LIKE ROUGHLY A jillion people across North America, I saw the new Star Trek this weekend, and loved it.
[SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE FOLLOW]
But it took the kung fu of John Rogers to point out how the movie also kicks most of what you know about heroic storytelling on its ass:
The rest is well, well worth your time.
Captain James T. Kirk, the protagonist of the movie, does not have the development executive's beloved "character arc." He has no arc at all.
He starts as an arrogant sonovabitch, and becomes a slightly more motivated arrogant sonovabitch. He does not learn to sacrifice, he does not learn to work well with others -- he takes over the goddam ship. He's right all the time, he never doubts he's right, and the only obstacle he occasionally faces is when other people aren't sharp enough to see how frikkin' awesome -- and right -- he is as quickly as they should.
He never has an end-of-Act-Two "low point." Being stranded on the ice planet? Please. He spends those few minutes dictating a memo about bringing Spock up on charges when -- not if, when -- he rejoins the fleet. Oh yes, and then not one but two deus ex machina's get him back to the ship in time.
Does he learn Spock's precious lesson about fear? No. Does he learn what it was like for his father to willingly stare death in the face and sacrifice himself? FUCK no, that's Spock in the starship in the end, making the kamikaze run.
5 rumbles:
Can't wait to see it again. THE BEST. And as someone pointed out (print? online?), you realize how damn hard it is to be James T. Kirk - the man of action. I actually credit Gene Roddenberry for creating a triumverate of characters that work so well to become a single entity: Kird, the man of action; Bones, the man of conscience; Spock, the man of reason. And they all fulfilled their roles to perfection. Let us not forget Eric Bana - the hero is only as good as the villain. LOVED IT!!!
Also, Kirk was smokin hot when he sat in that chair for the first time.
I'm still struggling for anything more coherent than "OMGSQUEEEEEEE!!!" But that's output. More intelligent input is much appreciated, so thanks for the link.
I liked it. No Yeoman Rand though...fuck.
It was really good - but I think a lot of that might have had to do with milking nostalgia. I'll tell you when I've stopped being so fan-boyish.
Also: Bones totally stole this film. The injection scene was priceless.
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