Thursday, August 29, 2013

Movies: Star Trek: Into Darkness

I got spoiled on this movie right after theatrical release… one of those “top ten” lists where fans complain caught me by surprise. So I knew the identity of Benedict Cumberbatch going in. Amazon had the digital version for sale a month before the DVD is available, so I took the plunge.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Overall, I thought I would hate the whole thing, knowing what I already knew. I actually liked it, right up until the ending with its blatant re-write of a classic “old trek” moment. That whole sequence was, frankly, unnecessary. In old trek, Spock’s death was a segue into the next movie… it was required for the plot. Here, they just threw it in for gratuitous fan-pandering. It wasn’t needed. Kirk was alive again before the credits even rolled. Why the hell was it in there? And throwing in the shuttle from “that Mudd incident last month” to take down to Kronos… what was that? More old fan pandering.

If you’re going to reboot, reboot FFS.

I thought knowing Cumberbatch was Khan would ruin it for me, but (as Sherlock shows us) he plays the mad genius very well. I enjoyed his performance.

What I did NOT enjoy was JJ Abrams’ abundant use of lens flares. I see now why people complain about this. It was obnoxious. I don’t think there was a SINGLE SCENE where there wasn’t a lens flare. There were flares in space. There were flares off the equipment on the bridge. At one point there was a FLARE OFF McCOY’S HAIR. WTF? Someone needs to hold an intervention. Seriously. And when they clear out all the software, make sure they take away the lens flare filter in photoshop too. Could cause a relapse.

I’m buying the DVD of course. There’s just so little good Sci-Fi out there, and this is better than most. I just wish it was better than itself.

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