cricket wrote:Finally saw it. Didn't think I'd like it as much as I did. The previews made it look like a two-hour Mountain Dew commercial, but it was actually well done. One of the best Star Trek films.
Thought it was ... interesting ... that they set it up as an "alternate reality" -- essentially short-circuiting any fanboys (like me) who would otherwise nit-pick every little inconsistency with the original series. 
Couple things, tho:
1) Leonard Nimoy doing the "Space, the final frontier" thing at the end. Could've (should've?) been given to Shatner -- smoothed over that whole "why did Len get a cameo but not me?" thing...
2) This is the second time (first with the Picard-clone from "Nemesis") that they've touted a villain as the "best since Khan". The thing they don't seem to get about Khan is that he was such a compelling character because he was ... COMPLICATED ... this "Nero" guy from the movie was just angry, through and through. No depth at all. I'm not saying he wasn't a good villain -- just that he could have been even better.
3) I don't care what he did -- would a last-year cadet EVER be promoted straight to captain and given his own ship?
But those are very minor things -- overall, highly entertaining.
(And a heckuva lot better than Terminator: Salvation...)
I saw it a few hours ago myself and found it much tougher to swallow. I LIKED the alternate reality created and thought it created several interesting arcs but I found the contrivances used to "bring the gang together" were just a bit too much to swallow. I thought the allusions to trek lore and characters (especially the reference to Admiral Archer's beagle) was fun as was the sprinkling of "catchphrases" any fanboy would have to expect. BUT...
...(MAJOR Spoiler alert)
Not only was Nero fairly one dimensional, but they totally ripped of the slug in brain thing from Wrath of Khan, giving it a different name...without and of Ricardo's over-the-top menacing monolog-ing. Yet he leaves Spock alive and unsupervised to watch his planet die. What is he, a Bond Villan???
When did the Romulans officially become space orks to the Vulcan space elves?
Why does the engineering section look like a desalinization plant, but everything else looks like t was lifted from 2001 (the movie not the actual year)?
I thought Simon Pegg was funny, but in no way was he channeling Scotty, when everyone else seemed to be doing their level best to imitate the originals (I did think Karl Urban was particularly good)
Worst contrivance of the movie: Kirk jettisoned at random, lands within walking distance of Spock, who was also marooned apparently at random, and both are walking distance (on a hostile glacial planet no less) from Scotty. Nope, can't swallow that even with salt and pepper.
For the love of Pete how big does a super nova have to be to threaten the galaxy? But it can be sucked up by a black hole? (raises hand) Um, how big was that black hole supposed to be and what's to stop the freakin black hole from threatening the galaxy?
I am a total geek, love explosions (even if they are my own ships) and swordfights, but for me the best part of the movie was the GI Joe trailer, not because it looks good, but because I have always had a thing for the Baroness 
I think I will have to stop going to movies that aren't made by Pixar or Dreamworks animation...they really seem to be the only ones worth the money lately.
Overall, I didn't mind the non-stop action, and the space sequences were mighty perdy but I just couldn't get past the long long list of things that just didn't make sense. My suspension of disbelief gland must be weakening with old age. But then again, I happen to think the only good Trek movie is Wrath of Khan, and most of them were far more unwatchable than the most recent effort.
Cheers,
Erik
