I think
the proper metaphor for this film is some slight of hand card trick. Very
slick, with lots of movement, that ultimately doesn’t go far. These reshuffled
stories, stories that acknowledge in some post-modern sense that they are
stories already told but mean to realign the pieces in a new fashion, hit a
deeper nerve than New stories. Expectations are met, challenged, and played
with. I’m sitting there feeling like the story is talking to me. But Star Trek
just teases at a reshuffle. Big changes are either killed early by other big
changes or the “change” remains functionally the same as before. It’s all talk.
Early on, Kirk is stripped of his captaincy . All the possibilities that bloom
are beautiful to consider. I want to see how Kirk gets his ship back, how he
grows under Pike (who is just one of the coolest guys in the film), what the
rest of the crew do in his absence. Yet functionally, Spock still calls him
captain, he still gives orders, and another big change comes through that
knocks this one apart. The big movement in the beginning is a referendum on
Kirk’s “go with your gut” style but before that can even get a hold everything
switches and Kirk’s “just go” method is the only thing to save everyone.
Spock.
He’s broken here. Beaten from one end of the film to the other by every major
character, it’s no small wonder. He comes off as arrogant not confident, dismissive
not calm, and the puzzlement he’s always had about emotions balloons into a
willful ignorance. The Spock that approached problems from inventive new
angles? Now he’s simply an asshole. His absence rips out a good chunk of the
heart and humor of the series. Honestly, I spent so much time waiting for him
to come around I feel I owe the film a second watch to see if I missed
anything.
Cumberbatch,
the main bad, is horrible. Every line he takes way over-the-top. And every
ounce of that bad acting he channels through his mouth, forgetting the rest of
his face, and contorting his mouth strangely for each word. His character’s
name and associated history carry more weight than any action he takes. Meant
to convey an unstoppable threat, it’s up to the rest of the cast talking about
how serious he is to make the reputation stick. It doesn’t help he still looks
and moves like Sherlock.
I also
have to subtract substantially for an ending that anybody, anybody, is going to see coming a mile and a half away. The moving
words are drowned out by the audience screaming “get on with it”.
Action-wise
it feels very samey. Stunts repeat from the previous film or just seem similar
conceptually to each other. How many times is Kirk going to fit one fast moving
object into a small section of another, larger, one? Credit to the computer-effects wizards for
making the same tricks feel a little fresh. It’s not boring, just
disappointing.
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