Star Trek: Into Darkness (ST XII)
May. 9th, 2013 08:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakWhich started in my part of the world yesterday evening, which is when I saw it. I haven't read anyone else's review yet. Mine is going to be spoilery, because I don't think you can discuss this film without spoiling the hell out of it, so anything beneath the cut: don't read until you've watched it. ((Unless you want to be spoiled.) My own overall verdict would be: flawed and enjoyable. Oh, one more thing I actually can say without spoiling. Because of the way most trailers (though not allL) were cut, you could be forgiven for getting the impression that most of the action takes place on Earth and Benedict Cumberbatch is in 99% of the scenes. This did not make the part of the fanbase happy which wanted the focus on the Enterprise crew and wasn't that enamored with Mr. Cumberbatch. Well, rest assured on these counts. Actually most of the plot takes place in space, Benedict Cumberbatch's character doesn't get more screentime than Nero did in the last film, or any other ST villain, and the emotional focus is certainly on the Enterprise characters.
Overall, I would say the film succeeds best where it builds on ST Reboot specific elements (notably Uhura in a larger role, more about that later, because it really made me happy on the Uhura front, Kirk and Spock as people still in the process of becoming friends, Kirk and Christopher Pike), but fails when it finally gives into temptation and directly recreates an iconic ST scene. With a twist, and it tries to bring in its own emotional beats into it, but still. Guys, of all the iconic Star Trek scenes from the film, Spock's death in Wrath of Khan is the most iconic of them all. You really shouldn't have, even with the reversal of roles so that Kirk is the one with the radiation poisoning on the other side of the glass. The other way they tried to give it a twist of their own is by realising that you can't sell a line like "I am, and always have been your friend" without decades of history between Kirk and Spock, so instead we get for the first time admission of friendship as the emotional climax instead, and this, the film actually earned with its Kirk and Spock scenes leading up to this point. However, the pathos of Kirk making the sacrifice of the one for the many doesn't come through even leaving aside this moment is the flipside of the big ST II climax, for two major reasons. The film was careful to show us earlier McCoy experimenting with Khan's (yes, it's him, more later) superregenerating superblood and a dead Tribble. (This actually was distracting because I'm still wondering about the resurrected Tribble - unkillable Tribbles overcrowding the Enterprise is the least of it. Oh, Bones.) (Err, the science of human blood in an alien furball: there is none. Goes for the other "science" in the film, too, which isn't exactly new in the genre. Go with it. After all, there were earnest essays written why Spock himself as a human/alien hybrid is a scientific impossibility.) So it was kind of obvious Kirk wouldn't remain among the deceased even for the duration of this film (aka the next film would not be The Search For Kirk). Also: Zachary Quinto, I like you. You managed to make me believe you as Spock when I used to loathe your Sylar as the epitome (but by no means only thing) of all that went wrong with Heroes. And I'm sure generally you're a better actor than William Shatner even on his good days. But good lord. Do not try the "Khaaaaaaaaaaan!" holler. That one is Shatner's, fair and square, and by letting Spock explode into it after Kirk's temporary demise, the scriptwriters did you no favours. I don't know about other audiences, but the one I was in sniggered.
While I'm on the less successful elements of the film, because I like to start with the complaints and then move on to the praise so I can finish on a high note: random Carol Marcus was random. Now, I'm all for adding more female characters. (And btw, nice homage by letting Carol mention Christine Chapel and being friends with her!) I also appreciate that she wasn't Kirk's love interest, both because with everything else going on, there was no time to build a relationship between them, and because while it should not still be news that a female character can be around without getting romanced by anyone, it sadly often is. However, the problem was that Carol wasn't given anything to do. In the one scene where her professional expertise was called for (btw, they made her a weapons expert, where Carol Marcus in ST II was a bioengineer; but all sciences are one on tv and the big screen, sigh), she was assisted by McCoy (despite him being, as he put, a Doctor, not a photon torpedo expert). Otherwise, she got to tell Dad off about being scum (more about him in a moment), and, um, that's it. And no, Uhura has no conversation with her (though Carol talks to Kirk, Spock and McCoy), so there is no Bechdel passing, either. In fact, so random is Carol Marcus that I'm currently theorizing in the original draft of the script she may have been spying for Dad and then converting to our heroes' cause when seeing what Dad does, which is a cliché but at least would have given her development and something to do, and then they realised there wasn't time for a spy subplot and reshot her few scenes so she's a good guy from the start.
The other reason why she was there was probably because Carol Marcus is in ST II. Though as far as Khan was concerned, this wasn't the Reboot version of Wrath of Khan, it was the Reboot version of Space Seed, and here's where I get to the good stuff. I'm not sentimental about Space Seed (for TOS newbies: that was the original episode in which Khan first appeared), and the way Marla McGivers in said episode is supposed to a historian (apparantly of the Great Men In History school) and falls for Khan because he hails from a time when Men Were Men and there were awesome conquerors around is grating even for 60s Star Trek. However, what team Kurtzman, Orci & Lindelof did with the basic Space Seed premise of the cyro-frozen crew was actually clever and inventive, and so was the way to build up reboot!Khan. (Though the publicity coyness was not. And yes, obviously casting the extremely pale BC in a role created by an Hispanic actor and as a character who's supposed to be Indian is problematic.) Not to mention that we get a great use of DS9 specific canon. Mind you, this also means DS9 watchers have the advantage over anyone else because the moment Admiral Marcus says that the place in London "John Harrison" targeted wasn't, as Kirk believed, a harmless archive but the headquarters of Section 31 and that Harrison used to be a Section 31 agent, anyone who's seen the last two DS9 seasons knows Marcus himself is up to no good. (Do I ever remember the debates about whether the invention/retcon of Section 31 as a "dirty" Federation secret service invalidates the entire Utopian ST premise back in the day.) Mind you, you'd think Marcus' next action would give it away to viewers unfamiliar with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as well, but maybe not, because here's another clever thing the film does. It actually makes a pointed political comment in sci fi guise and just when you wonder whether anyone in the creative team still remembers that one of things that define Star Trek (various incarnations), on tv at least, were ethical dilemma stories, Orci, Kurtzman & Lindelof come up with the following: Admiral Marcus (the latest version of another stalwart in ST, the crazy/corrupt/power-mad Admiral, only not crazy), informed that "John Harrison" has fled to the Klingon home planet Kronos (correct Klingon spelling not used here due to myth reasons on my part) and that pursuing him could push the already volatile situation with the Klingons to war, tells Kirk they'll have war with the Klingons sooner or later anyway, and to go after Harrison and kill him with a super tech weapon. Kirk, thirsting for revenge (reasons about to be mentioned in the next paragraph), goes for it, promptly has an argument with Spock who points out that anyone deserves a trial and going about to assassinate terrorists while also violating other people's territory is not a good thing, and with Scotty who takes a stand about the use of weapons whose capacities they have no idea about. (The argument scene between Kirk and Scott reminded me of nothing as much as the one between Sheridan and Garibaldi in the Babylon 5 episode In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum, which is a very good thing.) (Scotty in general has a lot to do and good characterisation in this film - possibly more than in any of the ST movies.) As opposed to the scene in the last film, where Kirk's offer to Nero to surrender is perfunctioary and his and Spock's reaction when Nero refuses is delight that they get to kill him, here the film makes a much more ST ethical point. Because en route to Kronos, Kirk comes to realise both Spock and Scott were right, and he was wrong. And just in case the current day parallels escape you, both there and near the end of the film the fact that killing enemies sans trial is not what "we" are or should be is spelled out in main text with direct statements. And it does not just talk the talk but walks the walk. Kirk changes his mission to capturing Harrison/Khan instead. Also, there is no convenient fall from a high place or general explosion to kill off the villain without the hero having to do it directly. Khan is still alive at the end of the film. (Again: Space Seed, not Wrath of Khan.) Now one of the criticisms of the reboot was that while the original ST (with its own flaws) was also trying to address (then-) contemporary issues in sci fi guise, the reboot was a nostaligia exercise. Well, they made up for this here, with a far more interesting comment on the war on terror than the trailers led me to believe they'd make. A lot of action films in recent years have featured evil terrorist supervillains, for obvious reasons. I can't recall one where the general movie code of pursuing lethal vengeance for said supervillain caused deaths is explicitly framed as something the hero should NOT do, and comes to realise he should not do, AND DOES NOT DO. (What makes this even more interesting is that it doesn't take the easy way out of falling back on the Bush administration's actions as an analogue to critisize. The critical parallels are very Obama administration specific. From a left, not a right pov.)
Kirk (and the audience) having personal stakes in the pursuit of the supposed John Harrison unfortunately means the death of Christopher Pike, after he escaped that fate in the last movie. Reboot!Pike was one of the most endearing characters of the Rebootverse, and he gets some great scenes here before his demise, both chewing out and emotionally supporting Kirk. Not for the first time, I wish Abrams and friends would have had the guts to be really daring and give us the adventures of the Enterprise with Pike as captain and Kirk and Spock (and everyone else) in the crew, but there was never any chance of that. Anyway, I love Bruce Greenwood in the role, and he and Pine sell you on Kirk by now loving Pike as well. Killing off a beloved mentor to motivate the hero is standard scriptwriting, but not least because the pay off isn't the standard one of hero-kills-villain, see above, it works for me here. Equally standard is villain-as-reflection of-hero's-darker-qualities, and the script is obvious about some of the parallels between Khan and and Kirk. Which includes a positive one, the concern for their crew. Reboot!Khan's motivation for blowing up Section 31's headquarters and then the Starfleet upper levels in San Francisco, it turns out, is that Admiral Marcus (who unfreezed Khan but not the rest when the Botany Bay was discovered earlier and not by the Enterprise due to the destruction of Vulcan in the last film) had the bright idea of using a genetically engineered superman-plus-war-criminal as a weapon by using his still frozen crew as leverage and then when difficulties arose let him to believe they were dead (they aren't). This leads, mid-film, to something that's not TOS (though the later shows did it sometimes, notably DS9 and Voy) but very J.J. Abrams and his trusty scriptwriting team of Orci, Kurtzman & Lindelof, Alias and Lost veterans that they are, to wit: a temporary alliance between hero and villain against a third party, in the full awareness that they'll doublecross each other once said third party is dealt with. I'd be very surprised if the relevant Kirk and Khan scenes won't generate a new slash ship. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Khan tightly self controlled most of the time (again, fits with Space Seed Khan as opposed to the more unhinged version after years on a desert planet) but gets to shed the proverbial single tear in the "I would do anything for my crew" scene, where Khan has to convince both Kirk and the audience he's not faking it, and comes through with it. Fandom being fandom, I'm already bracing myself for the misunderstood woobie!Khan onslaught, though the film itself is clear on that front: anyone not a genetically engineered superman (and his crew) is absolutely irrelevant to Khan and blithely killable. (No Marla McGivers in this Enterprise crew.) (Which, since as mentioned, a historian mooning over a genocidal maniac offends me, is not a problem for me.)
If ST II's underlying themes for the older Kirk were aging and the confrontation with mortality and loss, ST XII tries to create a theme of accepting responsibility, listening to people and putting others first the young one, so the big challenges for Kirk to a) overcome the instinct for vengeance in favour of ethical behaviour and b) sacrificing his life for the Enterprise crew are logical emotional pay offs, except for the problems detailed above with the death scene (and the film's unwillingness to even pretend Kirk will stay dead). Thankfully, the Enterprise crew he's sacrificing himself for is neither faceless nor just passive but have their own important contributions to the saga. Though I do feel sorry for Reboot!Bones, because McCoy in the Rebootverse simply isn't as important a character as he was in TOS. Not least because he doesn't have a relationship with Spock on his own, his status as Kirk's confidant is reduced to "but Jim, you can't!" type of objections while Kirk gets to have the big ethical debate from an emotional pov that in TOS he'd have with McCoy with Scotty (from the rational pov he gets with Spock, but that's not new), and Uhura has taken his position as the third in the trio around which the emotional dynamics of the tale function. As I said, I'm sorry for reboot!Bones (and Karl Urban), but I can't wish it otherwise, not least because I'm an ensemble lover, and the ever more reduced parts of anyone in the TOS crew who wasn't playing Kirk, Spock and McCoy caused so much bitterness. Also, Scotty being an engineer makes him the perfect person to have a debate about the use ofdrones weapons targetting supposedly uninhabited areas in order to take out one person with.
As for Uhura: I really hope Nichelle Nichols watches this film, because among other things, it contains a terrific balm on an open wound, Uhura-wise. Nichelle Nichols has gone on the record on stating she hated the scene in ST VI. where when Uhura needs to speak Klingon, she in a panic consults various musty old books and fakes it very badly. On the logical grounds that a) as a communications expert, Uhura WOULD speak Klingon, and b) old books, as opposed to having the ship computer having databases for one of the key languages of the Alpha Quadrant? (Never mind the Universal Translator.) Well, in Star Trek Into Darkness, Uhura when Kirk on his capture-instead-of-kill-Harrison mission inevitably finds himself trapped by Klingons in the supposedly uninhabited area on Kronos, gets to speak Klingon. And how. (So much, too, for people complaining thatUhura gets to kiss Spock and Kirk does not we didn't see Uhura use her professional expertise in the last film, only heard about it.)
She also - very big spoiler here - is the one to finally take out Khan (alive) and save the day, and it is her idea and quick thinking initiative that puts her in a position to do so. Moreover: after this film, I'll have a far easier time buying into Kirk/Spock/Uhura threesome stories. My problem earlier with these was that Uhura not being attracted to Kirk is a ST XI plot point, and while at the end he has gained her respect, for an OT3 to work for me all parties need to be emotionally invested in each other. Well, Uhura still doesn't come across as sexually attracted to Kirk, but they've evidently developed a friendship by now, and the scene in which they conmiserate of how frustrating Spock can be and that as fond as you are of him, sometimes you just want to strangle him was hilarious. Also, as Spock and Uhura go through a minor crisis in the film you at various points have not only Kirk and Spock bickering (which they do throughout) with Uhura listening but also Spock and Uhura bickering with Kirk listening, and the whole thing has an OT3 vibe to it already. (Like I said: sorry, Bones. She has your place, and she owns it, fair and square.)
All in all: entertaining, yet not a classic (my list of best ST movies hasn't changed), also has various -isms I didn't mention (the scene with Carol Marcus changing into her space suit seems to be there solely so we'd get at least one scene of a woman in her underwear - oh, J.J.) , also some pluses (I could be wrong, but I think Chekov's temporary replacement at the helm is meant to be a trans person), and your reaction probably depends on how you like the rebootverse before going in. I.e. if you dislike it already, you'll find even more reasons to do so, if you like it, you'll find enough new elements to enjoy.
Overall, I would say the film succeeds best where it builds on ST Reboot specific elements (notably Uhura in a larger role, more about that later, because it really made me happy on the Uhura front, Kirk and Spock as people still in the process of becoming friends, Kirk and Christopher Pike), but fails when it finally gives into temptation and directly recreates an iconic ST scene. With a twist, and it tries to bring in its own emotional beats into it, but still. Guys, of all the iconic Star Trek scenes from the film, Spock's death in Wrath of Khan is the most iconic of them all. You really shouldn't have, even with the reversal of roles so that Kirk is the one with the radiation poisoning on the other side of the glass. The other way they tried to give it a twist of their own is by realising that you can't sell a line like "I am, and always have been your friend" without decades of history between Kirk and Spock, so instead we get for the first time admission of friendship as the emotional climax instead, and this, the film actually earned with its Kirk and Spock scenes leading up to this point. However, the pathos of Kirk making the sacrifice of the one for the many doesn't come through even leaving aside this moment is the flipside of the big ST II climax, for two major reasons. The film was careful to show us earlier McCoy experimenting with Khan's (yes, it's him, more later) superregenerating superblood and a dead Tribble. (This actually was distracting because I'm still wondering about the resurrected Tribble - unkillable Tribbles overcrowding the Enterprise is the least of it. Oh, Bones.) (Err, the science of human blood in an alien furball: there is none. Goes for the other "science" in the film, too, which isn't exactly new in the genre. Go with it. After all, there were earnest essays written why Spock himself as a human/alien hybrid is a scientific impossibility.) So it was kind of obvious Kirk wouldn't remain among the deceased even for the duration of this film (aka the next film would not be The Search For Kirk). Also: Zachary Quinto, I like you. You managed to make me believe you as Spock when I used to loathe your Sylar as the epitome (but by no means only thing) of all that went wrong with Heroes. And I'm sure generally you're a better actor than William Shatner even on his good days. But good lord. Do not try the "Khaaaaaaaaaaan!" holler. That one is Shatner's, fair and square, and by letting Spock explode into it after Kirk's temporary demise, the scriptwriters did you no favours. I don't know about other audiences, but the one I was in sniggered.
While I'm on the less successful elements of the film, because I like to start with the complaints and then move on to the praise so I can finish on a high note: random Carol Marcus was random. Now, I'm all for adding more female characters. (And btw, nice homage by letting Carol mention Christine Chapel and being friends with her!) I also appreciate that she wasn't Kirk's love interest, both because with everything else going on, there was no time to build a relationship between them, and because while it should not still be news that a female character can be around without getting romanced by anyone, it sadly often is. However, the problem was that Carol wasn't given anything to do. In the one scene where her professional expertise was called for (btw, they made her a weapons expert, where Carol Marcus in ST II was a bioengineer; but all sciences are one on tv and the big screen, sigh), she was assisted by McCoy (despite him being, as he put, a Doctor, not a photon torpedo expert). Otherwise, she got to tell Dad off about being scum (more about him in a moment), and, um, that's it. And no, Uhura has no conversation with her (though Carol talks to Kirk, Spock and McCoy), so there is no Bechdel passing, either. In fact, so random is Carol Marcus that I'm currently theorizing in the original draft of the script she may have been spying for Dad and then converting to our heroes' cause when seeing what Dad does, which is a cliché but at least would have given her development and something to do, and then they realised there wasn't time for a spy subplot and reshot her few scenes so she's a good guy from the start.
The other reason why she was there was probably because Carol Marcus is in ST II. Though as far as Khan was concerned, this wasn't the Reboot version of Wrath of Khan, it was the Reboot version of Space Seed, and here's where I get to the good stuff. I'm not sentimental about Space Seed (for TOS newbies: that was the original episode in which Khan first appeared), and the way Marla McGivers in said episode is supposed to a historian (apparantly of the Great Men In History school) and falls for Khan because he hails from a time when Men Were Men and there were awesome conquerors around is grating even for 60s Star Trek. However, what team Kurtzman, Orci & Lindelof did with the basic Space Seed premise of the cyro-frozen crew was actually clever and inventive, and so was the way to build up reboot!Khan. (Though the publicity coyness was not. And yes, obviously casting the extremely pale BC in a role created by an Hispanic actor and as a character who's supposed to be Indian is problematic.) Not to mention that we get a great use of DS9 specific canon. Mind you, this also means DS9 watchers have the advantage over anyone else because the moment Admiral Marcus says that the place in London "John Harrison" targeted wasn't, as Kirk believed, a harmless archive but the headquarters of Section 31 and that Harrison used to be a Section 31 agent, anyone who's seen the last two DS9 seasons knows Marcus himself is up to no good. (Do I ever remember the debates about whether the invention/retcon of Section 31 as a "dirty" Federation secret service invalidates the entire Utopian ST premise back in the day.) Mind you, you'd think Marcus' next action would give it away to viewers unfamiliar with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as well, but maybe not, because here's another clever thing the film does. It actually makes a pointed political comment in sci fi guise and just when you wonder whether anyone in the creative team still remembers that one of things that define Star Trek (various incarnations), on tv at least, were ethical dilemma stories, Orci, Kurtzman & Lindelof come up with the following: Admiral Marcus (the latest version of another stalwart in ST, the crazy/corrupt/power-mad Admiral, only not crazy), informed that "John Harrison" has fled to the Klingon home planet Kronos (correct Klingon spelling not used here due to myth reasons on my part) and that pursuing him could push the already volatile situation with the Klingons to war, tells Kirk they'll have war with the Klingons sooner or later anyway, and to go after Harrison and kill him with a super tech weapon. Kirk, thirsting for revenge (reasons about to be mentioned in the next paragraph), goes for it, promptly has an argument with Spock who points out that anyone deserves a trial and going about to assassinate terrorists while also violating other people's territory is not a good thing, and with Scotty who takes a stand about the use of weapons whose capacities they have no idea about. (The argument scene between Kirk and Scott reminded me of nothing as much as the one between Sheridan and Garibaldi in the Babylon 5 episode In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum, which is a very good thing.) (Scotty in general has a lot to do and good characterisation in this film - possibly more than in any of the ST movies.) As opposed to the scene in the last film, where Kirk's offer to Nero to surrender is perfunctioary and his and Spock's reaction when Nero refuses is delight that they get to kill him, here the film makes a much more ST ethical point. Because en route to Kronos, Kirk comes to realise both Spock and Scott were right, and he was wrong. And just in case the current day parallels escape you, both there and near the end of the film the fact that killing enemies sans trial is not what "we" are or should be is spelled out in main text with direct statements. And it does not just talk the talk but walks the walk. Kirk changes his mission to capturing Harrison/Khan instead. Also, there is no convenient fall from a high place or general explosion to kill off the villain without the hero having to do it directly. Khan is still alive at the end of the film. (Again: Space Seed, not Wrath of Khan.) Now one of the criticisms of the reboot was that while the original ST (with its own flaws) was also trying to address (then-) contemporary issues in sci fi guise, the reboot was a nostaligia exercise. Well, they made up for this here, with a far more interesting comment on the war on terror than the trailers led me to believe they'd make. A lot of action films in recent years have featured evil terrorist supervillains, for obvious reasons. I can't recall one where the general movie code of pursuing lethal vengeance for said supervillain caused deaths is explicitly framed as something the hero should NOT do, and comes to realise he should not do, AND DOES NOT DO. (What makes this even more interesting is that it doesn't take the easy way out of falling back on the Bush administration's actions as an analogue to critisize. The critical parallels are very Obama administration specific. From a left, not a right pov.)
Kirk (and the audience) having personal stakes in the pursuit of the supposed John Harrison unfortunately means the death of Christopher Pike, after he escaped that fate in the last movie. Reboot!Pike was one of the most endearing characters of the Rebootverse, and he gets some great scenes here before his demise, both chewing out and emotionally supporting Kirk. Not for the first time, I wish Abrams and friends would have had the guts to be really daring and give us the adventures of the Enterprise with Pike as captain and Kirk and Spock (and everyone else) in the crew, but there was never any chance of that. Anyway, I love Bruce Greenwood in the role, and he and Pine sell you on Kirk by now loving Pike as well. Killing off a beloved mentor to motivate the hero is standard scriptwriting, but not least because the pay off isn't the standard one of hero-kills-villain, see above, it works for me here. Equally standard is villain-as-reflection of-hero's-darker-qualities, and the script is obvious about some of the parallels between Khan and and Kirk. Which includes a positive one, the concern for their crew. Reboot!Khan's motivation for blowing up Section 31's headquarters and then the Starfleet upper levels in San Francisco, it turns out, is that Admiral Marcus (who unfreezed Khan but not the rest when the Botany Bay was discovered earlier and not by the Enterprise due to the destruction of Vulcan in the last film) had the bright idea of using a genetically engineered superman-plus-war-criminal as a weapon by using his still frozen crew as leverage and then when difficulties arose let him to believe they were dead (they aren't). This leads, mid-film, to something that's not TOS (though the later shows did it sometimes, notably DS9 and Voy) but very J.J. Abrams and his trusty scriptwriting team of Orci, Kurtzman & Lindelof, Alias and Lost veterans that they are, to wit: a temporary alliance between hero and villain against a third party, in the full awareness that they'll doublecross each other once said third party is dealt with. I'd be very surprised if the relevant Kirk and Khan scenes won't generate a new slash ship. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Khan tightly self controlled most of the time (again, fits with Space Seed Khan as opposed to the more unhinged version after years on a desert planet) but gets to shed the proverbial single tear in the "I would do anything for my crew" scene, where Khan has to convince both Kirk and the audience he's not faking it, and comes through with it. Fandom being fandom, I'm already bracing myself for the misunderstood woobie!Khan onslaught, though the film itself is clear on that front: anyone not a genetically engineered superman (and his crew) is absolutely irrelevant to Khan and blithely killable. (No Marla McGivers in this Enterprise crew.) (Which, since as mentioned, a historian mooning over a genocidal maniac offends me, is not a problem for me.)
If ST II's underlying themes for the older Kirk were aging and the confrontation with mortality and loss, ST XII tries to create a theme of accepting responsibility, listening to people and putting others first the young one, so the big challenges for Kirk to a) overcome the instinct for vengeance in favour of ethical behaviour and b) sacrificing his life for the Enterprise crew are logical emotional pay offs, except for the problems detailed above with the death scene (and the film's unwillingness to even pretend Kirk will stay dead). Thankfully, the Enterprise crew he's sacrificing himself for is neither faceless nor just passive but have their own important contributions to the saga. Though I do feel sorry for Reboot!Bones, because McCoy in the Rebootverse simply isn't as important a character as he was in TOS. Not least because he doesn't have a relationship with Spock on his own, his status as Kirk's confidant is reduced to "but Jim, you can't!" type of objections while Kirk gets to have the big ethical debate from an emotional pov that in TOS he'd have with McCoy with Scotty (from the rational pov he gets with Spock, but that's not new), and Uhura has taken his position as the third in the trio around which the emotional dynamics of the tale function. As I said, I'm sorry for reboot!Bones (and Karl Urban), but I can't wish it otherwise, not least because I'm an ensemble lover, and the ever more reduced parts of anyone in the TOS crew who wasn't playing Kirk, Spock and McCoy caused so much bitterness. Also, Scotty being an engineer makes him the perfect person to have a debate about the use of
As for Uhura: I really hope Nichelle Nichols watches this film, because among other things, it contains a terrific balm on an open wound, Uhura-wise. Nichelle Nichols has gone on the record on stating she hated the scene in ST VI. where when Uhura needs to speak Klingon, she in a panic consults various musty old books and fakes it very badly. On the logical grounds that a) as a communications expert, Uhura WOULD speak Klingon, and b) old books, as opposed to having the ship computer having databases for one of the key languages of the Alpha Quadrant? (Never mind the Universal Translator.) Well, in Star Trek Into Darkness, Uhura when Kirk on his capture-instead-of-kill-Harrison mission inevitably finds himself trapped by Klingons in the supposedly uninhabited area on Kronos, gets to speak Klingon. And how. (So much, too, for people complaining that
She also - very big spoiler here - is the one to finally take out Khan (alive) and save the day, and it is her idea and quick thinking initiative that puts her in a position to do so. Moreover: after this film, I'll have a far easier time buying into Kirk/Spock/Uhura threesome stories. My problem earlier with these was that Uhura not being attracted to Kirk is a ST XI plot point, and while at the end he has gained her respect, for an OT3 to work for me all parties need to be emotionally invested in each other. Well, Uhura still doesn't come across as sexually attracted to Kirk, but they've evidently developed a friendship by now, and the scene in which they conmiserate of how frustrating Spock can be and that as fond as you are of him, sometimes you just want to strangle him was hilarious. Also, as Spock and Uhura go through a minor crisis in the film you at various points have not only Kirk and Spock bickering (which they do throughout) with Uhura listening but also Spock and Uhura bickering with Kirk listening, and the whole thing has an OT3 vibe to it already. (Like I said: sorry, Bones. She has your place, and she owns it, fair and square.)
All in all: entertaining, yet not a classic (my list of best ST movies hasn't changed), also has various -isms I didn't mention (the scene with Carol Marcus changing into her space suit seems to be there solely so we'd get at least one scene of a woman in her underwear - oh, J.J.) , also some pluses (I could be wrong, but I think Chekov's temporary replacement at the helm is meant to be a trans person), and your reaction probably depends on how you like the rebootverse before going in. I.e. if you dislike it already, you'll find even more reasons to do so, if you like it, you'll find enough new elements to enjoy.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-09 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-09 04:59 pm (UTC)Re: Uhura's awesomeness, have a dialogue tidbit:
Spock: Captain, if you interrupt her now, you will not only face the wrath of the Klingons. You will also face the wrath of Lt. Uhura.
Kirk: *sits down, is silent*
no subject
Date: 2013-05-12 01:25 pm (UTC)After seeing the film I'm of two mind in regards to white washing Khan; on the one hand Khan is Indian, on the other hand having someone of a different ethnic background (and potentially of colour) being a terrorist, and having all the good guys being predominantly white. I'm not sure I would have been comfortable with that. Either way, the casting situation makes me uncomfortable, but BC was also really good in it, argh, conflicted.
I LOVE the ethics of this film; the issues that Spock and Scotty kept on raising, and the way that Kirk ACTUALLY thinks about it, and then making the right ethical decision. I was so very happy about that.
The radiation room scene between Spock and Kirk. Pine and Quinto was amazing in it, but I just couldn't feel the emotional impact because -this- Kirk and -this- Spock just didn't earn the emotional investment. The haven't had the 20 to 30 years of friendship for that level of anguish. The shout of Khan didn't make me snigger, but I think it was because they cut to the next scene. If it had been one more second longer I would have lost it. Having said that, the people behind me were opening crying and making hurt noises, so maybe it worked for others and just not me.
Uhura is amazing in this, and I love that she saved the day twice; once by speaking Klingon and basically buying time till Khan came to rescue their asses, and then by transporting down to take down Khan. I just loved her in this. Loved her so very much.
I think I'm still processing the film, and I'm gonna to need to watch it at least one more time before I have more thoughts on it.
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Date: 2013-05-13 10:11 am (UTC)re: Khan and all the issues, I think with some rewrites the film would have worked if BC had played someone who truly was John Harrison, Kirk's contemporary. His crew would still have to be there, of course, to create the parallel with Kirk. Perhaps they all were secret experiments by Section 31 (since genetic engineering is officially illegal, but Section 31 canonically likes to break the law and use Genetically Engineered people anyway)?
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Date: 2013-05-14 11:30 am (UTC)I AGREE completely. I think they should have used an original character for the role. Hell, in my head I'm still referring to him as John Harrison. I just don't get why they had to use Khan, it didn't really add anything to it, except the emotional resonance from a popular culture osmosis vantage that EVERYBODY has heard of Khan, and this is $200 million summer block buster, and of course the weren't going to have a villain name 'John Harrison'. Casting BC (or anybody that's white) has caused nothing but backlash (Internet audience wise). I really like BC in this, I just wish I didn't have to feel like I have to justify why I liked him in it, because it is really difficult to not be aware of the problematic casting in relation to race, yet, he is so good in it. And the makes me fricking annoyed.
Sorry for venting on your journal, but like, I said, you have had one of the most even handed review, and it feels like I can actually have a discourse about why loved the film, but why it was also problematic.
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Date: 2013-05-18 04:37 am (UTC)Fandom being fandom, I'm already bracing myself for the misunderstood woobie!Khan onslaught, though the film itself is clear on that front: anyone not a genetically engineered superman (and his crew) is absolutely irrelevant to Khan and blithely killable.
Urgh. Honestly think the heroes would have been justified in killing him by the end, although I greatly appreciated that this film took the time out to carve a Trek-ian moral message about state-sponsored assassination and vengeance. That said? Khan drops a massive spaceship down Earth's gravity well and steers it directly for the City of San Francisco. Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of civilians died. And that's leaving aside his crimes from the Augment Wars. They would have been well within their rights to fire those cryotubes into Sol at the end. It's frustrating to me that he didn't get his trial and speedy execution.
Putting McCoy in charge of all the cryotube/torpedo stuff is a direct callback to Undiscovered Country, isn't it?
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Date: 2013-05-18 05:09 am (UTC)McCoy in charge of the cyrotube/torpedo stuff: now that you mention it, probably. I only watched Undiscovered Country twice due to my strong dislike of the film, once in the cinema and once when it got broadcast on tv to see whether I hadn't softened towards it, and I hadn't. Both was more than 15 years ago.
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Date: 2013-05-18 05:34 am (UTC)The Franchise had traditionally chosen the harder line there, as the Female Changeling gets life too and she's also directly responsible for glassing a major metropolitan area. So I guess it is a muchness, though if I were a San Franciscan of the 23rd Century I'd be awfully, awfully angry. If it wasn't so clearly meant for Cumberbatch to return, I'd almost say it was a powerful choice for an American franchise.
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Date: 2013-05-18 05:52 am (UTC)I still think it's a powerful choice for an American franchise at this particular point - made, unless I'm mistaken about the shooting time, when the Republicans kept harping on how Zero Dark Thirty was surely going to be a propaganda movie for Obama before it was released (when it was actually released the question of whether it was pro torture completely shifted debate focus, but I thought the assumption beforehand that a film about the successful kill-the-terrorist-scum-in-
KronosPakistan just had to be about making people feel good re: the goverment was incredibly telling). Mind you, of course I also think they kept a door open for Cumberbatch to return, but not in a way that means they're obliged to follow up, because the way his career is going, they might not be able to afford him some years down the line (or he could simply be unavailable due to other projects). But other than non-human antagonists like V'Ger or the Whale Calling Space Probe, which are not evil and cause damage mostly due to miscommunication, isn't this the first main antagonist who survives an ST film instead of dying?(FILM, of course. On the tv shows we had lots. Cue rambling about adopting Trek for the big screen, full stop.)
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Date: 2013-05-18 04:03 pm (UTC)Now that I can read reviews, I see there's a lot of discussion about the fact that Orci is not a liberal and in fact, believes 9/11 was an inside job. Woe. I was completely okay with the Watsonian answer for Admiral Marcus's treachery: that's Section 31's motive and means.
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Date: 2013-05-19 04:55 am (UTC)Orci: hadn't heard about the 9/11 thing, and don't think I want to (though ironically we have some people from the opposite side of the political spectrum - i.e. radical lefties - here who think that - i.e. that it was all staged and organized by the American goverment in order to get an invasion going - but that's decidedly a nutter fringe opinion).
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Date: 2013-05-19 07:35 pm (UTC)That seems highly unlikely to me. Even if the Federation is the most enlightened place in the universe, surely 'let's freeze him again so he can do it again' isn't a decision a wise, informed and grieving populace would take.
I think a better ending might have been a shot of Kirk replicating the mistake of the past and abandoning Khan (by himself, maybe) on some planet. Or maybe we should get a quick shot of Khan on trial or languishing in a Fed prison. That way, the Federation civilians get their justice with honor, and Khan is still alive for future films.
As it is, it really, really sticks in my craw, because at least when the last movie blew up Vulcan it was treated with the serious reaction it deserved. Spock never reduces it to just the death of his mother except when appropriate. Here, you'd be forgiven if thinking the memorial was strictly for Pike.
(I know a few radical leftists who are Truthers too, it's just much less common in the states than the vast paranoia of the right.)