Movie Review - Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek Beyond

Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoë Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella, Joe Taslim, Lydia Wilson, and more.

Directed by: Justin Lin Written by: Simon Pegg and Doug Jung Based on the series by: Gene Roddenberry Cinematography by: Stephen F. Windon Music by: Michael Giacchino

Premise: Three years into their five year mission, Kirk is wondering if he doesn't need a change. While visiting the new Yorktown space station, the Enterprise gets an unexpected mission. They are tasked to go rescue a stranded crew in an uncharted nebula. But the mission turns out to be something else entirely. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: The gang is back! And Karl Urban is too awesome. lol. I do love me some Dr. McCoy and he is so good at it! lol. Chris Pine does a nice job showing Kirk's drifting as he internally loses his way. Zachary Quinto continues to deliver those great flat line punche. And also we get some surprises from him as well. Anton Yelchin truly puts his stamp as Chekov this time around, which will make us miss him all the more. Sofia Boutella adds a nice extra layer as Jaylah. 

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: Some amazing stuff this time around with the special effects. Yorktown is super cool. Though I wish they'd slowed down the fast panning when we get our first look - it went way too fast. Which is a pity since it was so awesome! Let us enjoy your work! 

Kudos on making the bad guys' blasters/energy discharges look different. The energy had a funky shape, which was neat. The buildings and machinery of the ancient dwellings were rather neat. They definitely spoke of it being a different culture.

Though they were all still humanoid, we did get to see a whole range of new species in the film, which was awesome. I could not take my eyes off of Tyvanna and her cauliflower like layered head.

The swarm ships were rather nifty and looked cool. They way they were employed was rather brilliant. The Federation needs to get ahold of this metal!

If you see the film in 3D, the credits are a super treat as they show different planets, nebulas, and other gas fields. (Keep your eyes peeled for the giant green hand! I kid you not! lol) Lots of lovely work throughout the film.

3) Plot/Story - Thumbs Up: I've pretty much given up on the science making sense in this franchise anymore, so I don't even try. So if you can turn that part of your brain off, the film can be quite enjoyable. 

This is the film that bridges the old with the new. It's like we are at the cusp of them being at the point where we first meet them in the original series. They merge the new theme music with the old theme music even more than in the past. Snippets and lines get thrown in that are well known and even in-jokes allude to the old series. And at the end they wrap it up with those words we all know so well.

Kirk and Spock finds themselves at a cross-roads. It is for different reasons, yet the decisions they are poised to make can change everything. Kirk's ends up resonating as a recurring theme for several characters and even the main plot. There are some unexpected layers to why things are happening. So some things will seem odd until the explanations finally reveal what is not yet known. 

4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: Lots of phaser combat on the ship and on the planet. Explosions, gravity shifts, and more get people thrown all over the place. Nice job!

5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: As I mentioned earlier, they took the pan views of Yorktown way too fast. For the rest of the shots, however, you get some great views of the areas. The shots in space of the hive, the station, and the general mayhem in the first attack were fabulous.

Conclusion: Star Trek Beyond ties the old and new together. They still have issues with bad science. But if you can ignoring those, the film moves well and has plenty for audiences to enjoy. Some lovely in-jokes too!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price to See Again)

Movie Review - Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Starring: Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kevin Costner, Kenneth Branagh, Lenn Kudrjawizki, Alec Utgoff, Peter Anderson, Elena Velikanova, Nonso Anozie, and more.

Directed by: Kenneth Branagh Written by: Adam Cozad and David Koepp Based on Characters Created by: Tom Clancy Cinematography by: Hans Zambarloukos Music by: Patrick Doyle

Premise: After being hurt as a marine overseas, Jack Ryan finds a new goal for his life when recruited by a CIA operative who wants to use his high skills in economics to look for terrorist funds in banking institutions. So when he unearths the possibility of an economic attack on the US, Jack goes to Russia to do an audit. That's when he suddenly finds himself becoming a CIA operative, rather than a CIA administrative employee, because now people are trying to kill him. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Thumbs Up: Chris Pine does a good job as the young, and eager recruit, Jack Ryan. Keira Knightley had good chemistry with Pine and gave the character of Cathy some nice little quirks to endear her to the audience. It was good to see Kevin Costner again. He did quite well as Jack's CIA boss. While not given much to work with, Kenneth Branagh did good work as well, especially during his scenes with Keira - some great chemistry, good and later bad, between him and the character of Cathy as well.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: The special effects team gave us a few explosions and lots of cool looking computer screen activity. The final fight area must have given everyone a hard time - as they dealt with running water to the knees. Looked good though. And the final explosion of the film looked great.

3) Plot/Story - Neutral: For what the film set out to do, it was too short. It's only 105 minutes long. For some true character development and giving the audience a complicated plot, especially with spy thrillers, the requirement is at least 120 minutes, otherwise something won't get the attention it needs. Unfortunately for the "Shadow Recruit," the lack of proper time to tell the story ended up affecting several things.

Character development had many problems. There are four main figures in the film - Jack, Cathy, Thomas, and Viktor. Viktor's motivations made little sense, especially with what we find out late in the film. And aside from very small glimpses at the rest of them, there's not enough time to get to know any of them well. This unfortunately makes it harder to care about them. And if you don't get the audience to care about your characters, the battle is already lost.

Spy thrillers normally are complex puzzles filled with misdirects, surprises, and are full of tension. This definitely was not the case here. From very early on, we pretty much know the whole plan, just not the specific details, so no real puzzle there, just a time crunch for the hero. The couple of places they did try to surprise us were so minor as to make them nonexistent.

In some of the little things, though, the story was 'spot on'. Ryan's face during the end of his first battle. His lingering stare at the tub as he steps out of the bathroom in a later scene. The adorable way Jack and Cathy hook their pinkies in the car as they try to sell that they're a couple to the driver of the car. These lovely touches though only make the lack of fulfillment that much more sad. And the placement of the proposal flashback had a negative effect. Very odd.

4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: The film contains several fights and two chase scenes, and all were done well. The assassination attempt early on was brutal but awesome. It was the best of the lot.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Thumbs Up: Well, it was 'thumbs up' except for one area - and I was so shocked at the waste, it took some of the fun away.

When Jack reaches Russia and is being driven to his hotel, he passes several iconic Russian buildings. This is what one would figure to be a great opportunity to do some cinematography and show off these unusual sights, which work well at setting up the viewers to the new local and give the whole trip a foreign flavor. So I was shocked when the view outside Jack's window was unfocused and rushed! It's hard to envision what they could have had in mind at this point, unless they felt the audience is too familiar with these icons to be worth showing them off? Yet at other points in the film they made great use of buildings in the backgrounds to set mood or pin us to a location. So this made the blurred, unfocused scene make even less sense.

Conclusion: "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" is okay for a distraction, but fell far short of expectations. There wasn't really much 'spying' or 'thriller' about the entire affair. Tom Clancy caliber it definitely was not.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)

Movie Review - Star Trek Into Darkness

(I have Dallas Comic Con this weekend. So we went to the movies last night! Yay)

Star Trek Into Darkness

Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, Alice Eve, Leonard Nimoy, and more.

Directed by: J J Abrams Written by: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof Based on the TV series "Star Trek" by: Gene Roddenberry Cinematography by: Daniel Mindel Original Music by: Michael Giacchino

Premise: An act of terrorism followed by an unexpected attack on Star Fleet Headquarters sets James T Kirk on a path to hunt down the man responsible. Armed with new top secret, untrackable torpedoes, he's to follow John Harrison into Klingon space and destroy him before the Klingons discover them and drag the Federation into a full interstellar war. (Rated  PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Thumbs Up: I believe this is probably one of Chris Pine's best performances. The great chemistry between the characters comprising the core of the crew is definitely there and a lot of funny moments come from Zoe Saldana's and Zachary Quinto's interactions. While Karl Urban was one hundred percent Dr. McCoy and funny as always, it was Simon Pegg who pulled off the most comedic bits this time around. The only real disappointment in the acting area was the lack of use by the scriptwriters of Benedict Cumberbatch's awesome range. (If you've not seen the fabulous series "Sherlock" with Benedict Cumberbatch and  Martin Freeman, go do it now!) Peter Weller also did great, but lacked support in the script for his motivation.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: From the belly of a volcano to the crashing of spaceships, all the special effects work was 'top notch'. I especially liked the work on the mini-story at the beginning of the film - it truly felt like an alien world. The Klingon Birds of Prey actually flew like a bird when in atmosphere, which I found fascinating. This made the appearance of the dreadnaught and its almost 'cookie cutter' appearance to other Federation ships, despite its being a totally different class, rather odd.

There was also something they did that I couldn't figure out if it was on purpose, mostly because it wasn't consistent. John Harrison looked bigger than a standard human during the brig sequences and a couple of other places, but when standing next to Kirk or other characters, he was normal sized. Totally odd.

Lots of new aliens show up in this film. All humanoid, but definitely interesting. Watch for them in the background and not just inside the ships.

3)  Plot/Story - Neutral: There was some great stuff, there was some awful stuff.

For some of the bad - the science got in the way, so it was pitched out the window. Even traveling at maximum warp, it takes more than five minutes to reach the Klingon Empire, let alone their main planet of Cronos. The same applies for the trip back.

Transporter beams cannot beam you onto something that's moving. Since regeneration of the person on the other end is not instantaneous, it wouldn't move with the object being beamed onto. Also if the person you're trying to transport tries to run for it, the beam would not be able to keep a lock as it does not move.

Earth does have stations and other ships in orbit. They also have sensors. (This will make sense when you see it in context.) (There's more, but I will restrain myself.)

Another major issue was the motivation for one of the characters (not John Harrison). The total turn around of said character had nothing to substantiate it whatsoever. Not to the extreme used - it just wasn't believable. And with such a flaw, it took away from pretty much everything else that happened after, at least to me.

On the good side - lots and lots of in-jokes and acts of homage for the second of the original Star Trek movies. They even took several familiar scenes and twisted them for the new timeline. (Some worked really well, others not as much.) They also snuck in a "Damn it, Jim, I'm a doctor not a 'insert occupation here'!" which made my hubby very, very happy. A lot of the little moments were a lot of fun. Watching Spock being befuddled by the actions of those around him and vice versa, never gets old.

There were actually a few unexpected twists and surprises. One I'd told hubby my suspicions on six months or more ago after seeing the first trailers, so it made me giggle when he looked over at me in surprise when my guess did come to pass. Loved that Uhura got more screen time and was pivotal more than once. You go, girl!

I still want to know why the heck McCoy had a dead Tribble sitting around in sickbay.

4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: The hand-to-hand fight on Chronos was great! Wonderful intro for the Klingon race into the new universe.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: From the futuristic city of London to the ruins on Cronos, everything looked pretty amazing. The cloud field shot when Enterprise goes back to Earth was lovely.

Strangely, the only place that seemed not to fit was the Enterprise's engine room. The style and how it was set up clashed with the look of every other section in the ship. Very odd.

6) Costuming/Makeup - Thumbs Up: Overall the costuming and makeup departments did a marvelous job, especially with the new aliens, and giving Klingons a new yet old look. No green tinting at all on Spock's skin, making him less Vulcan, though Kirk got plenty of it in a scene towards the end.

The uniforms on ship were reminiscent of the original TV series uniforms, and they even had a few 'red shirt' jokes, but they clashed with the new gray and black uniforms worn Earthside. For Starfleet and the Federation being dedicated to peace, the hats and dark clothes gave the opposite impression and made Starfleet members look very militant. Seemed very out of place.

Conclusion: A fun thrill ride as long as you turn your brain off and not look at anything too closely. Lots of jokes and homage to the original series and movies, so in that respect, it was a lot of fun. The very end before the credits will make many very nostalgic.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Paying Full Price To See Again!)