About Me
On Friday 14 June 2013
This Space Opera is also on my must watch film's list. I have this habit of categorizing things and this film is in the new genre section of the list. Others include sequels (Iron Man 3), new titles and animations.
What I like about this reboot of the original TV series is the smart writing; the way it utilizes the universe's fictional history. Like Superhero films, this particular film has a lot of room for me to study.
The reason why Star Trek is in the new genre section of the list is because I am not fond of Science Fiction (Specifically Space Opera); the spaceship dogfights just doesn't stimulates me as much. Heck, I watched the first installment of this reboot on TV. But I am aware of it's huge fandom, both the film and genre, thus leading me to take some note.
First things first, I just have to start with the villain. It is due to a film that I watched two days before this; Fast and Furious 6 was just bad for me. It was spontaneous and I thought 'why not' since I don't do that much often. It is that typical action-popcorn flick that I don't go for in theaters (Making me uninterested in writing a review for it) and I have highlight this one particular point to make you understand my next point regarding Star Trek. I hate the villain. The villain in FF 6 was so forced; trying to make him this bad ass, cold fella who's somehow always 3 steps ahead of the heroes (For the sake of the plot of course). It gives me this idea that people in Hollywood are desperate to make a bad ass villain like the joker because it sells. Whether it's true or not, it was just too forced. That what I was expecting from the villain in Star Trek into Darkness; another planner as the villain. Thank god, he wasn't! (Hence, why I chose the poster with him being highlighted)
Khan, which is an awesome name, is the villain in this year's Star Trek; a re-imagine character from the TV series. He wasn't a cliche' villain, he--maybe the best word to describe him is 'perfect'; specifically perfect in the universe. Khan, at first, simply wanted the safety of his captured crew which has a reflection of a small part of what the story revolves around; a captain's responsibility for his crew. It really hit me when he cries in his prison...man, that was a good scene. Another aspect that I see is that the film, technically, have two villains; the Fleet Admiral Alexander Marcus. It's almost like watching a superhero film because it's the genre that highlights two antagonists very well. The existence of the Admiral helps making Khan's presence more of a multi layered character rather than just a one dimensional villain.
Another point is Spock and Kirk's chemistry. It really is the center of the film and I can see why the two are very popular in pop culture. I, especially, preferred Spock because the idea of him being an alien that thinks emotions are irrelevant is shown very well. It's not easy to do write such things, the slightest error in the dialogue might diminished that idea. And his character development of accepting his human half; of being afraid of death is just so awesome. What about Kirk's death? It was used well but it was very cliche'. Perhaps, that's the only big flaw of the film to me. Kirk's death was too cliche'.
On a side note, I am aware that each of the crew has a place in the fan's hearts. As a series, the opportunity of highlighting each of them are wider compared to movies. Interestingly, Nyota Uhura, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Scotty and the rest were presented well; each having their own strong amount of screen time. The Klingons made an appearance...very interesting. I'm not a Trekkie. I knew this pop culture phenomenon through the documentary. Through that, I knew that the series produced and actual alien language that now has been used to translate a few books. So, yeah, it was interesting to see them. We even get to here Zoe Saldana speak some Klingon.
In summary, the film is an okay introduction for me to the Space Opera genre and I hope I get to write some good science fiction story in the future. I give Star Trek Into Darkness a 3/5 for a damn smart writing.
