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Here be spoilers:

Last night we saw Star Trek: Into the Darkness in Gold Class in Rockingham. It’s not quite as flash as Gold Class in the Northern Suburbs but it’s a nice date night out and considering C and I have been apart for a few weeks and he’s at sea on and off at the moment, it was definitely a nice night out. You get free popcorn and a drink with a comfy seat and not too many people in the theatre. (I got mud cake and icecream as well!)

I’m a trekkie and would have seen this movie no matter what. And despite what I’m about to say about this movie, I’ll still head along to see the next one.

First up, you can tell a lot about the promoters think about either the movie or the audience heading along to a movie by the trailers they run before it. And what I learned is that probably not a lot of women are expected to enjoy Star Trek. Which is funny really when looking around, I estimated that the audience was about 50:50 on the gender lines. There were hardly any women in any of the trailers for movies you might also like to see. The women who did make the trailers got to be wives or whores. There was one woman who got to train and suit up in the robot warrior costume to fight big monsters in the upcoming Pacific Rim. And that was it. Male protagonists and view points all the way.

So. The movie. For the most part, I enjoyed it. I like the reboot. I kinda like the Spock/Kirk dynamic. I like the shiny and I like that it’s new Star Trek onscreen. But for all that, it was a bit … Bat Man, is the best way I think I can describe it. It feels like science fiction action now needs to be Bat Man-like for some reason. I don’t even know what I mean by that but watching this film, I felt like I was back watching the Dark Knight Rises. We’re in a gloomy place for science fiction it seems. All the preview trailers were about the end of the world. And the Star Trek film is placed just prior to the Klingon/Federation (?) war. I guess in general, we don’t seem to think brightly about the future right now.

I liked the pacing of the film and I liked the tension. I also kinda liked the pastiche to the original series. But I have to admit, I feel a bit like the point of a reboot for a franchise should mean the opportunity to do other things. I mean, sure, we’re going to walk back through an alternate timeline but does that mean we have to encounter all the previous scenarios and nemeses? Surely there is freedom in just doing totally different stuff and going in new and different directions? I would think there would be a lot of pressure in bringing back old enemies and friends.

I have two main gripes. The first is that we get a new female member to the main crew of the Enterprise – she gets a name and a job title and everything (there are other women on the bridge, probably more than in the Original Series, but they don’t get named and I think only one ever gets spoken to). So after 40 years of feminism, we get TWO named women in the gang. But … in exchange for this, we have to see her in her underwear. And like, I get that Kirk is that whole cowboy playboy dude of awesome and all but … really?? In 2013,  we still have to minimise the female physicist weapons specialist by making her take off ALL her clothes right before she disarms bombs and stuff??? Seriously?

I also have a bit of an issue with the way they directed Uhura when she bravely volunteers to attempt to negotiate with the Klingons on Kronos. Was it really necessary to make her physically appear scared? I don’t think they ever make the male characters look that afraid when they are about to do scary things. They get to just bravely do them. But Uhura has to be vulnerable …

Secondly. Like Skyfall, the last 15 minutes of this movie undid the rest of the fun. If you can’t make a pregnant woman cry in a death scene, then your writing sucks. Because, let’s be honest, this is a franchise and there’s no way you bother rebooting this whole gig for just 2 movies. Which means, we know that Kirk isn’t gonna die. Or isn’t gonna stay dead. So having to suffer through that whole badly acted scene was AGONY. There was no tension, no suspense and no real depth to the dialogue. Which is a shame because the moments before that, when Kirk works to save the ship are highly charged and full of suspense – not in will he, but how will he?

But, like I said. I’m still gonna come back for movie three :)

 

 



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