Sunday, May 19, 2013
"Star Trek Into Darkness": Spock learns compassion, takes us on a roller coaster the last half hour
I can be hard to place yourself in another world and develop
a rooting interest (although games designers would certainly dispute
this). I went in to see “Star Trek Into
Darkness” (no colon in the title) somewhat expecting a genre spectacle, and got largely that, although
J. J. Abrams gave us some real insight into what it takes for a distant person
to become compassionate and human. That
is, of course, the character Spock (Zachary Quinto, made up as usual). He tells Kirk (Chris Pine) at one point early
in the film that he was experienced what it is like to pass (at death) but has
refused to really feel. But Spock is
given command of the mission, and finally goes on a solo mission to hunt down
(in a devastated 23rd Century San Francisco) the lone-wolf terrorist
Khan (an all too handsome British actor Benedict Cumberbatch).Finally, Spock
may choose to feel real emotion and compassion.
Is this an exploration of breaking out of Asperger’s or of some schizoid
personality. instead of merely an outcome of genetics (Vulcan, other planets).
The pretext for Khan’s “cause” didn’t mean a lot in our
frame of reference. So it was a bit hard
to get into it. Nevertheless, the last thirty minutes of the film are a real
roller coaster (that means, a Griffon).
I saw it Sunday night in the Imax auditorium at the AMC
Tysons, and the large hall was three-fourths full. The Imax did something alittle disconcerting.
For the scenes inside the Enterprise, the screen was cropped vertically to
simulate normal Cinemascoe, at 2.35:1.
But the “outdoor” scenes (in outer space, and on other planets, such as
among the red-shifted vegetation and ancient pyramid in the opening shot of the
film) are shot with the screen full (1.85:1).
I don’t know how the non-Imax was handled. But changing aspect ratios to correspond to
different levels of reality is problematic, because different theaters have
other was of handling full anamorphic wide screen.
I wondered about the “geography” of the confederation. One
of the planets had to be light years away, but the space station seemed to be
near Jupiter (as in “2001”). Was the
nearby moon Europa?
The end credits, while offering two full concert overtures
based on the Star Trek music, offer a real “planet show”.
Bill Maher interviews Zachary Quinto in the above clip, and
Quinto also discusses “coming out”.
Maher talks about the idea that a “Christian” thinks he has the right to
automatic victory in any argument.
(Remember his film “Religulous”?)
Picture: Model of the universe at Green Bank Radio Telescope museum, W Va.
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