Star Trek: The Wrath of Spoilers
Our review of Star Trek Into Darkness is coming up. First feed cats (If the kibble dish is not full they consider it empty. They’re glass full/empty types.), then very late lunch, then movie, then review.
Based on the trailers we expect Star Trek: The Wrath of the Cumberbatch. British thespian rays on kill. He flattens everyone with his basso profundo.
* * * * *
IN CASE THE TITLE DOES NOT GIVE SUFFICIENT WARNING, THIS POST CONTAINS A SPOILER.
We do not understand the producers’ coyness over the identity of the villain in the new Star Trek movie. When the cast was announced and everyone said, “A-ha! It’s Khan,” the producers said, “Oh no, no spoilers.” When the trailers appeared and everyone said, “A-ha! It IS Khan,” they were still going, “Oh no, no, no spoilers”, even if the movie’s IMDB page stated that the Cumberbatch was playing Khan.
And now that the movie’s out and the villain is (AVERT YOUR EYES NOW if your enjoyment of a movie would be seriously hampered by knowing the identity of the enemy because ours certainly wasn’t) Khan, will the producers deny denying it? Your viewing may actually be enhanced by re-viewing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (the only good Star Trek movie with the classic cast), in which the crew of the Enterprise is up against a super-intelligent being played by Ricardo Montalban. We haven’t seen Wrath of Khan (WOK) in ages, but we shudder at the memory of earworms yiiiiiiii and weep over this.
Directed by J.J. Abrams, who apparently has first dibs on the mega-franchises, Star Trek Into Darkness is both a prequel and a response to WOK. Retrofitting creates certain problems, like how does the Brit-est of Brits wake up in the future as a Latin lovah in an open shirt? Worry about that later. Into Darkness (ID) is big, loud and messy, with a life-threatening situation every ten minutes, huge explosions and a high body count. (And lens flares!)
Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto), comic relief Scotty (Simon Pegg), resident nag Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban, who comes very very close to saying, “He’s dead, Jim”), Mr. Sulu (John Cho), Lt. Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Mr. Chekhov (Anton Yelchin is aging backwards so he looks like he cut high school gym class) are sent off in pursuit of terrorist John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch, who looks fabulous and more Spock than Spock), a Starfleet officer who inexplicably attacks Starfleet installations. They are joined by a new weapons officer (Alice Eve), whose chief weapon is a gratuitous underwear scene. They chase Harrison into Klingon territory, where they risk starting a war with the Klingons.
The plot is daft and the storytelling needlessly complicated by the attempt to ratchet up the suspense. ID is not that suspenseful (Oh. He’s Khan.), but it is highly entertaining. It’s as if Abrams and his writers assembled a bunch of Trekkies and asked them to complete the sentence: Wouldn’t it be cool if the Enterprise ____________________?
We had a blast and will see it again. (There was some confusion over the exact opening date in Manila—some ads said May 15, some 16.) Our apologies to the people sitting near us: we could not help going “Uuuyyyyyyy” whenever Kirk and Spock had a moment. In our defense, we were Trekkies before we saw Star Wars or read Tolkien, so those two are practically our Mom and Dad.
Speaking of Spocks: the nerdiest commercial in the history of man.
Cross-nerd reference: The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. (Does William Shatner feel bad about never being invited to these things?)
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
May 16th, 2013 at 00:56
re: The Challenge
hahahahahahahaha!!!!!
May 16th, 2013 at 12:38
yup! loved it and will watch it again! zachary quinto is very, very good here. lots of brits (a friend of mine included) didn’t like cumberbatch as khan (they find him hammy), his performance here reminded me of anthony hopkins’ hannibal lecter (seems like hopkins’ portrayal has become a template). oh, and yeah, and it’s an edge-of-your-seat experience (mine was, anyway).
May 16th, 2013 at 13:34
Understated pa yon. Khan IS pure jamon. It’s a tradition. Ricardo Montalban!
May 16th, 2013 at 13:38
I love that Kia commercial! Hearing Nimoy sing “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” makes me giggle every single time.
I still cannot get over the Khan spoilers, though. That shouldn’t stop me from watching this as soon as I return to Manila.
May 16th, 2013 at 17:25
We don’t think the Audi people would like that haha.
May 17th, 2013 at 01:41
exciting at fun siya panoorin pero walang AHA moment!!!
Overall di ko siya bet di ako maka connect at yung Jestoni Alarcon moment ni Capt. Kirk ay di kapani paniwala. Si Scotty ay Madam Elma (ng See True) lang ang peg duh as if!!!
Dyosko at yung salamin with matching hand sign ay nasuya ako sa pagka KESO wala akong naramdaman at yung fight scene ni Spock di ko ma feel pekeng pekeng ang dating paminta level .
5/10 Rate ko
May 17th, 2013 at 13:22
Sana kasama ka ng kaibigan namin na nag-walkout sa pelikula dahil may dalawang fanboys na ang iingay. Bawa’t sabihin ng crew, tumatawa sila para ipahiwatig na gets nila ang lahat ng sinasabi. At sumigaw pa ng “It’s Khan!!!” Kahit lumipat ng upuan ang kaibigan namin, naririnig pa rin sila. Hindi na siya makatiis kaya nilapitan ang dalawa ang nagsabing, “Could you please contain yourselves!” tapos na siya dahil sira na ang mood niya.
Dapat sinabi niya: “Aminin niyo na na nagmamahalan kayo at kiss na, para makapanood na kami nang tahimik!”
May 17th, 2013 at 14:16
“Si Scotty ay Madam Elma (ng See True) lang ang peg duh as if!!!”
I stand corrected pala si Bones pala sinasabi ko Not Scotty yung bomobohay ng banggay.
FYI nakasabay na kitang manood ng sine “Little Miss Sunshine” sa Greenbelt nasa harap ka namin may kasama kang jubis na naka glass gusto ko ngang mag ask papiktyur kaya lang na shy ako at baka i Barbara Streisand mo ako eh you look Rita Gomez pa naman that time.
May 17th, 2013 at 15:52
I am more of a Star Wars fan than Star Trek, but the 2009 film made me a fan of the reboot and I have been waiting for this movie for 4 years! So yeah, a fan of new Star Trek and Sherlock, what’s not to love about it? So I’ve watched the movie on the 15th in 2D and yesterday on Imax. I can feel the vibrations every time the batch speaks and oh my, what a performance! Critics are divided about the film, but one thing they are unanimous about is the magnificent performance of Benedict Cumberbatch. Of course I am biased, being a shameless Cumberbabe and all but I have been reading most of the reviews around the globe, per every country it opens ( yup no social life! ) and every superlative adjectives had been thrown in his direction including a possible Oscar nod (which I doubt knowing how the Oscars regard these “popcorn movies”).
To each his own I suppose because the comment above is the first time I read of a bad review about said performance. That’s cool, no argument here; but generalizing that lots of Brits didn’t like the Batch’s villainous turn is a leap if your source is a single Brit or two unless an official survey has been made? From what I know, BC is one of the most loved star in the UK especially right now (the UK reviews has been nothing but mad love for the guy)– not just by his fans but his peers in the industry. All his cast mates have done nothing but gush (not an exaggeration) about him- esp Zach Quinto (love love the audi commercial!! ) and Chris Pine (loveliest shade of blue eyes I’ve seen but totally outperformed by BC and ZQ). JJ Abrams and his writers called him a genius, in fact he said everybody in the cast stood a little taller when he’s around. If he is “hammy” then he’s first class hamon is what I’m saying. But then again it may just be me, blind spot and all.
I love the film, I love the cast ( Alice Eve I’m not sure) I love JJ Abrams ( Star Wars yay!! ) but I’m not blind to how convoluted the plot is, the timeline. I must admit the storyline went over my head the first viewing; I was busy ogling the guy with the tight black shirt and leather pants being all nasty and hot and stuff. But the second time I understand what the other half of the critics were saying. And since I am really ignorant of the ST canon, BC’s character being spoiled (accidentally!) for me before viewing did not make so much impact.
Plot be damned, I enjoyed the ride! I’m watching again tomorrow, in 3D!
PS sorry for making too much of a case about the batch, you know how I am about him Ms Jessica. Yup, should write my own blog if I’m to post a super long comment. Didn’t mean to offend anyone, just making a point. I know I said Cumberbabe, but Cumberbitch is sometimes more appropriate, heheh. Long live and may the force be with you! (I’m still laughing at the “kia commercial”)
May 17th, 2013 at 17:54
Silly me, typing while dumb. Of course it’s an Audi commercial, hahahaa.
But the people who should be losing out on that bet are the folks at Mercedes, though. That was a sweet vintage ride that Nimoy’s got there.
Now I shall sit on my hands and wait until I get to watch it in Manila…
(Jessica, will you also be reviewing the Gatsby movie too? I read that the folks at Cannes were scratching their heads over it.)
May 17th, 2013 at 22:04
Enthusiasm is welcome, just don’t make this speech at the cinema while watching the movie.