Got into a prescreening tonight and just got back. Simon Pegg, Alice Eve, and John Cho were present. John Cho started whispering sweet nothings to the audience over the speaker system as he walked out. Alice Eve was beautiful, and Simon Pegg was being Simon Pegg (British Awesome).

Onto the film . . .

It went to some places I did not expect with John Harrison. Benedict Cumberbatch was absolutely terrifying to watch and absolutely brutal in combat (great choreography in fights). Completely emotionless, even less so than Sherlock. Well, he does have rage, but it feels different in a way on BC can do. Despite the 2 hours run time, it felt a little short, but that could be I just wanted it to keep going.

TCCTS, I did not feel that this is Skyfall in Space. Earth represents about 20-25 minutes of the film. There was some really interesting aspects of the politics of Starfleet that take place in the film, but most of it is off planet.

Uhura was poorly utilized in this film and Alice Eve felt a little superfluous but I understand why they needed her character. Obviously the main show is on Quinto, Pine, and Cumberbatch. They all do a fantastic job and really live the parts but the rest of the crew kinda suffers. Pegg got an increased role in the film, but I feel like some of the others like Urban and Cho were also just window dressing.

Lots of great humor with Spock and Scottie.

I would put it roughly on par with the original (probably a little below since I am on the high of just seeing it) but still a solid foundation for continuing the movies. For a second film in a series, this is good news.








Only one thing really pissed me off tonight. Alice Eve didn't recreate this scene for those in the audience.


[This message has been edited by Marsuvees (edited 5/10/2013 1:20a).]

[This message has been edited by Marsuvees (edited 5/10/2013 1:22a).]

Sounds good to me

Not that I have any reason to trust you like I would trust certain film critics, but...you'd rate it below the first one?? Wow, that's....EXTREMELY disappointing. The first one was ok, but not great. If this one's not any better, I might end up skipping it.

I have seen a couple advance reviews that have a similar mindset. However you are really missing out. This is not a bad movie, I just felt that the pacing felt a little too fast that it ended quickly (for as long as the movie was) and some characters were not used very well. This is still a summer blockbuster at its best and it would be a shame to miss it. It is a great return to the Star Trek universe that JJ created and a fun ride. The audience I was with seemed to love it and enjoy it, as did I, but like I said I had a few nitpicks.

Also, I really love the original one so saying it is on par or slightly below is not really a knock on its quality in my opinion.

[This message has been edited by Marsuvees (edited 5/10/2013 8:39a).]

quote:

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The first one was ok, but not great.

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Seriously. You have no credability. The first one was an outstanding star trek film.

This sounds like a crazy star trek ride and I can't f'ing wait.

Harrison is Kahn, isn't he?!

TELL ME NOW!!!

The first one was amazing.

The first one was stunningly good. I've watched it repeatedly.

All the reviews I've read of the 2nd one from other sites say this one is disappointing.

I think it may be disappointing from the higher expectations stand point but not necessarily from stand alone view.

Thanks for the rundown, Marsuvees. Your take definitely seems to be the consensus.

Have to say though the highlight was getting to see the actors in person and a lot of people really started cheering for Simon Pegg (no duh) and chanting World's End. John Cho still stole the show. Had no idea Alice Eve was British.

John Harrison's story is fascinating and really worth the price of admission alone.

SPOILER KINDA ( I am addressing a popular theory below but trying to be vague )







































People weren't far off in their theories regarding Harrison and his relation to Khan's crew, but how it plays out definitely felt different from everyone expected. In fact for the middle third of the film, he isn't even the villain, but another person steps in his place.














































[This message has been edited by Marsuvees (edited 5/10/2013 8:28p).]

[This message has been edited by Marsuvees (edited 5/10/2013 8:30p).]

And a popular alien returns in the movie

SPOILER










































Tribbles

Just got back from seeing it. I really enjoyed it and will be the blu-ray and watch a number of times I'm sure.

Actors were great, plot was good, pace seemed a bit off, was great in 3D but fast motion still blurry, cinematography was superb, still lots of lens flares, music was good.
voice over references to TOS and TNG are getting a little cheesy. We know we are at a Star Trek movie, that was covered in the first one.

I think it was par with the first movie.


Possible spoilers





















- The timing of them getting from planet to planet was way to quick. Maybe they are changing the distance to planets in this universe or changing the way warp works again. They could of done some simple dialog to explain that it took a long time but the pace made it feel like it was minutes instead of weeks.

- The people in London and in San Fran seemed oblivious to the bombing and the fact that there are two massive vessels battling by the moon.






















more to come. I'm tired.

[This message has been edited by GCRanger (edited 5/15/2013 11:59p).]

Just got back from the midnight release. Cumberbatch, give it to him. Awesome movie.

[This message has been edited by Engine10 (edited 5/16/2013 2:46a).]

Just got home and I loved it. No complaints except that I wanted more now.

Big question: 3d?

Saw last night. IMAX 3D pretty amazing. Definitely a must see and must own.

Man, reviews are all over the place. Seen so many reviews/reactions saying it's a horrible movie, but then I've seen quite a few others (like the reactions in this thread) saying it's great. Seeing it for myself in 70mm IMAX 3D on Saturday. Really curious as to which way I'm going to lean.

As an aside, the big showing last night in San Francisco was in the Metreon, which is right across the street from the Moscone. Apparently Google had a big event and they were selling the Google Glass headsets. So...while waiting til we could go into the theater there were dozens of nerds wearing their Google Glass headsets (borg anyone?) mingling with many dozens of nerds wearing star trek uniforms.

I thought the movie was very good. Maybe not quite on the same level as the first, which I thought was amazing, but still very solid. When the first one ended, I was blown away. I didn't quite feel the same way with this one. Still, no complaints.

Maybe I'm retarded and shouldn't use RT, but how are people that divided about it when it is sitting at 87% on rotten tomatoes?? I think anything above 85% is a pretty dang good movie usually.

quote:

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Maybe I'm retarded and shouldn't use RT, but how are people that divided about it when it is sitting at 87% on rotten tomatoes?? I think anything above 85% is a pretty dang good movie usually.

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I am curious too. It seems that some people are not happy with this movie, yet critics love it.

Just got home and LOVED IT

Saw it. Liked it. Thought it was at least on par with the original.

quote:

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Maybe I'm retarded and shouldn't use RT, but how are people that divided about it when it is sitting at 87% on rotten tomatoes?? I think anything above 85% is a pretty dang good movie usually.

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The ones who really dislike it so far are some of the prominent movie bloggers. Very respectable critics at /Film, Ain't It Cool News and Bad Ass Digest, among others, have been extremely vocal with how much they dislike the movie. Because it's spoiler-filled, I haven't read Devin Faraci's negative review yet, but he's usually pretty spot-on, and comes at these things from a very rational mindset. If he dislikes something, he explains exactly why he didn't think it worked, and most of the time it's hard to argue with his logic. Again, I haven't read his review (waiting 'til after I see the movie), but it's another of his that apparently breaks down exactly why the movie doesn't work on a structural/logical level, etc. No idea if I'll end up agreeing with him or not, just passing it along as an example...

http://badassdigest.com/2013/05/14/star-trek-into-darkness-spoiler-review/

Also looking forward to reading the comments at the end of his review. As of now, there are almost 600, and the Bad Ass Digest commenters are some of the sanest around. Usually very respectable, and have great discussion.

That review is pretty dang good. It captures a lot of the issues I had with the film, most of them plot missteps and Star Trek nerd mistakes. However, I still really enjoyed the movie.

As with the the previous ST movie, I wish they would slow down the action (maybe cut back 25%) and put in more sci-fi moral dilema dialog, get the brain working a bit more. This is why I loved the ST universe, I didn't watch ST for the action. I love Start Trek: The Motion Picture if that helps explain where I'm coming from. That being said, these movies are a lot of fun and I will watch again.

I agree with most of the complaints of that review but I still liked the movie overall.

I have never been much of a Star Trek fan but I enjoyed the first one alot and will watch it on FX every once in a while. I thought this one was great. It was fun throughout and filled with action. I dont know much Star Trek background so the little things wont bother me as much as it would with a true fan of the old movies. I enjoyed with movie more than I did Iron Man 3.

quote:

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I love Start Trek: The Motion Picture if that helps explain where I'm coming from.

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Gotcha. You like bad movies.

[This message has been edited by Philip j fry (edited 5/17/2013 1:28p).]

I liked it a lot.

Still in the theatre as the credits roll and I thought it was awesome! I loved the first one as well and don't know which I will end up liking better at this point.

Waiting around to see if there's anything after the credits ...

update: there isn't

[This message has been edited by Inspector Spacetime (edited 5/17/2013 2:17p).]

The complaints I've seen from "critics" prove once again to bolster my lifelong decision never to listen to a single one of them.

I just got back from seeing it. It's a solid summer blockbuster. I think it's better, by far, than the first if simply for not having the slowass character build that a first in a series (especially a rehash of a proven dynasty) demands.

The fight scenes were numerous, and excellent. I've watched every Star Trek movie, series, and even saw the cartoons back when I was a kid. I don't consider myself a Trekkie, but I know a lot about "the universe" they exist in. All that to say that nitpicking this from a Trek nerd aspect is idiotic. Of course it's going to stray. If you wanted "The Wrath of Khan", it's easily viewable for way less than the cost of a movie ticket and snacks.

Man, not a bad review in this thread yet. After hearing how underwhelming it was after those initial screenings, you guys are getting my hopes up again...

I think I can explain the big difference in reviews. A lot of the complaints are valid complaints and ones I had as well. However, they are mostly nitpicky complaints. Fix the issues and the movie becomes top one or two Star Trek films. Don't fix them and the movie still stands as a very good film that is very enjoyable. I believe that the critics that hated it thought the issues were bigger than those that liked the movie.