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Just when you thought it was safe to go to the movie theaters again, the latest in the "alternate universe" Star Trek films hits the theaters today. Ars Technica and El Reg have two reviews of the flick.
El Reg, with its usual caustic brand of British humor, calls it "An unwatchable steaming pile of tribble dung", while Ars describes it thusly: "Trek by numbers is no Trek at all". Both articles do heap praise on Karl Urban's dead-on portrayal of Dr. McCoy. Still, it might be worth watching in the theater, for as as we all know there are is no bad Star Trek. Ever!
As for myself, I think I'll do what I usually do and wait for it to come out on video and see if it is truly targ manure.
[From a more general perspective, the Rotten Tomatoes meta movie review site has a critic score of 85% and an audience score of 86%. -Ed.]
(Score: 3, Informative) by martyb on Sunday July 24 2016, @01:29AM
Just came back from seeing it. First off, I grew up watching TOS with Kirk, McCoy (Bones), Spock, Scotty, et. al. when it was on prime time. That said, I am not as avid a follower as many others. Skipped Deep Space 9 -- couldn't get into it. Only caught a few episode of the reboot TV series (can't even remember what htey called that one.) Only saw the original movie, its sequel, and maybe another one before the JJ Abrams reboot which I did see and thought it was interesting.
I did make the mistake of reading some reviews on-line and so was exposed to a few of the plot points which did spoil it somewhat for me.
Spoilers follow: I thoroughly enjoyed Bones' banter with Spock and with Kirk! There was enough action to make up for lapses / implausibilities in the story arc. The blond woman on the planet, Kayla [imdb.com] stole many a scene and certainly caught my attention. (Keep an eye on this actress.) The voicing of Krell (the 'villain') was overdone to the point where I found him hard to understand... and I frequently meet and chat with people from all around the world, so it's not because of accent or anything like that. There were a few scenes where I thought: "Why are they doing *that*? Were it *me*, I'd obviously have done *this*." Obviously, choices were made for dramatic effect instead of making full use of the Trek tech that was available. I agree with the parent comment that there was too much screen/scene spinning going on. One obvious-to-me continuity break was near the end when the old federated starship burst up from underneath and through a lake/pool in a huge spray/wave/wall of water to cut off Krell's ship — finally coming to a halt on a plaza... pan out and see the ship, dripping wet, and people walking on dry concrete. Oooops!
tl;dr: good, not great, but fun summer flick; didn't hold itself too tightly to Star Trek cannon; IMHO, Kirk's acting was okay, but outshone by that of Bones and Kayla. 3.5/5.0 stars sounds right to me, too.
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by purple_cobra on Sunday July 24 2016, @09:39AM
ISTR the villain is Idris Elba, who is usually very good indeed. Maybe the rubber suit was cramping his style? Haven't seen it yet and probably won't until it makes it to DVD.