Reviews

As cringe worthy as Tobey Maguire is, you always like him at the end of the day. As cheesy as the original film is, it has a heart and a comic book feel. We felt something during Uncle Ben's speech in the original film. In this film, it is merely glossed over to something that's supposed to add up to more or less the same thing. Also, doesn't anybody ever poke an eye at Peter during all the great powers he has? Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man is perhaps more fitting but he's just missing something. He doesn't have the corny comic book feel to him in this film.

I guess this is a more "serious" version of the Raimi film but there is no substance here. You have a giant lizard running around doing nothing interesting. Everything that relates to Spider-Man just feels glossed over. I don't even think we find out anything about Uncle Ben's killer. We never see him again! Peter isn't even responsible for anything! There is no guilt felt! There are some subplots in here that don't amount much to anything.

To the film's credit, they sure did pull off a better love interest for Peter. Gwen is cute and an actual character. I also do feel like Peter is almost more relatable here. Him and Gwen do process chemistry and are cute. But sometimes we need a bit comic book to it. Or something to it. Something like a story. As stupid looking as the Green Goblin looked in the original film you remember him for his cheesy lines. He was at least a character! This lizard dude is nothing! The film fails to add anything new to the Spider-Man mythos and you forget most of it by a year. Where's those little warm feelings you get when Spider-Man kisses M J for the first time (as bad as her character is)? The film is not memorable nor does it have a warm spider heart. It just feels like your average mediocre movie.

Putting comparisons aside, there really is nothing here to marvel at. Peter is likable enough but nothing that special. Nothing special in that there's no character development. He starts fighting and stuttering and ends fighting and stuttering!

But the Stan Lee cameo was cool...

Not a whole lot happens in this movie. In fact you could even use the words awful and boring to describe it. Maybe because it's not about the characters we're used to. The characters we see are lifeless except for maybe Dr. McCoy. The original series characters weren't bland they were just calm and didn't argue a whole lot. These people have their characters stripped away and we are forced to endure a ship flying into a giant space cloud.

The film's tagline claims to be about the human adventure but that is a lie. Humans have flaws and come with remarks that make them them. But perhaps we're missing the picture. The Motion Picture. Which is the starship Enterprise. It's about staring at it for two hours. Seeing how far we could go. What's lingering behind that space cloud? Could it be life? If we're going to focus a whole movie on staring at a starship going to explore what might be alien life why not have the Enterprise itself become a source of harvesting alien life that's growing inside it? (a concept they did in the Next Generation) If we have to do a story about staring a starship for two hours why not turn a twist? Have the Enterprise literally be The Motion Picture that we are watching. Or maybe explain why it's going so slow. Maybe an alien is screwing it up and Scotty has to fix the engines while ship slowly drifts toward an asteroid?

The music score redeems the film somewhat and is the only reason to watch it. All and all, this is not the deep grand story of us in space that was the purpose.

UPDATED: After giving this film a second chance to grow on me I can say I liked this in a different light now. After taking a look at 2001 and Interstellar I think I get this kind of thing now.

The film is something beautiful to look at if it's on TV and there are things. The film is at least profoundly boring. There is something about it to be talked about and made fun of. I stand by that this is not the human journey that it should have been. But even so, it is closer to the mark of getting its morals across than perhaps The Original Series was. This did have balls for trying to be different.

For those that don't know, Star Trek was the original science fiction show to win over a massive fanbase. It is appreciated for having inspired many to boldly go where no man (or woman) has gone before. Is it as timeless as Shakespeare? Well, perhaps in the way Shakespeare inspired the onslaught of perverted literature this inspired of a new cheese.

A cheese with floating green energy hands in space trying to grab your starship. It certainly has an exotic taste but it's not what you're accustomed to and it feels really awkward. Like that seems out of place kind of way. It certainly depends what you're using the cheese for. It's certainly a different experience and you're interested in what else this culture has to offer. Ther's always something new to try. Watching this is a step of boldly going where at least you've never gone before.

This show was meant to be way of secret communication at the time for issues that were being hotly debated. An analogy The show features three great characters in Captain Kirk, a full blown womanizer, Mr Spock, who values his logic to the death with which I can sympathize, and Dr McCoy, who will always make sure you know he's a doctor. The side characters are also fun but I always feel like they're never delved into to the full potential. There aren't very ongoing stories because everybody just seems to get along which I honestly don't buy completely into. But that is, I must concede, the point. A future where in everyone likes each other. This does make for the interesting relationship between Mr Spock and McCoy where McCoy favors compassion and emotions but Spock as a Vulcan chooses to shun these things and let what's interesting just be interesting.

The downside to me I must stress that I am a story person. A person of character growth to be more specific. I rarely feel like anything one episode matters in the next. This I must say is the hole in the cheese.

Speaking of the cheese comparison, I must say the special effects and costumes are so fake it might occasionally appeal but mostly makes one cringe. Now speaking more so of cheese I must comment on an episode where Abraham Lincoln appears floating in space and him and our main characters must fight against the evil historical figures. That is in all fairness a potential brilliant idea. But that's really all it is. An idea not used to it's potential. No interesting remarks made between him and the villains or what makes them good or bad. Nothing of that sorts is discussed. I never felt, in any part of the series,(except maybe the pilot) like morals were being pushed. This show is praised for featuring the first interracial kiss on television but in all honesty it doesn't count. They were forced to kiss by an evil godlike being! It was not two genuine lovers finding solace in each other. And on top of that the quality of that particular episode is atrocious in a way that's not even so bad it's good. The show has it's so bad it's good moments such as William Shatner's over the top acting.

Overall this was the most intelligent bad show there was. A show that had guts but not the best writing. Or perhaps the cheese is just too foreign to me. Something I'm glad I tried because nobody likes a picky eater that won't try anything.