Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Title: Star Trek Into Darkness

Director: J.J. Abrams

Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Peter Weller, Benedict Cumberbach

Review:

I’m not a Trekkie in the pure sense of the word, because I don’t know every single episode from every single series that ever came out and there have been a few series. I did see every episode of Star Trek the Next Generation which for non Trek connoisseurs is the series in which Patrick Stewart played Captain Jean Luc Picard. Now that one I enjoyed all the way through! I’ve also seen every Trek film ever made and have enjoyed them for different reasons. For example, I love the old ones starring William Shatner because of the chemistry between the characters, the interactions between them and the banter they play off each other, this by the way is an element that the new films are delivering as well. The new actors channel their older counter parts rather effectively in my book; which of course makes the whole film that much more enjoyable, cause a huge part of what audiences like in these Star Trek films is seeing Kirk and Spock quibbling about “gut reactions” and whether something is logical or not. I think audiences agree with me on this respect, the audience I watched Star Trek Into Darkness with giggled at the comedic elements in the dialog, especially when they brought in those old phrases like “Dammit Jim! I’m a doctor not a miracle worker!”. There’s lots of nudges here and there that Trekkies will eat up, it’s a film that’s mindful of its core audience while at the same time attempting to appeal to a broader audiences in order to break with old stigmas.

J.J. Abrams bringing Star Trek Into Coolness

This time around, there’s a mysterious terrorist inflicting fear upon the population of earth, by blowing up landmark buildings. The terrorists real purpose is to kill the leaders  of the federation! When the terrorist successfully kills some of them, Kirk and his crew have to head to the Klingon home planet in order to find the one responsible and make him pay. Along the way, relationships will be tested, friendships will clash, and the enterprise will test its limits! Can Kirk and crew bring this megalomaniacal madman to justice?

In this film connoisseur’s eyes the Star Trek films have always been cool, I have always loved them; but I know this is not the way everybody sees them. To the rest of the world Star Trek is synonymous with the freak and geek crowd, you know, those guys that dress like Klingon’s in comic book conventions and have discussions on Star Trek lore speaking in the Klingon language. What J. J. Abrams wants to do with this new series of films is change all that, he wants to make Trek sexy, make it cool. Not an easy task when we consider that Star Trek has never cared to be sexy. They’ve never been about beautiful looking people. In fact, in the first series of films we followed a crew that was populated by fat, old, bald people. Not so with these new films where the crew of The Enterprise is young, beautiful and sexy. Hell, on these new films Kirk’s always getting some action, he is portrayed as a womanizer! There's a scene in which a character needlessly strips to her under wear which many people seem to think went "too far", a comment which I find absolutely stupid, hollywood has never been shy about showing skin, especially when it will get more butts in theater sits. The scene is surely gratituous, I agree, but no big deal. Certainly not something to make a big deal about. Pretty ladies in underwear aside, I think all these changes serve to make the film more entertaining. J.J. Abrams wants you to be amazed by a Star Trek film, he wants people to go see Star Trek Into Darkness more than once! Well, if you ask me he has successfully achieved his goals, I know I’ll be seeing it again. This is the biggest Star Trek film ever, what’s not to celebrate? I mean, this here Star Trek film is a summer blockbuster of gargantuan proportions!  I was wowed. First up, the visual effects are sheer perfection, you should be impressed. I mean you will see gigantic spaceships traveling through the universe, alien planets and civilizations, a futuristic version of earth, these vistas offer us bucket loads of escapism. If you want to escape to another world, here’s the movie for you to do it with. 

I wasn’t aware that in some ways this film was going to be a pseudo-remake of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn (1982) a film that is heralded by legions of Star Trek fans across the world as the best Star Trek film of the first series. That film is a flat out revenge film, and Kahn, as played by Ricardo Montalban is without a doubt the best of all Star Trek villains. Not a single actor has been able to reach Kahn’s memorable villain status. Considering that Wrath of Kahn is one of the best Trek stories ever told, what did J. J. Abrams and his crew do? They basically remade Wrath of Kahn. I wasn’t aware of that going into the theater, but damn, with a few alterations here and there, the second half of this movie is basically a remake. But, to be honest, it’s a damn good one and it doesn’t play out the same exact way that it did in Wrath of Kahn. The film also borrows heavily from episodes of the television show. Still, even when we take these things into consideration, the film manages to offer us many innovative ideas, one after the other. There’s this awesome chase sequence that takes place as two ships are traveling at warp speed that was so awesome! So be ready for a film that has similarities with other stories of Trek lore while at the same time blowing your brain to smithereens with cool new ideas. Even the aliens who have minor scenes look freaking cool!

The infamous (yet delectable) stripping scene

Thematically speaking this film is all about terrorists attacks and what makes them happen. Why does a terrorist decide to attack a country and kill innoncents? What fuels that hatred? Is their anger somehow jusitified? The film addresses the terrorist attacks that took place during 9/11 and it also plays with the notion that these terrorist attacks might have been self inflicted in order to provoke a war. It also speaks about how the government trains individuals to become stone cold killers, and then, when these trained killers have to return home, they are unable to continue functioning properly in society because they are used to carnage and death. Soldiers just can’t go back to buying cereal at the supermarket and mowing the lawn, kind of like what we saw in First Blood (1982). They also talk about weapons of mass destruction, a fear that has recently shown its ugly head again in society and as a result, these fears are now reflected and discussed in films as well; so we get contemporary themes on this film. Above all, what I enjoyed the most about Into Darkness was how fun it was, it’s never boring, not for a second. So far, this is the most exciting movie of the Summer 2013 season, it’s even more exciting than Iron Man 3 (2013), which kind of lacked in action a bit. If it’s not the entertaining banter between the crew (how charismatic and funny are these guys?) then it’s the amazing action pieces. Bottom line is this is one big, fun ride! Now, we all know that J.J. Abrams is the director behind the next Star Wars film (Episode VII) and all I could think of was what J.J. Abrams will do with the Star Wars universe; I say strap your selves tight, if Star Trek Into Darkness is any indication of what J. J. Abrahams can do with a science fiction property, then were in for an exciting ride through hyper space!

Rating: 5 out of 5   

       

Total Recall (2012)

Title: Total Recall (2012)

Director: Len Wiseman

Writer: Kurt Wimmer, Mark Bomback

Cast: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel

Review:

I recently wrote an article in which I compared both versions of Total Recall: Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 film, and this new remake. On that article I pointed out the many differences and similarities between both films, because let’s face it, it’s kind of difficult not to compare the two, especially when you’re such a fan of the original one. But now that I’ve said my piece about both films, I feel like this new one is good enough to get its own review. So, here it is a review for Len Wiseman’s Total Recall, sans any comparisons to Verhoeven’s film. But remember, if you’re interested in reading about how the new and the old compare, don’t hesitate to check out my previous article which does just that in a pretty extensive way.

On this film we meet Douglas Quaid, a blue collar worker who can’t wait to escape his redundant life, he doesn’t know what it is he wants, but he knows he wants a change. While drinking at the local bar he asks his co-workers if they are happy with how their lives have turned out, spending their shitty pay drinking shitty beers in a shitty bar. Quaid wants more out of life, unfortunately he is stuck in his same-o same-o life. But salvation awaits! ‘Rekall’ is a company that sells you fake memories, they can implant fake memories into your brain and make you believe you’ve done whatever you ever wanted to do. Of course, Quaid finds all of this very titillating, it is exactly what he needs, the great escape. So Quaid ends up buying the ticket and taking the ride. Problems arise when the fake memory implants awaken a hidden personality which was lying dormant somewhere in the back of his mind. Now people are chasing him and trying to kill him! Is Douglas Quaid who he thinks he is, or is he someone else?

First things first, I loved the themes on this film. I’ve always said that the best sci-fi films are those that comment on the world we live in rather then just being a showcase for  special effects and I’m glad to say that this new Total Recall does just that, it comments on the way society is structured and on they way governments are operating, making their moves so to speak in order to keep a certain part of the population enslaved. Slavery isn’t over; it just changed its name. This new film makes us question the structure of society and if this is the way things should be. On this film when Douglas Quaid is on his way to work, he has to step onto this giant elevator to take what they call “The Fall”. Basically, the working class travels to their jobs by traversing through the core of the planet on this huge elevator. The thing we need to notice about this scene is how tired and bored everybody looks from doing the same thing every day.

Same as the working class that Chaplin portrayed as sheep in Modern Times (1936) or the workers who enter the giant elevator to work in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), the workers in Total Recall are portrayed as sheep as well. Interesting how going to work and commuting is called “The Fall”, the symbolisms didn’t escape me at all. It’s the idea that we are being treated as herd and that our lives are being wasted doing menial, repetitive jobs that lead our lives nowhere. I take the train to work everyday and can’t help to think we’re all sheep when I see so many people getting on and off the train, looking tired and bored out of their minds; like sheep in a heard in deed. Or rather, like lambs to the slaughter, day by day, the blue collar workers lives are sheered by the scissors of redundancy and time. Why does life have to be like this for some? Can’t life turn out to be something more interesting? Can it all be changed somehow? Can humanity focus their efforts on something more worthwhile? These are some of the questions that Total Recall considers.

This version of Total Recall is really about waking up from that slumber, about disconnecting from that dormant state and taking control of your lives. Quaid is about to take the ‘Rekall’ trip, which is really just a way to try and forget the world and live in a temporary state of bliss. In this film, Quaid is buying a fake escape, not unlike the fake escape that drugs and alcohol offer. These escapes are only temporary, when you wake up; your problems are still there. A smarter solution to redundancy would be to identify it and take the steps to eradicate it from our lives. In a way, Total Recall is also commenting on the stupidity of succumbing to mind numbing drugs to escape our problems. One thing is to use drugs for recreational purposes, but it’s far more damaging to use them to forget about your life, to ignore and escape your problems instead of facing them. There’s a quote from Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), by the way, one of my favorite films ever and a film that addresses some of the very issues that this new Total Recall film addresses; and that quote says: “My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know, everybody you see. Everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake, and that they live in a state of constant amazement” I totally agree with this sentiment, and it’s what this new Total Recall film is talking about, waking up from that slumber; taking control of your life and doing what you really want with it.

In Quaid’s case, what he feels he needs to do with his life is joining the revolutionary movement so he can change the status quo of society, shake things up, destroy the old way of doing things and starting something new. The idea of destroying something in order to create something new is not a new idea in cinema or in life for that matter, but it is a path seldom taken by society. Big changes occur when old patterns of action are left behind; this I feel is something that has to happen in the world. Things have to change in order for everyone to be happy and free, in order for all of us to truly enjoy life. Not just a select few. Not just the rich and powerful, but everyone.

In the world of Total Recall, and in many parts of the real world we live in governments have taken steps to oppress the working class even further, while lying through their teeth about how they do it. The villains of this film are a dictator and his army of cops. The dictator tells the people that they are putting more cops on the street to protect the population, when in fact what they are really doing is gathering more cops to increment their own private little army with which to oppress. In this respect, Total Recall also reminded me a lot of those faceless cops in George Lucas’s THX-1138 (1971), by the way, THX-1138 was an obvious inspiration for this film. I’ve personally seen the powers that be increment their police force, only to use it against the population and to violate said populations humans rights. Not to protect it, but to oppress. But you wouldn’t know that from looking at the media, where they portray themselves as protectors of the people in television commercials and news articles paid by themselves, to make themselves look like heroes. The film is telling us not to stand idly as these vile creatures take over the world, that in order for a change to occur, people need to rise up from complacency.

Aside from these heavy themes, the film is a great sci-fi/action film, I was never bored. Tonally, it’s a more serious film than Verhoeven’s film, it's not looking to make you laugh with one liners or jokes every five seconds, it doesn’t feel as overtly kinetic as Verhoeven’s film and that’s fine, we couldn’t really expect Len Wiseman, the director of this film to do the same exact film in tone or feel. This Total Recall was going for something different. Yeah we go through the same beats and moments, and there’s a nudge or two to Verhoeven’s film, but in the end, this new Total Recall was trying it’s hardest to be something different. I love Verhoeven’s film for all its craziness, but I also loved this new Total Recall for different reasons, mainly, the awesome art direction, the futuristic technology, I mean, how cool where those hand phones? I enjoyed the decidedly rebellious tone and the flying car chase sequence! They really out did themselves with those scenes. In terms of fx and action, this one pulled no stops, it’s a chase movie with nonstop action. So many things worked just right on this one that I can’t bring myself to say I didn’t like it, because I did like it very much so, it’s not as fun or gory, but then again, it wasn’t trying to be.  

Rating: 4 out of 5