Well, this isn't typical of my usual posts, but I was fairly impressed by this film, so I'll give you the rundown, without giving any spoilers.
If director J.J. Abrams has taught us anything it is to expect the unexpected. Sometimes that's good, and sometimes it's bad...very bad. While I personally enjoyed Cloverfield, some of Mr. Abrams other projects, not so much to my liking. I like complexity, but there is a fine line between being complicated and becoming mired in confusion.
One the main things that the New Star Trek film was designed to do was to create a "jump on" point for creating new fans of the franchise. Being a former comic book writer myself (Universal Images "Evolutionaries") I am all too familiar with the jump on lingo and usually it spells complete character meltdown for long time fans. I am generally speaking not a fan at all of jump on storylines, as the characters usually end up being the characters in name and look only (and sometimes not even that much). A perfect example was the three X-Men films, which while loved by the public, were personally hated by yours truly.
Not so with the newest Star Trek film. It was exciting, very well paced, the characters stayed in tune with the classics but also were given a contemporary makeover. I wasn't aware of a particular orginal cast member's role in the film, so I won't give it away here, but suffice to say it's allows for everything to make sense. One of the few honestly emoted feel good moments in cinema in quite sometime. Almost like seeing an old friend suddenly out of the blue. Just enough to catch up with and make the world seem right and remind you of all the good stuff, but not so intrusive that it crashes you back to reality.
I left this movie literally giddy. Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not prone to giddiness either. lol And while I definitely wouldn't classify myself as a Trekkie or Trekker, I was a fan of the original series, the film franchise, and the Next Generation series. I even owned a few of the action figures when I was younger. Hell, I still own the X-Men/Star Trek crossover comic book series (yes they did make that lol). So I am a fan, though I didn't realize how much of a fan until this film. I have a feeling alot of people are going to feel that way.
One thing is that I'm sure there will be detractors. The film really lacked alot of the social commentary that was so prevelent in the original series. Which if you weren't aware, was truly groundbreaking in it's portrayal of women and minorities. Ahead of it's time by light years. And here we are, in the future for all intents and purposes, an ever increasing elightened and intelligent society, with a progressive African American president, it seems that the social significance of Star Trek can be named as a factor in showing the world the possibility of us all working together for a common good of humanity.
This Star Trek film might be missing the overt social message, but at the same time I think it speaks alot for modern society that the need for such dialogue is better suited to see this idealogy in action. And speaking of action, this film is definitely an action film. It speaks of friendship and loss, while not getting too preachy. It illustrates the struggle that many of us have with balancing our intellect with our emotions. Something even the most base of us have to deal with. And ultimately, it sends you home with a feeling of elation, nostalgia, and, as weird as this sounds, hope.
In a world where we are bombarded with negative news, wars, economic woes, and worry, it's nice to finally sit back and get absorbed into a film where you can be truly and completely entertained for awhile and not feel like you've been talked at.
I highly recommend this film. I also hope that it will encourage people to go back and watch the original series and absorb Mr. Roddenberry's powerful message. The best we can do is continue to implement the ideas of hope, love, community, and goodwill towards all creatures here on Earth and, perhaps, amongst the stars.
Live Long and Prosper,
W. Dwight Hatfield
Marketing Director
SurvTech Solutions Surveying & Mapping
www.survtechsolutions.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment