Star Trek, Yay!
May. 11th, 2009 10:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
przedFinally got to see Star Trek. Had an huge grin on my face the entire time. They manage to quote nicely from the original without getting too bogged down in keeping things the same.
Not that I don't have issues.
There's the action scenes for a start. They're all handheld, wobbly, jumpy, poorly cut messes and they make me angry. I enjoy my action scenes. I like to savour them and enjoy the choreography and the mastery of the performers and the crew. If everything's cut into 20 frame bits, you can't tell what the heck is going on and it's all so much visual noise.
This all started with the Hong Kong directors in the late '80s/early '90s, but those guys could do fast cut editing and still have it all make sense. Someone needs to put all the current Hollywood guys in a room, and make them watch Swordsman and Drunken Master over and over until they freaking get it. Okay, I feel better now.
Back to Star Trek. I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about the Spock/Uhura relationship. It's sort of sweet, but wayyy unprofessional, and clearly put there to short circuit the Kirk/Spock slash. Plus, it does take Uhura from being the strong, super smart character she is at the start of the film to being just "the girlfriend" by the end. Which is a bit irksome. Sigh.
On the other hand, Simon Pegg is genius as Scotty. (My worry there was entirely unjustified.) John Cho is great as Sulu, and they worked the fencing in nicely. And Chekov! Chekov was freaking adorable! Though not as adorable as McCoy...
Karl Urban was completely perfect as McCoy. He was channeling DeForest Kelley, without mimicking him, and he did a genius job. And wow, if they were consciously trying to avoid the Kirk/Spock slash (and I think it likely they were) they definitely let the Kirk/McCoy slash slip under the wire. Given Urban and Chris Pine, I'm totally leaning toward the K/M pairing. And I've been a Kirk/Spock (or at least Kirk&Spock) gal practically from infancy. Hmmm.
Even without the Kirk/Spock vibe, though, I really like the new versions of my two favourite characters. And I didn't think I would. In photos, Chris Pine looks like a generic pretty boy, and I already pretty much hated Zachary Quinto from my limited viewing of Heroes. (I am, shall we say, not a fan of Heroes.) But they're both perfect. Pine is much rougher on the screen than he looks, and that grittier quality really helps him make the role of Kirk his own. And Quinto really was born to play Spock. He's got a lovely surface calm that you just know hides enormous depths of emotion. And they can both act.
I can't wait to see it again. I'm totally dragging the Sweetie to see it, kicking and screaming if I have to. (He is definitely not a Trekkie. Though he is completely a Spock/McCoy fan. Go figure.)
Not that I don't have issues.
There's the action scenes for a start. They're all handheld, wobbly, jumpy, poorly cut messes and they make me angry. I enjoy my action scenes. I like to savour them and enjoy the choreography and the mastery of the performers and the crew. If everything's cut into 20 frame bits, you can't tell what the heck is going on and it's all so much visual noise.
This all started with the Hong Kong directors in the late '80s/early '90s, but those guys could do fast cut editing and still have it all make sense. Someone needs to put all the current Hollywood guys in a room, and make them watch Swordsman and Drunken Master over and over until they freaking get it. Okay, I feel better now.
Back to Star Trek. I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about the Spock/Uhura relationship. It's sort of sweet, but wayyy unprofessional, and clearly put there to short circuit the Kirk/Spock slash. Plus, it does take Uhura from being the strong, super smart character she is at the start of the film to being just "the girlfriend" by the end. Which is a bit irksome. Sigh.
On the other hand, Simon Pegg is genius as Scotty. (My worry there was entirely unjustified.) John Cho is great as Sulu, and they worked the fencing in nicely. And Chekov! Chekov was freaking adorable! Though not as adorable as McCoy...
Karl Urban was completely perfect as McCoy. He was channeling DeForest Kelley, without mimicking him, and he did a genius job. And wow, if they were consciously trying to avoid the Kirk/Spock slash (and I think it likely they were) they definitely let the Kirk/McCoy slash slip under the wire. Given Urban and Chris Pine, I'm totally leaning toward the K/M pairing. And I've been a Kirk/Spock (or at least Kirk&Spock) gal practically from infancy. Hmmm.
Even without the Kirk/Spock vibe, though, I really like the new versions of my two favourite characters. And I didn't think I would. In photos, Chris Pine looks like a generic pretty boy, and I already pretty much hated Zachary Quinto from my limited viewing of Heroes. (I am, shall we say, not a fan of Heroes.) But they're both perfect. Pine is much rougher on the screen than he looks, and that grittier quality really helps him make the role of Kirk his own. And Quinto really was born to play Spock. He's got a lovely surface calm that you just know hides enormous depths of emotion. And they can both act.
I can't wait to see it again. I'm totally dragging the Sweetie to see it, kicking and screaming if I have to. (He is definitely not a Trekkie. Though he is completely a Spock/McCoy fan. Go figure.)
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-12 04:34 pm (UTC)I wasn't expecting the K/M at all, but it's definitely there. As are hints of the S/M.
I hope you enjoy it when you see it. I'm still riding a contact high from it a day later. It's not perfect, but it's fun!