Review: Star Trek Into Darkness
May. 17th, 2013 11:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowfireflameWedneday night at Star Trek Into Darkness premiere (for me, anyway, grr):
Benedict Cumberbatch: *appears onscreen looking SMOKING HOT*
Me: *internally screaming*
Fiancé: HOMG!!!!!! *spills huge cup of water all over himself*
Fiancé: *sits in the air-conditioned theater soaking wet and freezing for entire movie*
Thanks, Benedict Cumberbatch!!
I’m not a Trekkie, so I’ll mostly just talk about Benedict’s performance, which is all I really care about anyway.
The movie was lots of fun. Almost too much fun—certainly too much action for me. There’s being breathless with excitement and then there’s really desperately needing to take a breath in order to get some oxygen.
The relationship between Kirk and Spock continues to be incredibly slashy (with an intriguing OT3 moment including Uhura), and I enjoyed that each of the returning cast members gets his or her moment in the sun’s reflected flares (with Simon Pegg’s Scotty taking the comedy gold every time). The females in the movie could definitely have been given more to do than talk about their feelings (though Uhura does get to speak Klingon).
Benedict Cumberbatch—and I say this as someone who has spent untold hours watching this guy’s interviews and things—is literally unrecognizable as the villain John Harrison. He seems to tower over Kirk and Spock both physically and mentally, and he must have been paying attention to Andrew Scott’s performance as Moriarty because Benedict is like a cobra here, constantly coiled and ready to strike. His eyes seem paler and reptilian, and the theater actually felt colder and hushed when he was speaking, like nobody in the audience dared to breathe because he was so freaking scary. Incredibly charismatic. Too bad he’s...hardly given anything to do.
I wanted a movie just of him and his complex backstory, but instead he hardly got to speak at all. I mean, I’m sure Benedict had fun doing all the physical work, the jumps and fight scenes and so on, but I wanted more more more; I wanted to know everything about him and how he became this way and what he was like before (and the snippets we got were so interesting that I don’t think it would have dulled his character to get more of him). I just wanted him to have more screentime, I guess, but it was all used up in the relentless and basically pointless action scenes instead. And Benedict has such a knack for, well, everything, but especially showing what it’s like to be in pain (good lord, watch Third Star). But as his character in Star Trek Into Darkness is basically a super-soldier who can take a beating without flinching, there was no need of that incredible ability he has, despite Harrison getting repeatedly pummeled and pounded upon, which was such a waste.
Final verdict: definitely worth seeing for all the actors, but especially Benedict. Now if the director would just have stood back a little and let them breathe! That said, I very much look forward to seeing this again so that I can focus on Benedict’s performance.
EDIT May 19—On my second viewing (in 2D; my first viewing was in IMAX 3D), I enjoyed the movie more, as I was more prepared to accept it as just a fun romp. The action was easier to follow, the jokes were still amusing (except Bones; he was less funny the second time around), and the plot seemed more coherent. Still good fun. Also, there’s a scene in which Benedict sets course for a place and then has to confirm the coordinates, and damn, the way he says Confirm is basically the hottest thing ever. My eyes rolled back a little. :)
Slightly guilty admission: I think I am actually getting more enjoyment out of the various interviews with Benedict and the rest of the cast (particularly Simon Pegg) than I did out of the movie itself. I feel like I’ve learned so much about Benedict as a person because there are just so many interviews and people talking about him, too. The story of the neutron cream prank had me in stitches. I’ve basically been living on the great dudeufugly’s tumblr, as she is wonderful about reblogging pretty much everything.
Some interviews of note:
—the long one in Chinese in which he gets to discuss Sherlock, Hawking, and Van Gogh in addition to John Harrison
—this one in which Simon Pegg and Alice Eve discuss why they really think the ladies go for Benedict (so funny)
—the Google play one in which Benedict imitates that amusing gif of him, Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto, and Chris Pine in a car
—the supremely awkward David Letterman interview that starts off with Letterman not knowing who he is and ending basically Cumberbatched
—the Graham Norton Show one with Chris Pine and Kim Cattrall (Benedict goes into the audience to hug fans!)
—Simon Pegg with Jimmy Kimmel giving his account of the neutron cream incident
—this short outtake from an interview where Benedict makes a very funny face. There’s something hypnotic about this one; I’ve watched it repeatedly, and it’s always adorable!
There are a ton of others, so you can check dudeufugly’s tumblr if you want more. :)
[SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS; please be careful!]
Benedict Cumberbatch: *appears onscreen looking SMOKING HOT*
Me: *internally screaming*
Fiancé: HOMG!!!!!! *spills huge cup of water all over himself*
Fiancé: *sits in the air-conditioned theater soaking wet and freezing for entire movie*
Thanks, Benedict Cumberbatch!!
I’m not a Trekkie, so I’ll mostly just talk about Benedict’s performance, which is all I really care about anyway.
The movie was lots of fun. Almost too much fun—certainly too much action for me. There’s being breathless with excitement and then there’s really desperately needing to take a breath in order to get some oxygen.
The relationship between Kirk and Spock continues to be incredibly slashy (with an intriguing OT3 moment including Uhura), and I enjoyed that each of the returning cast members gets his or her moment in the sun’s reflected flares (with Simon Pegg’s Scotty taking the comedy gold every time). The females in the movie could definitely have been given more to do than talk about their feelings (though Uhura does get to speak Klingon).
Benedict Cumberbatch—and I say this as someone who has spent untold hours watching this guy’s interviews and things—is literally unrecognizable as the villain John Harrison. He seems to tower over Kirk and Spock both physically and mentally, and he must have been paying attention to Andrew Scott’s performance as Moriarty because Benedict is like a cobra here, constantly coiled and ready to strike. His eyes seem paler and reptilian, and the theater actually felt colder and hushed when he was speaking, like nobody in the audience dared to breathe because he was so freaking scary. Incredibly charismatic. Too bad he’s...hardly given anything to do.
I wanted a movie just of him and his complex backstory, but instead he hardly got to speak at all. I mean, I’m sure Benedict had fun doing all the physical work, the jumps and fight scenes and so on, but I wanted more more more; I wanted to know everything about him and how he became this way and what he was like before (and the snippets we got were so interesting that I don’t think it would have dulled his character to get more of him). I just wanted him to have more screentime, I guess, but it was all used up in the relentless and basically pointless action scenes instead. And Benedict has such a knack for, well, everything, but especially showing what it’s like to be in pain (good lord, watch Third Star). But as his character in Star Trek Into Darkness is basically a super-soldier who can take a beating without flinching, there was no need of that incredible ability he has, despite Harrison getting repeatedly pummeled and pounded upon, which was such a waste.
Final verdict: definitely worth seeing for all the actors, but especially Benedict. Now if the director would just have stood back a little and let them breathe! That said, I very much look forward to seeing this again so that I can focus on Benedict’s performance.
EDIT May 19—On my second viewing (in 2D; my first viewing was in IMAX 3D), I enjoyed the movie more, as I was more prepared to accept it as just a fun romp. The action was easier to follow, the jokes were still amusing (except Bones; he was less funny the second time around), and the plot seemed more coherent. Still good fun. Also, there’s a scene in which Benedict sets course for a place and then has to confirm the coordinates, and damn, the way he says Confirm is basically the hottest thing ever. My eyes rolled back a little. :)
Slightly guilty admission: I think I am actually getting more enjoyment out of the various interviews with Benedict and the rest of the cast (particularly Simon Pegg) than I did out of the movie itself. I feel like I’ve learned so much about Benedict as a person because there are just so many interviews and people talking about him, too. The story of the neutron cream prank had me in stitches. I’ve basically been living on the great dudeufugly’s tumblr, as she is wonderful about reblogging pretty much everything.
Some interviews of note:
—the long one in Chinese in which he gets to discuss Sherlock, Hawking, and Van Gogh in addition to John Harrison
—this one in which Simon Pegg and Alice Eve discuss why they really think the ladies go for Benedict (so funny)
—the Google play one in which Benedict imitates that amusing gif of him, Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto, and Chris Pine in a car
—the supremely awkward David Letterman interview that starts off with Letterman not knowing who he is and ending basically Cumberbatched
—the Graham Norton Show one with Chris Pine and Kim Cattrall (Benedict goes into the audience to hug fans!)
—Simon Pegg with Jimmy Kimmel giving his account of the neutron cream incident
—this short outtake from an interview where Benedict makes a very funny face. There’s something hypnotic about this one; I’ve watched it repeatedly, and it’s always adorable!
There are a ton of others, so you can check dudeufugly’s tumblr if you want more. :)
[SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS; please be careful!]
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no subject
Date: 2013-05-18 06:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2013-05-18 09:21 am (UTC)Also, I think that Abrams relied too much on the big reveal of KHAN (watch that scene again, it's all about that moment), which didn't work for me at all. Because I'm not a Trekkie, I know that Khan is the ultimate ST villain but I don't care, so for a non-fan it was a pointless moment of "Yeah, and? So you used a fake name? Why should I care?" *shrugs*
Too much action, definitely. The movie didn't grab me emotionally at all, because all the quiet scenes felt crammed into those huge action set pieces, like "Shit, we need a bit of emoting now! Uhm, reference to old ST movie, but with reversed roles!". I enjoyed the movie while watching it, but I'm getting really irritated but some of the issues I have with it. And I compare it to Iron Man 3, which handled the action/emotion balance so much better.
But I loved Zoe Saldana (I always do), and she at least did get a bit of fighting here (compared to Alice Eve, who got nothing besides a wholly pointless underwear scene); Simon Pegg was huge fun, Karl Urban was suitably pissed off. *g* Quinto gets Spock very right, but I guess the movie didn't really manage to convey that epic friendship between him and Kirk for me. But I don't think that's the actors' fault.
And yes, most of the interviews were great!
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Date: 2013-05-20 04:08 am (UTC)This was my main complaint, also. I also saw it twice, and I can CONFIRM that his CONFIRM is the last word he speaks in the film. The last 20 minutes are all shouting and grunting and snarling-- what a waste!
So yeah, a fun romp, but I couldn't help being disappointed they didn't do a rise of a real character, show Harrison's development and the plot at ST HQ, which just gets dropped.
(no subject)
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Date: 2013-05-28 06:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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