The Escapist Presents: MovieBob Reviews Star Trek

[Julius M]

In the end I think he under stated what I felt was the biggest flaw in the movie - A bunch of Cadets are given control of a federation flagship which has hundreds of people on board who should be far better qualified. If you really need 24 year-olds to take command of a starship, find a way to do it that is not insulting.

See, this is just a complaint that makes it look like you didn't pay attention to the movie. The only cadet who honestly had no reason to get anything was Kirk. McCoy and Scot are nearly 40 and are a qualified doctor and a qualified engineer, Sulu appears to be a pilot in training so not just some cadet and Uhara knows more than the qualified person she replaces.

If you really want to complain about the movie find something to complain about. This is just as silly as the complaint about the bridge looking like "an apple store" instead of something put together at the Ikea.

 

[JayDig]

Always enjoy Moviebob reviews and this one was no different.

Even with a great movie or game, whether I'm a fan or not, I want to know what other people hate about it.

Moviebob's vids might not be as slick or funny as some other reviewers, but at least I don't have to read.

 

[bickster]

I have now met the first thing I don't like on this entire site. I listened to this review and went back and listened to others and I think man you just need to stop hating the world. I know a-hole attitude draws ratings and contreversy, but I won't listen to another thing you say. You don't bring up merits to what makes it good or bad, you spend the first 2-3 minutes going off on some tangent that has nothing to do with the review itself. To me it just seems to be that if you hate everything and swear about it, it will be fine.

As a stand alone film meant to present Star Trek something that people grew up loving to a new generation to enjoy I think the movie did very well. You can't blame anything on the script writers as I recall Mr. Spok had the final say on EVERYTHING that went into the script and everything that had to go out. So I think you need to do your research a little more instead of just spouting off at the mouth for no reason what so ever. When you become more professional then maybe I would give you a chance, but until then I feel you are an unprofessional hack and The Escapist should get rid of you.

PS> This had nothing to do with your review of the movie. I accept that people will always like/hate things, it's the way you present yourself.

 

[Remove this account]

For all that is Geeky and Holy stop trying to be Yahtzee, as you are definitely NOT close to that quality and humor. This is the first and last time I will watch this dreck. Ugh... I feel dirty for just watching this review.

 

[MovieBob]

I'm really, REALLY not looking to get into the "old Trek vs. new Trek" thing because, really, I don't care - my issues with this movie are with filmmaking, not continuity trivia. But, on the following points...

I watched the film last night and have spent the morning watching old star trek videos online... and MY GOD.. that is some of the most boring dialoge and acting i have ever seen...
Seriously, how did people get hooked onto that?? the script was dry, the acting poor, the visual effects were worse than the orriginal star wars which did well with the technology of the time. There was too much time spent sitting around chatting..

Just to one point, here: "Star Wars" was made in the late-70s, more than fifteen years after trek had aired. It's also a feature film as opposed to a season-long cache of television episodes, so the technical comparison isn't really "apt."

And what you said about ahora is wrong... in the old star treks she appeared to do nothing... would ocasionally say something but never of importance.. saying she was a role model and inspiration to women is wrong, she showed what women of the time were thought of as..

I'd say this is an area where time needs to be taken into account. The series was on the air in the early-60s, during which time many schools, places of business and even whole sections of the COUNTRY were still segregated and African-Americans were LEGALLY discriminated against. Having a black woman in the main cast of the TV series in a role where she was as smart as (or smarter than) most of the cast in a job where she wasn't, say, bringing Captain Kirk his coffee... that was IMEASURABLY huge. The new Uhura, by contrast, has about the same "sized" role but via that stagnation it's a step backwards. The first iteration of this character had a much bigger role than almost any other black woman in entertainment in it's time, while by contrast the "new" version has much LESS import than the average female character in THIS time. In fact, this is one of the most phallocentric ("primarily male-focused") science fiction films in some time, which IMO is a bit sad.

who would like a boring film with amazing script and deep emotional charachters rather than to be entertained.

See, this is exactly the problem: An "AMAZING" script (your words) would be entertaining. The two concepts are not mutually-exclusive - a movie does not have to be DUMB to be fun, just as a fun movies does not need to dumb itself down to "work." "The Dark Knight" had one of the smartest scripts and some of the deepest, most emotional characters of any film that year and it was "fun" as all hell - AND it made more money than "Star Trek" will make, I can damn-near GARAUNTEE you that

 

[MB202]

Well, I guess this is why I'm neither a movie buff or Star Trek fan; I can't really complain about it, seeing as I enjoyed it.

My dad grew up watching Star Trek, though, and he enjoyed it. He even said that the new Kirk smiles/smirks like the original Kirk did.

 

[kappa99]

Let me review your review.
SPOILER WARNING
1. Too nasal, my ears are bleeding
2. Production values? Looks and sounds like it was done on an eepc that was on fire at the time
3. Spent most of that review watching blank red screens.... and they were the best bits
4. You are not Yahtzee, punctuate
5. Star Trek is not, nor has it ever been, high art. You are judging a popcorn blockbuster by arthouse values
6. You are not Yahtzee

 

[aciid_raiin]

Im going to have to agree with most people here, this review sucked.
I dont see how you can say Transformers was a bad movie, i thought it was an awesome movie.
Star Trek did have its moments of boredom, but overall i thought it was great. Im not a huge star trek fan, but i do know whats going on in the movie... maybe thats why i enjoyed it *shrug*
The only thing i would change about this star trek movie would change Zachary Quinto (Spock) for someone else, im too used to him being a bad guy as sylar in heroes (I do admit he did a good job tho).

 

[mrverbal]

See, the problem with this review is you are an overly self important uber-nerd wannabe. Yes, this film had some problems, although not the ones you mention (PS, if dropping a vial of goup which turns into a black hole, drilling into the centre of the planet seems unnecessary). Yes, there was some 'fate crap' going on, but it wasn't particularly heavy handed - really, the changes to the timeline primarily only effect Kirk. Everyone else who was there was more or less already in the right 'place' given it is a reboot and some changes necessarily occur.

And as for your other complaints: Yes, I agree that kirk was the weakest role in the film (except possibly spock's dad!) but you're comparing him to william shatner. Bad acting is practically required.

And I agree with the onion: Your basic problem with this film is that it wasn't a boring pile of suck, and might be accessible to other people. Plenty of big star trek nerds I know have seen this, and so far it is a roaring success with them. Sure, maybe no true scotsman...sorry, trekkie...will like it. Whatever.

But what boggles my mind is you don't even discuss the problems with the plot which are actual problems. Yea, yea, destiny. W/e, it's a story. But an exploding sun puts the whole galaxy in peril of destruction? and destroys a planet not in its solar system? And...

oh, wait. You're a trekkie. Bad science is part of the appeal.

 

[sarahvait]

So I ask Moviebob, to quote awesomeness, are you not entertained?!

Yes. Mildly, with MASSIVE reservations. Hence the 6 out of 10. It's an OKAY movie being massively overhyped largely - from where I sit - because people are (for a variety of reasons) amazed that it was any good at all

I suppose that makes sense then. I saw the movie last night and loved it. Loved the casting, the fanservice one-liners (I had happy moments with McCoy's "Dammit man, I'm a doctor" and Scotty's "I don't have the power!"), and I liked a lot of the little moments of character relationships that showed through (I don't know how to actually explain this part. An example I can think of is when Kirk is sitting in the captain's chair and Spock tells him to get out of it).

Spoiler

That being said, there are certainly plenty of things I can pick at. Nero's whole motivation was a bit meh for me (ARGH, my wife's dead, I will go cause massive destruction and pain to achieve my goals!). Nevermind Wrath of Khan, wasn't this the same motivation the villian in Generations had? Plus the fact that at the end, after all his spewings to Pike about how "I'm doing it to protect Romulas(sp?)", he says he'd rather see Romulas (sp?) destroyed than accept help from the Enterprise. Seriously? So the whole time this guy was just throwing a hissy fit to hurt everyone he felt hurt him? Nero's character felt a bit lacking in comparison to everyone else, though I guess most of the other main players had an established character to build on, while Nero is completely new.

And did Scotty really need that little alien sidekick? Felt unneccesary to me. And the end, the thing is suddenly in Starfleet? They never even said what the hell that thing could do; from the movie it seems to be able to be annoying/in the way.

Kirk's suddenly promotion to first officer was suspect too, albeit something I was willing to overlook for the most part. I get that Pike has seen Kirk's aptitude tests and apparently Kirk is amazingly brilliant in whatever it is those tests are, so he has extreme faith in Kirk's abilities, but still. I suppose you can say that the situation was desperate and Pike honestly felt Kirk was the best choice out of everyone, considering the entire crew was made up of cadets anyway.

eh, that's about all I can think of

 

[Yog Sothoth]

I really enjoyed this Star Trek flick... While it was far from perfect (and what movie is?) I think that MovieBob needs to lighten up a bit. This is the best "Trek" since First Contact and a spectacular shot in the arm for the franchise.

MovieBob, I'm sure that you could easily find a copy of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, perhaps you should've just watched that instead...

 

[ChunX]

All I will say is this, I don't think MovieBob and I saw the same film... I have been a Star Trek fan as long as I can remember (somewhere my Mother has a picture of me sitting in a cardboard box watching TOS when I was three...) and I loved this film. It was the first time in a very long time that Star Trek felt exciting to me again. Plus, people seem to forget that the "mythos" associated with the series took years to establish, where as these people are trying to open the eyes of a brand new audience to it in a matter of two short hours, and guess what, it's working. They've gotten the asses in the seats, and they will certainly return when they make the sequel where this new Star Trek will be free to expand the way the series' and other films did.

As a sidenote, I give it two years before we see Chris Pine in a romantic comedy opposite some A-list bimbo, he's just got it written all over him. Hell, he may have already signed for one...

 

[Euphony]

You cuss too much.

 

[Uncompetative]

There seems to be some disappointment with the new Star Trek film amongst fans of the original TV series. I did try to warn you...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.78264?page=1

By the way, I still haven't seen it and still won't unless...

Spoiler: Somehow forced to for my own 'good'.

 

[Jallis370]

No, Bob, NO. Stop it. Just stop it.

 

[Zenn3k]

I fail to see all the coincidences he was referring to in this review. The only real over the top "coincidence" (incoming spoiler) involves Spock and Kirk on the ice planet.

Besides that, everything else makes sense. Bones is on the shuttle to join Star Fleet for his own reasons and meets Kirk there, thats not a coincidence, thats how people MEET other people and become friends. Maybe Bob doesn't make friends, I dunno.

Also, they all end up on the Enterprise because they are all top students, this makes sense as well. The Enterprise is the Flagship of the fleet, only the best get to serve on it. They are the best, hence they are there, its logical. What about Sulu? He was assigned because he was the best replacement, logical. Uhurah is the best at her spot, logical. Spock is one of the top students/Teachers in all of Star Fleet, obviously he is on there. These aren't coincidences, these are where these characters are SUPPOSE to be serving.

That part of the review was poorly thought out, you say 20+ of them when there is really only 1 thats a little...lets say "hokey".


I overall enjoyed the movie a lot. Bones was perfect, new Spock was good, Nimoy gave a rather unique version of himself in this one acting far more emotional which I found interesting. Uhurah was...okay, she did her job. I don't get the thing with Spock going on and felt that could have been explained, but its not enough to ruin the movie. Sulu was good, although its hard to take that actor out of the Harold and Kumar movies for me. I did however hate Chekov and found him very very annoying. Scotty was okay. Kirk was done well, I saw no real problem and felt and "changes" between him and Shatner can be easily explained via alternate reality.

I've give the movie 8.5/10 easily.

Oh, and yes, Wolverine sucked really really hard.
Here is looking forward to Terminator Salvation.

 

[djpobletay]

maybe its me but bob seems so wound up in his vision of how things were(ex old star trek) that he instantly views things that change what he is familiar with poorly. He cant open his mind to something different. I bet that if the new star trek was filmed on a $50 set with a $30 camera he would have loved it. He is a pessimist. He starts off saying the film is crap and points out all these reasons why it is crap and only says about 3 things good about it. I think that the reason star trek was rated so bad was that he never gave it a chance. He had this whole idea that it was going to be crap, because it had a different view on his childhood icons, and that is what he thinks it is now. I was the same way with transformers, i hated the lead actor, but i gave it a chance and i liked it, still dont like the actor but found a new favorite actress.

 

[Hrtn4Sqrtn]

Moviebob this is the first review I have ever seen of yours....and it will be my last. You started the review with 2:30 of why this movie would be crap and then spent the next 3:30 telling us that it is crap. Then you say with your score that you were "generously" giving it a 6/10. I don't know if you checked www.rottentomatoes.com lately but Star Trek is raking in a solid 95% rating. Maybe this is the reason you are ranting like an idiot on a poorly made video instead of writing decent reviews with actual thought and reason. Perhaps you should have checked your blatant fanboyism at the door and enjoyed it for what it was. An exciting, entertaining, engrossing, and overall fantastic movie that made Star Trek relevant for the first time in over 10 years.

 

[Sonofmogh]

OH MY GOD! When I went to see this movie in the theaters (and I'm a HUGE HUGE TREKKIE (and I saw it out of a sense of obligation)) I said to my dad (who was there with me) "looks like they turned the bridge into an apple store!" Now that you've also made that joke in your review I feel very funny. Thank you very much!

P.S. I love your Game Overthinker videos!!

 

[fasteddie_felson]

Movie Bob, your review did suck. you are one bile filled unhappy person. Now on to the movie. It was really entertaining. Funny, light, fast, likable character reboots leaving me wanting more. check out spill.com on how a fun movie review is done. Check out rottentomatoes.com to see how badly out of step your take on Star Trek was. Fresh 95% rating. So let's sum up: You are one nasty whiner who says "fuck" too much. Your review of Star Trek is completely off. A fun movie that doesn't cure cancer, but is certainly a great time at the movies. Try therapy. Get a puppy. Try to get laid. Do something. You are one sour person.