Not Again! Gotta Finish. Boldly Going Where Everyone Has Gone Before?
Alright, so the teaser for the upcoming
Star Trek into Darkness (2013) has appeared today. Check it out
here and we'll talk. I've linked to the Japanese version as it contains around 15 seconds of extra footage. I would have linked to the official trailer on Apple, but they won't let you link directly to files, sorry about the ad. Back? good. In general, I admit it's looking pretty cool and I'll definitely be there on opening day as
Star Trek is one of my favorite things. In fact, if they hadn't decided
Star Trek was a universally appealing summer-type franchise now, the movie would likely already be out (
Trek films were historically a November affair until the studio execs apparently liked Abrams' new take on the series so much they delayed it to the summer of 2009). It also, once again, seems like we're back on the road to Khan territory, which by no means is the end of the world, I just feel like something could have been done in a similar vein (Gary Mitchell?) but the new subject might have been more interesting. However, what I really wanted to talk about is this, my fanboy plea for all those who make movies for fanboys: can we get a new type of plot please? Alright, hear me out:
Yes,
The Dark Knight (2008) was amazing, due, in no small part, to Heath Ledgers' brilliant performance. It also made a ton of money and I get that. The Joker was a great character and was the epitome of the new grim and gritty/reboot world that most of these films now inhabit. Then we had
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) which, while certainly alright, tweaked the whole 'mad man of chaos' motif into more of an anarchist/revenge one. I know some people really enjoyed it but it really didn't do anything for me personally. Bane (Tom Hardy) was certainly an amusing antagonist though no Heath Leger. But that's fine - honestly Bane was probably my favorite part of that movie. If anything, I felt like Batman himself just wasn't as interesting as the previous films. However that's neither here nor there, something to be addressed in its own review. Once again, though, that's fine, especially as it's Nolan's followup to his own movie. He can do whatever he wants. Great.
But then we had
Skyfall (2012), the newest Bond film, which feels like more of the same. Yes, it was a good movie, but I'm starting to get a little tired of the same plot now. The whole time my first thought was 'wow, this is basically like a James Bond version of one of Christopher Nolan's Batman movies'. Again, I still felt it was a good movie, it looked amazing and had some great action set-pieces, but it didn't enthrall me the way it seemed to do with others.
Further, we now have the
trailer for Shane Black's
Iron Man 3 (2013) which presents the Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley) in a very similar, Bane-esque society challenging/revenge light. Their voices even sound vaguely similar. Basically, the trailer consists of the Mandarin warning us not to be too comfortable with society and the he's going to break
Batman er, Tony Stark. And now, at least from the poster/trailer, the next
Star Trek film seems to be going down the very same path. Note, the very same narration combined with a personal/societal vendetta and the very same montage of destruction. This is not to imply that I don't think either film will be good. Far from it. I'm just concerned that every film of this genre that appeared over the last couple years (with the exception of
Marvel's The Avengers (2012)) has fallen into this mold. We've been here before guys, show us something new.
Not Again! Gotta Finish. Boldly Going Where Everyone Has Gone Before?
Since everyone posts on Facebook instead of here, I thought I'd share a couple more thoughts from there:
ReplyDeleteFirst, it was pointed out that the first Star Trek (2009) employed a similar madman/revenge angle all on it's own, which is fair, however I would say that's all the more reason not to go right back there immediately.
Secondly, as to my opinion of whether the movie will feature Khan or Gary Mitchell:
Gary Mitchell fits better with the title - as a space phenomenon did it (while they're literally 'treking into darkness'). Plus, that would make more sense given the limited amount of time Kirk and crew have been active. Further, there's a blonde woman shown in the trailer that could be Mitchell's girlfriend... *looks it up* = Dr. Elizabeth Dehner (Khan also had a lady-friend on Kirk's ship but she had red hair). So that could very well be it (as I hope it is because I think it would be much more interesting - I wouldn't be offended if they did Khan but I think it's much too soon for it).
On the other hand, a couple things in the teaser gave me pause: Mitchell was never really out for revenge, much less against Star Fleet. He only fought Kirk since the man was trying to kill him. Also, I get the impression from the trailer that someone who's been gone for a while is coming back (as well as the early synopses, about a mysterious person attacking outposts); Mitchell (at least in the show) was with Kirk the whole time. In addition, during the narration, Benedict Cumberbatch, whoever he plays, says something about 'protecting his family' - Mitchell didn't really have a family, though Khan did. Finally, if you watch the Japanese teaser at least, one of the final shots calls back to the death of Spock in TWoK.
I suppose it's possible that they're doing Mitchell but using marketing to try an make us think it's Khan (which would amuse me to no end). They could slightly tweak things and wind up doing a Wrath of Mitchell instead; leave things as they were in the TOS episode and then have it be Mitchell who comes back from Kirk's past to raise hell. It has the merit of playing with our expectations while letting them forge their own, new path. It would be surprising and could be a lot of fun.
Update 12/10/12: Cumberbatch's character is named as 'John Harrison' in one of the publicity stills, which doesn't appear to be a reference to anything that's come before, however this may well be a ruse. On the other hand, an article on IGN (http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/12/11/star-trek-into-darkness-revelations) claims they were told Alice Eve will, in fact, be playing none other than Dr. Carol Marcus. While Khan-related (at least the Wrath thereof,) it doesn't make sense to bring Kirk's son into the picture at this point. Perhaps she's present merely to set things in motion for the future?
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