Last night, I...
May. 21st, 2013 09:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownesssaw Star Trek: Into Darkness
I thought it was a little more lunkheaded than it needed to be, really.
Kirk started asking ‘why’ and then stopped, but I never did. I felt as if they had the idea of reversing who ‘died’ and who was left to grieve and built the movie up from there. But it seemed as if there were nuances and explanations missing for Khan’s motivation (and this is the writing that’s to blame, not Cumberbatch, who I thought made much more of an impression than Bana, and if your villain is going to monologue, at least have him be played by an actor with a resonating voice). And things like Kronos and Earth’s lack of half-decent planetary defence systems – come off it. And why did the characters trust Carol? Specifically, Spock, seeing as she’d faked her way there and all he had was her version of events? I know why the audience was meant to trust her, but...
And let us not speak of the underwear scene which was totally unnecessary after seeing the two women with tails.
I loved Spock mostly, though. So did the film. If you stayed for the ending, the pause for the right note for Zachary Quinto says it all. And hey, Jim was spending most of the movie being a jerk and the film was saying ‘no, look, his father figure believes in him, he’s got a gut feeling, it’ll work’ – yeah, whatever, that arc’s played out, and his lesson in humility was desultory for me.
I loved Uhura and that she demanded and got her place in Spock working out his relationships with humanity (inwardly and with the crew etc). Of course, that does push out Bones – mmm, Karl Urban, who I thought was note perfect. I also enjoyed Pegg's Scott (although I was sad for that security officer on the dreadnought who was only doing his job and got spaced for it) and Sulu in the Chair, but most of the rest of the fanservice didn’t connect with me emotionally.
I’d managed not to get spoiled much - probably the only person in the world - so I had believed, going in, that John Harrison was just John Harrison. And then he was Khan. And I realised I really didn't remember enough about the TOS episode that introduced him or the film'. In one sense, I thought that the fact that they called him a criminal, not a terrorist was interesting, but even so, they didn’t really grapple with the morality of what was going on beyond Kirk having to listen to his conscience/Spock - a bit perfunctory. The destruction of Vulcan still had reprucussions, but an attack on Starfleet was boiled down to Pike’s death??? As if the people of San Fran would just be walking around, or that Earth, or, for that matter, the top secret spaceport would be so unguarded.
I knew Alice Eve was in it, but not who she’d be playing – did the exchange about Christine Chapel break several shippy hearts? – but sussed who she’d be turning up as soon as I heard tell of Admiral Marcus. I also didn’t know there’d be Klingons (I hope JJ takes the writers off to do whatever he likes with Star Wars, a franchise that means little to me, and if there is a third movie about fighting the Klingons, someone else handles it.) That was a pleasant surprise and I thought they looked cool – but I didn’t really track why Harrison-Kahn went there – and then there were no reprucussions to the fact that he killed loads of them, which was bizarre.
I still like the look – I liked the caps. All the alien crew, sadly, felt decorative. I watched it in 2D – a bit murky at times. I wonder if that was because of the 3D? The opening squence, was a nice nod to how often they ignored the prime directive? My fave bits were character driven, and made me think I’d rather a TV series that couldn't afford to be so spectacle driven.
Then I got home in time to catch Revenge 2.20 Engagement
At least Charlotte being pregnant explains the otherwise inexplicable behaviour – more so than missing Amanda or acting out, again. It’s sort of delicious, between the revelation about Victoria’s teenage pregnancy and after all the babysitting, although the offspring of Charlotte and Declan is something I’ve shied away from thinking about.
Meanwhile, it was amusing to see both Daniel and Emily remember they were meant to care about her.
Oh Jack, you’re so not in Victoria’s class in the art of manipulation.
In the fight between Aiden and Takeda, I was on the latter’s side. I still hold out hope that Aiden will be gone (dead) by the end of the season. I thought Takeda vs. The Initiative was far more interesting than Aiden/Emily and Aiden trying to get her off the path of revenge (which I am not opposed to in principle, except it’s futile until the show comes to an end, and I’m more interested in Nolan or Jack or even the Graysons influencing her in that way, plus that he was making decisions for her without talking to her really stuck in my craw). I hope Takeda has left an instruction video of the ‘If you’re seeing this, your idiot Aiden killed me’ variety.
Aiden doing a bit of a Buffy was also hugely irritating.
Otherwise, I was confused by the way that Victoria, Conrad and Daniel were talking about Nolcorp and what Nolan had been asked to do - it didn't track with the last episode for me. I also wonder whether Victoria will decide to let being governor rid her of Conrad. Yes, Emily isn’t in love with Daniel, at best, she cares about him more than she expected to, and Aiden has no idea, really, about Jack. (Loved the 'it's always some day' scene.) I’d feel sorry for Daniel, but he’s embraced the obnoxiousness this year and keeps veering from feeling guilty to not.
So, it’s all gone dark and the Initiative is up to its foul deeds, except the show’s killed off all its faces, which might be problematic. I hope Emily (with more of Nolan’s help than Aidan) does something about it, obviously. Not necessarily what Takeda would have wanted.
I thought it was a little more lunkheaded than it needed to be, really.
Kirk started asking ‘why’ and then stopped, but I never did. I felt as if they had the idea of reversing who ‘died’ and who was left to grieve and built the movie up from there. But it seemed as if there were nuances and explanations missing for Khan’s motivation (and this is the writing that’s to blame, not Cumberbatch, who I thought made much more of an impression than Bana, and if your villain is going to monologue, at least have him be played by an actor with a resonating voice). And things like Kronos and Earth’s lack of half-decent planetary defence systems – come off it. And why did the characters trust Carol? Specifically, Spock, seeing as she’d faked her way there and all he had was her version of events? I know why the audience was meant to trust her, but...
And let us not speak of the underwear scene which was totally unnecessary after seeing the two women with tails.
I loved Spock mostly, though. So did the film. If you stayed for the ending, the pause for the right note for Zachary Quinto says it all. And hey, Jim was spending most of the movie being a jerk and the film was saying ‘no, look, his father figure believes in him, he’s got a gut feeling, it’ll work’ – yeah, whatever, that arc’s played out, and his lesson in humility was desultory for me.
I loved Uhura and that she demanded and got her place in Spock working out his relationships with humanity (inwardly and with the crew etc). Of course, that does push out Bones – mmm, Karl Urban, who I thought was note perfect. I also enjoyed Pegg's Scott (although I was sad for that security officer on the dreadnought who was only doing his job and got spaced for it) and Sulu in the Chair, but most of the rest of the fanservice didn’t connect with me emotionally.
I’d managed not to get spoiled much - probably the only person in the world - so I had believed, going in, that John Harrison was just John Harrison. And then he was Khan. And I realised I really didn't remember enough about the TOS episode that introduced him or the film'. In one sense, I thought that the fact that they called him a criminal, not a terrorist was interesting, but even so, they didn’t really grapple with the morality of what was going on beyond Kirk having to listen to his conscience/Spock - a bit perfunctory. The destruction of Vulcan still had reprucussions, but an attack on Starfleet was boiled down to Pike’s death??? As if the people of San Fran would just be walking around, or that Earth, or, for that matter, the top secret spaceport would be so unguarded.
I knew Alice Eve was in it, but not who she’d be playing – did the exchange about Christine Chapel break several shippy hearts? – but sussed who she’d be turning up as soon as I heard tell of Admiral Marcus. I also didn’t know there’d be Klingons (I hope JJ takes the writers off to do whatever he likes with Star Wars, a franchise that means little to me, and if there is a third movie about fighting the Klingons, someone else handles it.) That was a pleasant surprise and I thought they looked cool – but I didn’t really track why Harrison-Kahn went there – and then there were no reprucussions to the fact that he killed loads of them, which was bizarre.
I still like the look – I liked the caps. All the alien crew, sadly, felt decorative. I watched it in 2D – a bit murky at times. I wonder if that was because of the 3D? The opening squence, was a nice nod to how often they ignored the prime directive? My fave bits were character driven, and made me think I’d rather a TV series that couldn't afford to be so spectacle driven.
Then I got home in time to catch Revenge 2.20 Engagement
At least Charlotte being pregnant explains the otherwise inexplicable behaviour – more so than missing Amanda or acting out, again. It’s sort of delicious, between the revelation about Victoria’s teenage pregnancy and after all the babysitting, although the offspring of Charlotte and Declan is something I’ve shied away from thinking about.
Meanwhile, it was amusing to see both Daniel and Emily remember they were meant to care about her.
Oh Jack, you’re so not in Victoria’s class in the art of manipulation.
In the fight between Aiden and Takeda, I was on the latter’s side. I still hold out hope that Aiden will be gone (dead) by the end of the season. I thought Takeda vs. The Initiative was far more interesting than Aiden/Emily and Aiden trying to get her off the path of revenge (which I am not opposed to in principle, except it’s futile until the show comes to an end, and I’m more interested in Nolan or Jack or even the Graysons influencing her in that way, plus that he was making decisions for her without talking to her really stuck in my craw). I hope Takeda has left an instruction video of the ‘If you’re seeing this, your idiot Aiden killed me’ variety.
Aiden doing a bit of a Buffy was also hugely irritating.
Otherwise, I was confused by the way that Victoria, Conrad and Daniel were talking about Nolcorp and what Nolan had been asked to do - it didn't track with the last episode for me. I also wonder whether Victoria will decide to let being governor rid her of Conrad. Yes, Emily isn’t in love with Daniel, at best, she cares about him more than she expected to, and Aiden has no idea, really, about Jack. (Loved the 'it's always some day' scene.) I’d feel sorry for Daniel, but he’s embraced the obnoxiousness this year and keeps veering from feeling guilty to not.
So, it’s all gone dark and the Initiative is up to its foul deeds, except the show’s killed off all its faces, which might be problematic. I hope Emily (with more of Nolan’s help than Aidan) does something about it, obviously. Not necessarily what Takeda would have wanted.
