Star Trek was nothing shy of amazing yesterday! Even though I'm not sure I liked what they did with Uhura, it was good and it made sense, based on what I know about TOS (the original series). Here's my honest take on the movie. I'll try not to include spoilers as far as the plot goes for those of you who haven't seen it yet, but no promises, alright?
Casting: They did such an amazing job of that! Being a fan of the old stuff and having seen every movie with the TOS crew and all the episodes (except for two or three), I was a little skeptical about how well they were going to match up the actors and actresses with their original counterparts. Seeing Karl Urban in the LotR movies and then seeing him as McCoy didn't really bother me; he looked and sounded almost completely different! That was a pleasant surprise. I'll have to admit that the only character I was slightly disappointed in was Uhura.
Antagonists: The Romulans are probably my favorite ST race (except for maybe the Vulcans), so I have to say I was pleased to see them. The one thing that is very different from anything I've seen before is these Romulans were not part of the Romulan Star Empire. In other words, they were not nearly as disciplined and deliberately malevolent as the Romulans in "Balance of Terror" or "The Enterprise Incident" were. Nero, the main villain, seemed to have a bit of Khan-feel to him, as well as his Romulan heritage and even a bit of what I'd call stereotypical Klingon personality. Nice namesake, by the way.
Characters and Series References: I'd have to admit that I was fairly pleased to see many of the characters return from TOS. Some of the exchanges that I've grown to love between the trio (Kirk, Spock and McCoy) were present in this movie, as well as several references from various episodes and different movies ("Wrath of Khan" comes to mind here!).
Special Effects and Sound: Excellent. I normally don't like too much special effects (one of the reasons why I love TOS so much!), but they were very good. I've found that in some movies (the first ST movie!), an extreme amount of special effects can compromise the overall level of quality of the movie. The effects were good and I was very pleased to hear some of the original music from TOS getting incorporated into the soundtrack for this movie. Intense graphics, though.
Best Part? Some of the arguments between Kirk and Spock... and seeing how McCoy treats other people exactly the same as he does in TOS. Manipulative jerk.
Worst Part? That one scene with the Orion girl. It didn't really need to be in there, even if it did stay true to character.
General Feel: A bit of TOS, a bit of "Wrath of Khan" combined with some of the time-travel stuff you'd see in "First Contact" or "Generations" and you've pretty much summed it up.
The Verdict: Not a movie I'd take kids to see, but definitely enjoyable for teenagers or adults and for just about anyone that's a fan of the Star Trek series. Or for people who aren't. For those of you who are already fans, take it in stride and don't complain if you see any discrepancies. It's an excellent movie overall.
Grade: I'd give it an A- for a fun storyline, good characters and a decent plot. (By comparison, I would've given "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" an A- and "Prince Caspian" a C+.)
Casting: They did such an amazing job of that! Being a fan of the old stuff and having seen every movie with the TOS crew and all the episodes (except for two or three), I was a little skeptical about how well they were going to match up the actors and actresses with their original counterparts. Seeing Karl Urban in the LotR movies and then seeing him as McCoy didn't really bother me; he looked and sounded almost completely different! That was a pleasant surprise. I'll have to admit that the only character I was slightly disappointed in was Uhura.
Antagonists: The Romulans are probably my favorite ST race (except for maybe the Vulcans), so I have to say I was pleased to see them. The one thing that is very different from anything I've seen before is these Romulans were not part of the Romulan Star Empire. In other words, they were not nearly as disciplined and deliberately malevolent as the Romulans in "Balance of Terror" or "The Enterprise Incident" were. Nero, the main villain, seemed to have a bit of Khan-feel to him, as well as his Romulan heritage and even a bit of what I'd call stereotypical Klingon personality. Nice namesake, by the way.
Characters and Series References: I'd have to admit that I was fairly pleased to see many of the characters return from TOS. Some of the exchanges that I've grown to love between the trio (Kirk, Spock and McCoy) were present in this movie, as well as several references from various episodes and different movies ("Wrath of Khan" comes to mind here!).
Special Effects and Sound: Excellent. I normally don't like too much special effects (one of the reasons why I love TOS so much!), but they were very good. I've found that in some movies (the first ST movie!), an extreme amount of special effects can compromise the overall level of quality of the movie. The effects were good and I was very pleased to hear some of the original music from TOS getting incorporated into the soundtrack for this movie. Intense graphics, though.
Best Part? Some of the arguments between Kirk and Spock... and seeing how McCoy treats other people exactly the same as he does in TOS. Manipulative jerk.
Worst Part? That one scene with the Orion girl. It didn't really need to be in there, even if it did stay true to character.
General Feel: A bit of TOS, a bit of "Wrath of Khan" combined with some of the time-travel stuff you'd see in "First Contact" or "Generations" and you've pretty much summed it up.
The Verdict: Not a movie I'd take kids to see, but definitely enjoyable for teenagers or adults and for just about anyone that's a fan of the Star Trek series. Or for people who aren't. For those of you who are already fans, take it in stride and don't complain if you see any discrepancies. It's an excellent movie overall.
Grade: I'd give it an A- for a fun storyline, good characters and a decent plot. (By comparison, I would've given "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" an A- and "Prince Caspian" a C+.)
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