After screenings of scenes from the new Star Trek in New York and Los Angeles, another round of online reviews has cropped up. As before, this post is spoiler free, but be warned that clicking on any of the links below will lead to spoilers for major plot points in the film.
Wired's John Scott Lewinski writes:
The verdict? While four five-minute clips do not a movie make, it's safe to say that Abrams' Trek will be younger, brighter, busier and more frenetically paced than any previous incarnation. The performances are edgier and louder, but not better. The effects are spectacular and executed on a scale never attempted by any Trek film. And, while connected to Gene Roddenberry's creation, this film is deliberately and unquestionably built in its own universe…
In the end, is it Star Trek? That depends on how you answer one question: Was Star Trek entertaining because of the exploits and interactions of characters of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and company, or did you enjoy those characters because of the veteran actors playing them? If it's the latter, Abrams' kids can't pull off that sort of effortless chemistry and gravitas. They're too busy running around and yelling. If it's the former, Kirk is still a man of action, Spock is still brilliant and McCoy and Scotty are still effective comic relief. Abrams' vision is as much Star Trek as your eye will let it be.
You can find his full review of the scenes here:
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/11/abrams-previews.html
Comingsoon.net's Edward Douglas writes:
He certainly has kept most of the characters and traditions of the original "Trek" series and movies intact, using that history to establish the characters, their relationships and the technology. Frankly, I was amazed by how much footage Abrams showed at this presentation, because it really sets up the entire story of what the movie is about, clearly a new beginning for the franchise similar to Batman Begins or Casino Royale, which may be exactly what the "Trek" series needs right now. Besides Yelchin's annoying accent, the cast really seems up to the task of reinventing and redefining the crew of the Starship Enterprise and if the action and FX we saw in this footage is anything to go by, this is going to be the biggest "Star Trek" movie yet.
You can read his entire review of the scenes here:
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/startreknews.php?id=50627
UGO.com's Jordan Hoffman writes:
Star Trek Is Dead. Long Live Star Trek!
There are some things we have to accept. J.J. Abrams’ version of Star Trek isn’t a an update with some mild tweaks. It is a full on reboot. A retcon. It exists in a parallel universe to the Kirk and Spock (and Picard and Sisko and Janeway) that makes up The Star Trek canon. This is a new deal…
…It’s this or nothing. And based on the twenty minutes or so of what I saw, this has the potential to be something awesome. A terrific new franchise called Star Trek that has trace elements of another franchise called Star Trek - a future world officially in our history. I saw four scenes. Two were terrific. One was holy crap I don’t believe life can get so good effing fantastic. And another was a thorough and malicious ass-raping of my childhood…
…Frankly, a sequence like this forgives the problems of the early act - and even makes me forget what a nudnick Mr. Abrams is.
You can read his entire review here:
http://movieblog.ugo.com/index.php/movieblog/more/
star_trek_twenty_minutes_of_scenes_screened_in_new_york/
Scifi.com's Patrick Lee writes:
There is much to like in Abrams' new take on Star Trek. But we'll have to see the entire film to judge whether it successfully reboots the franchise. In particular, the franchise's heart and soul--the interactions among the key characters--is only hinted at in the preliminary footage. Stay tuned.
You can read his entire review here
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=62312
Trekmovie.com's Anthony Pascale's reaction is the most interesting one I've read yet:
This Star Trek movie is going to be unlike any before. That notion is exciting and a bit terrifying for the true believers. As fans we are familiar with hundreds of hours of a saga spanning centuries and the notion of a team team coming in with a new look and sensibility is not always easy to accept. From seeing this footage it is clear that this is made by people who respect Star Trek, but they are also clearly trying to make a new kind of Star Trek that appeals to a larger community. This means that at one moment you wont believe your eyes when you see an amazing shot of the Enterprise in action, then you may have a tear in your eyes as you see the new young Kirk grow into the role of Captain and interact with the original Spock, and yet in the the next minute you may roll your eyes at some over the top cartoonish gag or overtly sexy moment.
For me it is always about the characters and (mostly) that is working and working well. I am a little concerned about Quinto’s Spock, but it could be that I just haven’t seen enough. I will have to live with the over-the top accent with Chekov. But all in all, I am very excited to welcome this cast into my Trek family, especially Chris Pine’s new Kirk.
I have no doubt that many Trek fans are having trouble embracing the amount of change this film represents for the franchise. But I would argue that Star Trek has no choice but to change. For the last decade, the franchise has been in decline. Creatively it has been running out of steam (with some notable bright spots along the way), and the popularity has been in decline. It is surprising that just a few years after the financial failures of Nemesis and Enterprise, Paramount took the risk of making a big Trek film, and even more surprising that it didn’t go down the full reboot road like the Batman and Bond franchises. Abrams and his team are trying to thread the needle of creating a film that works for the Trek fans and works for a general audience. From what I have seen, it appears that they may have pulled it off.
You can find his entire review of the scenes (including major spoilers) here:
http://trekmovie.com/2008/11/20/anthonys-thoughts-on-the-la-star-trek-movie-presentation/
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