The new Star Trek film… It’s about the consequences…
(5/8/2009)
Puck’s Review – A+
I went to see the new Star Trek film last night and the thing that struck me was that all the reboots of recent franchises like Batman, James Bond, and Star Trek are grittier and more difficult for the characters.
American action movies developed this cliche where the hero would punch some trash-talking bad guy and then recite a canned pithy statement. It was tame and safe violence that reinforced the cowboy aesthetic that we were always right and violence was justified. We’ve lived through the Bush era now and Americans as a culture have begun to understand that the pithy cliches have consequences in the real world.
In the film Witness, we see this play out magnificently when Harrison Ford is accompanying an Amish community into the local town. When a redneck heckler starts bullying the Amish, Harrison Ford punches him. It’s classic cowboy cliche and we’re all prepared to lean back and feel good about it until the camera remains on the scene and we start to see the uncomfortable consequences of the violence.
In the first five minutes of the Star Trek film, we see an unwinnable conflict in which people die. I remember when Americans thought women shouldn’t be in combat, but here you see women not only fighting, but dying as well. It’s harsh, jarring, and more sincere.
It’s clear that these characters are paying a price for their actions. When Kirk fights in the bar it isn’t Smokey and the Bandit, it’s more like Fight Club and his face is so bloody and battered at the end, that you worry he’s going to lose teeth. Kirk’s life is hard and he’s struggling to cope. His battered face and the visible emotional struggle behind it are light years away from Shatner’s suave, father-knows-best character.
That’s what makes the film so fresh and powerful.
Hmm. I soooo want to go see this.
I may have to break down and go by myself this evening.
By Rhiannon on May 11, 2009 8:29 pm
The big debate between the Star Trek fans I hang out with here is whether it is better than Wrath of Khan. It’s a tough call for me. I mean… as one of my friends has said, “Khan is quoting Milton at the end!”
“To the last, I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart, I stab at thee; for hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee.”
By puck on May 12, 2009 4:59 pm
Ahem… That should be Melville and not Milton.
By puck on May 13, 2009 5:35 pm
On the way back from Kalamazoo I had a discussion with someone who was talking about the fact that action movies perpetuate a belief in “redemptive violence.” Her point was that in real life, violence does not actually create better outcomes. I’m not sure I can go that far, but I see her point– most often violence doesn’t redeem a situation, it just makes it different (and violent).
In the newest Star Trek movie, violence seems to be predicated on a certain level of madness. Even the bar fight is about Kirk being a bit unstable, not about ideals or principles. It doesn’t pretend that it’s redeeming anything. (Well, unless one counts “hitting the bottom of the barrel before you can push off and come back up” a form of redemption.)
Chewy thoughts.
By Rhiannon on May 16, 2009 7:11 pm