The 2009 movie "Star Trek" was a great and successful one, that breathed new life into the franchise, by getting J.J. Abrams involved and make a fresh start with the series. Now that the 'freshness' of it is gone, does this movie still impress as a a science-fiction movie and sequel? Sure it does!
In my opinion, the Star Trek movies never really have been very spectacular ones to watch and they often picked a somewhat philosophical approach to things and rather than resolving things by action, they preferred talking and negotiating with their adversaries, who at times weren't even visible villains for the movie. Nothing wrong with that but in most cases it also resulted in some very dry and ultimately also lackluster, boring movies. That's all something you just can't say about the new generation of Star Trek movies. They are fast going ones, with plenty of action and even space battles, while at the same time still managing to give you an engaging story, with three dimensional characters and some real emotions to it.
Not that the story ever gets too complex though. As a matter of fact, this movie features a pretty straightforward story in it, without all that many side-plots or other distractions. It makes the movie perfectly understandable to follow for its mainstream audience, while giving the more hardened science-fiction lovers and Star Trek fans in particular still plenty to digest (especially when you are familiar with "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" of course) and feel impressed with, story-wise. There are still plenty of things going on beneath the surface of the movie but it never gets in the way of its main story, or causes the movie to slow down. It even has some unexpected twists and turns to it, without going overboard with it.
Thing that the story also does particularly well is to give the movie a sort of adventurous vibe to it. Afer all, space travels are one big adventure, in which people head into the unknown, facing difficulties and unexpected things they never imagined to come across. This movie perfectly captures that feeling and besides also does a great job building up toward some great moments. The action and tension makes you want to hold your breath at times, even though you of course also know that everything is eventually going to end up alright. After all, this is of course still a prequel to the very first Star Trek movie and TV-series, so you just know that nothing serious could ever happen to Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Uhura, or any of the other main Enterprise crew members. But the fact that the movie still manages to make you feel nervous and insecure about any of their faiths should tell you something about the effective way it's buildup and handles all of its action and drama.
Still the main thing that this movie has going for it is its action. It's literally action packed, with not just space battles or lasers but also explosions and some good old fashioned fistfights, that always has been a big part of the Star Trek franchise. It all makes this a perfectly entertaining science-fiction action adventure.
It's of course also a great movie to look at, with its wonderful special effects and just overall visual style. I love the new style and atmosphere of these new Star Trek movies. The sets, costumes, it all looks great and truly manages to create a world and universe of its own, that you believe in and want to be a part of.
I'm still also impressed with Chris Pine's performance of Captain Kirk. Not just necessarily because of his acting abilities but the way he perfectly, yet subtitle, mimics William Shatner's earlier performance of the same character. I also feel that all of the other Enterprise crew members finally get to do some more and show what they are capable of. This always has been a big complaint of mine about most of the Star Trek movies. I feel that this movie has some pretty evenly divided screen time and isn't just all about Kirk and/or Spock. Benedict Cumberbatch is also a great addition to the cast and a wonderful 'villain' for this movie!
it is what it is though; some specular and perfectly entertaining science-fiction, action and adventure. It does all the things that it needs to do and it does it well but that is no reason to overpraise this movie as well. It's one that is going to keep the series thankfully going and probably for a very long time as well but not one that is going to make any lists of best- or most innovative genre movies of all time.
After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana and others
After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana and others
After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana and others
After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana and others
After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana and others
After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana and others
It's funny how I can still see and understand how people could not like
this movie but yet I myself was absolutely taken by it and pretty much
enjoyed every minute of it.
Perhaps I'm simply glad to see the direction animated movies continue
to take. They are not only improving technically and visually but they
also continue to take its audiences seriously. They manage to come up
with creative stuff over and over again but more importantly, they
successfully cater their movies toward all age groups and demographics.
I like it that more and more animated movies can be enjoyed just as
much by adults as kids and the movies are not longer as childish, by
featuring all types of cuddly characters and safe jokes and humor.
And this movie also definitely features some special, non-fluffy,
characters. It features all kinds of well known holiday related
characters and turns them into sort of action heroes, with each their
own powers and specialties. It's an interesting and original take on
the holiday related type of movies, that always get released around
this time of the year. It still features the same sort of holiday
spirit and messages in it but it gets delivered in a far more original-
and therefore also more effective, kind of way.
Also the comedy definitely feels more 'adult' and is mostly visually
orientated. The movie besides isn't afraid to become a bit of a dark
one at times, which perhaps still was the biggest surprise of this
movie.
I do believe though that because of its storytelling, some people are
just not going to like this movie all that much. It's incredibly fast
paced and doesn't waste any time on anything. The movie never really
slows down and things get explained as the movie goes along. It took a
while to get accustomed to but perhaps it's just something you have to
surrender yourself to and just go along with the ride. If you are
looking for more detailed storytelling or an animated movie with
different plot lines, this is simply not the movie for you to watch.
Thing you could also say though is that because of its storytelling,
the movie features far less distractions in it. Perhaps the story feels
simplistic to some but to others it might come across as simply a more
focused one. I for one definitely liked it that the movie didn't
featured any of formulaic distractions in it, such as a love-story or a
funny sidekick.
Thing I also really liked was the musical score, that surprisingly
enough got composed by Alexandre Desplat. Not really the kind of
composer you would expect a good and uplifting action score from but
with this movie he really delivers. It sounded more like a John Powell
type of score, who normally is also the guy that always does the music
for DreamWorks' animated movies but probably had no time or interest
for this one.
A great looking and original, animated holiday movie, that I wouldn't
mind seeing again.
When the evil spirit Pitch launches an assault on Earth, the Immortal Guardians team up to protect the innocence of children all around the world. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Peter Ramsey
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Alec Baldwin, Isla Fisher and others
