, and isn't actually too bad in 3D. They definitely enjoy throwing nods to fans, which I won't spoil as they're the real treat in the film. However, they become possibly too preoccupied with them and the deviations don't serve any purpose other than to avoid being verbatim of another film. What was an inspired universe device in the previous entry is a nice mask to reuse and redo canon. The foundation of the film is meant to be dichotomy of Spock and Kirk; Quinto does a marvellously nuanced Nimoy impression but Kirk is written as near incompetent to facepalm proportions. So when it comes to the character climax, it doesn't quite have the same emotional hit or reflect any development as it should - yet you get the feeling the makers were giving themselves a big pat on the back with it. As is symptomatic with Hollywood these days, it also lacks any conviction to the actions, utilising an unfortunately similar deus-ex (ish) as Iron Man 3. The scene they borrow from still makes me well up after several viewings, this didn't manage it once. It may work differently for non-Trekkies, mind. Goes to show, too, that throwing simplicity out the window for spectacle doesn't benefit emotional moments.
It seems like the final piece before a traditional Trek film arrives and does at least know the right buttons it should be hitting, even if doesn't quite push them hard enough. It's one of those films that needs a second viewing to appreciate, I feel. I did vocally cheer one point in the film, which i've tried to avoid revealing. All in all, the best compliment I can pay to it is it's firmed a resolve that I do not want JJ directing Star Wars. He's created a fantastic Trek universe and don't want to see him doing another franchise and replacing characters into a same world, be to the detriment of both.
I didn't hate Simon Pegg this time either (accent aside) so gets a bit of extra credit.
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Last edited by Yoda; 08-05-13 at 02:27 PM.
Reason: Switched to smaller poster image
). One thing I did have an issue with however was some of the deus ex machina plot devices they came up with to get themselves out of a jam. They may work fine in the short term but I'm curious to see how they play out as we go along. For example, is it just me or did they actually just remove the threat of death from the world of Star Trek? Or at the very least greatly diluted it. 
I enjoyed your review as well when I was eventually able to read it
