Star Trek: Beyond

The third installment in the rebooted movie franchise, Star Trek--Beyond was, for me, one of the most anticipated movies for this summer.  I have been a fan of Star Trek since, well as long as I can literally remember.  The original series premiered a year after I was born (uh oh, letting the age cat out of the bag there..LOL!!), so I am one of those individuals who has been blessed to have grown up with this beloved franchise.  

I will say this upfront, I am in no way a fan of ALL the spin offs and such that have been presented through the years.  ST:TNG, Voyager, and ST:DSN were not at all to my liking. But, that is a set of reviews for another time (maybe, maybe not, we will see).   

This particular viewing was one of those rare times that I go in with the movie set on a very high pedestal.  My expectations are reasonable, but are at the same time very specific.  If the movie does not meet these expectations, I come out feeling both let down and somewhat upset.  This being because the makers of this franchise KNOW what the fans want, expect, and need from these movies. To do otherwise is a slap in the face of the fandom.  Slap them enough, and you WILL lose that fandom...plain and simple.  

With this particular release, there is the extra added loss of the actor that played one of the most beloved roles, that of Ensign Pavel Chekov.  I am not going to go into this part too much, other than to say that a truly talented young life was taken way too soon.  And, it is not without noting, in some form of cosmic foreshadowing, that Chekov's character was presented with more screen time in this chapter of the movies, than the other two movies combined.  And, for that I am tearfully grateful.  To get one last look at this gifted actor who did such a splendid job of bringing this character (my favorite by the way) to life for me, and the viewing audience.  Anton...you will be missed :(

As for my overall thoughts of Beyond, I must say they are very mixed.  First off, I think this installment would have been better served as a small screen, say television episode or movie event, adaptation rather than a large screen production.  I am saying this because, for me, it did not have that epic big screen feel to it, that those versions preceding it had. 

The plot line was okay, for what it was, but it in no way held up to its previous two installments with regards to suspense and action.  This movie never did, in my opinion, steadily pick up pace, pulling me to the end of my seat, ending in a crescendo of release.  From beginning to end it pretty much maintained the same pace--slow and deliberate.  Not at all what I have seen, or expect, in this movie franchise.

The bad guy in this one, portrayed by Idris Elba, was a bad guy only in that he aimed to do bodily harm to others.  With most of the baddies in these movies, whether you plan to or not, you develop some sort of disdain for them, a basic visceral, primal feeling.   You come away with a proverbial bad taste in your mouth.  In this case meh, not so much.  I mean, I know he was the bad guy, and I know he wanted to hurt those in the Federation, including our band of heroes, but that was about as far as it went for me.  Elba's portrayal fell, I would say well short of the other baddies featured before him, but that would mean I would have to admit that his performance was in the same zip code.  And that is not a statement I am prepared to make. 

Even the overall “tone” of the interactions of the three main characters, Kirk, Spock and McCoy was different.  It is hard to explain to those who are not life-long fans, but to those that are, you will get the meaning.  Sure Kirk and Spock had their usual disagreements, on everything, and Bones had his usual one-liners (that at this point are more redundant than funny), but the overall dynamic was off.  I am going to attribute that to the fact that J.J.Abrams handed over the reins on this one, as well as not the best choice in writers in tapping Simon Pegg.  It proved that just because you play a character in the movie series, it does not make you qualified to write a screenplay for such. 

There were also times, when the scenes were so dark, and poorly lit, that I had to take my 2-D glasses off just to try and see what was happening.  Nothing perturbs me more than paying good money to see a movie, and in reality not being able to see most of it.  They have successfully made many installments before this one, and the movie goers be able to follow and view the action.  So why not this one?  My theories, they thought that it would make it more suspenseful, but in actuality it played into the poor screenwriting even more.

Lastly, with a reported budget of $185,000,000, they would have been better off not putting it all into the special effects.  From the beginning of the franchise, including the big screen movie reboots, this was a series that did NOT rely heavily on special effects—plain and simple.  The success was in the screenplay, the story, and the characters.  But, this version diverted from that formula, and came across as a (dare I say it?) a Star Wars wannabe (gasp!!!).

I will say that the character of Jaylah was a nice addition, and the actress that portrayed her did a bang up job.  Her interactions with each of the crew members were spot on, and reminiscent of the original series days.  This is one character that would be great to see in the next movie (given there is one after this one…time and profits will tell).

I give this one a 4 out of 5 stars—I cannot bring myself to give it any less, and call myself a true Star Trek fan.  But, on the other hand, there are a lot of problems with this one—so if you take that into consideration this rating is very generous.  

Written by:  Tracy Few

Ghostbusters---Answer The Call

Okay, now you may not be afraid of no ghost—but be very afraid of plopping down your hard earned money for this snooze–fest of a poorly attempted remake. 

I willed myself to go into the viewing of Ghostbusters with no (well little to no) preconceived notions.  I even did a rarity for me, I didn’t read any reviews, and stayed completely away from the spoilers.  I wanted to let the movie speak for itself.  And what pray tell did it say?  Well, a whole lot of nothing!!

Like a baby speaking gibberish this movie honestly made no sense.  There were holes so big in the plot line that Slimer would have had no trouble driving the Ecto 1 right through them.  It just seemed like a hodge-podge of ideas, thrown together, with a group of actors (excuse me…actresses) just going through the motions. 

Which brings me to another point—females?  What?  Huh? Ummm…why?  Now, before all the feminists start throwing profanities and threatening to boycott this blog, I AM A FEMALE.  This is not gender bashing, this is just a gosh honest observance.  This remake would have been much better served without the main cast all being female. 

This was not one of Melissa McCarthy’s more shining moments either.  And the selection for her fellow cast mates was not the best choices in the world by far.  Although, the casting of Kate McKinnon as Holtzmann, I will say, was a true spark of genius.  She was the only shining light, with her crazy antics and her zany personality.  Her portrayal harkened back to the antics of Bill Murrays Peter Venkman in the original version. 

True, I am a die-hard fan of the original.  And true, I am not one to take change well.  But I am also a firm believer that when something isn’t broke, don’t fix it.  The original is and will continue to be a classic.  Even in its time, it was revered as such.  What my fear is, with this remake, is that future movie viewers will look at this film, and think that they do not want to mess with watching the original.  And in all honesty that would be a real shame.

And, why oh why was Chris Hemsworth cast (well I know why—for eye candy—but we will assume that is not the reason) as a total buffoon?  The man has such a great talent for acting, to allow himself to be seen in such an idiotic manner is, well, an insult to the craft.  His only saving grace was during the end credits.  I am not saying he regained any respect in this role from the end credits, but again he didn’t lose any more.

The one thing that I can say made the movie tolerable for me, was the cameos of the actors from the original.  Everyone from Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray, Sigorney Weaver, Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson, Slimer, and yes even the Sta-Puffed Marshmellow Man were there.  Although briefly, but they were there.  It was really all that made me pay attention through the movie, so that I would not miss their appearances.  I can say I was more than a little heartbroken when Rick “I am the gate-keeper” Moranis didn’t have a cameo.  But, I have sense googled the reason, and can now better come to grips with his absence.  Still, he was my favorite from the original, and he was missed.

So, all in all, for me, this was a summer movie flop.  The pros were the cameos of the original movies stars and the end credits of Chris Hemsworth.  The cons, well, the cons are way too many to mention. 

I can’t help but wonder who sold their soul to Crowley to get this one made.  And if they did, I think Crowley came on the other side of this deal the clear winner. 

I give this one 3 out of 5 stars--and feel I am being more than generous.

Written by:  Tracy Few