Let's Not Go TOO Crazy over These Early 'Star Trek' Reviews
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, New Releases, Fandom, Remakes and Sequels, Summer Movies
The Internets are abuzz today with talk of the super-secret-surprise Star Trek screening that took place last night in Austin. As demonstrated in the roundup we provided earlier, the response has been overwhelmingly positive -- ecstatic, even. And why shouldn't it be?
As recounted at the Trek Movie blog, the Alamo Drafthouse was filled with Star Trek fans who'd come believing they were going to see a print of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on the big screen, to be followed by 10 minutes of footage from J.J. Abrams' new reboot. New Star Trek writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and producer Damon Lindelof introduced Khan, but the film seemed to malfunction after only a few minutes. As everyone's scrambling to fix it, in walks Leonard Nimoy, holding a film canister and asking if everyone wouldn't rather just watch the entire new Star Trek film instead. The audience explodes in a simultaneous nerdgasm.
Given those circumstances, how could the response fail to be deliriously enthusiastic? Even non-Trekkers such as myself hear it and think: Wow, that sounds really cool. And while I don't doubt that the new Star Trek probably is good, I think we shouldn't put too much stock in these early reports from a screening that was designed to elicit positive reaction. The real surprise here would be if they'd done all that -- the bait-and-switch, the surprise Nimoy appearance, the unspooling of the film a month early -- and the audience had said, "Meh." That would have been noteworthy. But giddy enthusiasm after an event whose sole purpose was to produce giddy enthusiasm? Not exactly earth-shattering.
Don't forget, the early word from secret screenings of highly anticipated new movies is ALWAYS good. It was the same way with Watchmen, WALL-E, and Transformers. Sometimes those early reports are backed up by calmer audiences later on; sometimes the fervor cools and everyone realizes, wait, those giant robots just spent 20 minutes doing slapstick in a flower garden (for example).
Like I said, Star Trek may well be a fantastic movie. I'm just saying to take the early reports with a grain of salt. The reaction of someone who saw it as a surprise, complete with Leonard Nimoy appearance, will probably be different from that of a regular audience member who buys a ticket and knows what he's getting into beforehand. Unless Nimoy's going to turn up at all the regular showings, which would be awesome.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-07-2009 @ 3:45PM
Sam said...
DONT SHATTER MY DREEEEEEEAAAAAAAAMMMMM
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4-07-2009 @ 3:57PM
Rick Bman said...
Yeah, I kind of think a lot of the early reviews from the screening last night are much to hyperbolic to be taken seriously.
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4-07-2009 @ 4:08PM
spencer said...
You are probably right. But THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO BE REASONABLE. Please do not deflate my ridiculous and possibly misplaced enthusiasm.
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4-07-2009 @ 4:07PM
Jordan Raup said...
This argument does hold any weight. It just got fantastic reviews at the Australia premiere as well, Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike.
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4-07-2009 @ 4:21PM
Jenn Brown said...
It was a mixed crowd, non-fans, diehards, and lax ones. The only 'design' was having it at the Alamo. Everything screens better in an Alamo crowd. That doesn't mean we checked our brains at the door.
I was actually more interested in seeing Wrath of Khan which I've never seen (and what better place to see a film like that). As a casual 'Trek fan of the first two series, I really enjoyed the new one, because it had the balance between nostalgia and shaking up expectations. I was reminded of Casino Royale, which made me interested in watching a James Bond film for the first time.
There seem to be a lot of people suggesting we were manipulated, and that just wreaks of sour grapes.
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4-07-2009 @ 4:45PM
Fullman said...
Um, the official premiere that took place in Sydney tonight (well, now in the past for us domestics) is also receiving high praise for the movie... and that wasn't just comprised of fans, that was a mix of all groups, media included.
I agree with Jenn, suggesting those attendees in Austin were hand picked and manipulated to banter off rave reviews wreaks of "sour grapes."
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4-07-2009 @ 5:39PM
Jim Treacher said...
I was once at a screening where they did the same thing with Dumb & Dumber. Which was too bad, because I was just getting into Schindler's List.
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4-07-2009 @ 5:47PM
gozer said...
How much do you think this movie will make? I bet that Trek will open to $50M and close at $150M (the best opening ever for a Trek movie if you don't adjust for inflation). If it isn't good, it will close @ $100 or $110M. Can't see economic sense in a sequel with this cast in either case.
But the film must be good for them to be showing it this early. But even if it is great for the fans it can't/won't be as good for non-fans (how it could be?). Sneaking it in fan-heavy places like a screening of Khan in Austin and in Trek-crazed Australia makes good sense from a PR pov.
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4-07-2009 @ 5:54PM
gozer said...
There will be a LOT of skeptics about this movie - everyone knows what Trek is and letting that go is going to be very difficult. So you all should get used to Eric's voice/position. And someone should tell Paramount that they are complete idiots for going on Wolverine's 2nd weekend (see Speed Racer case study). Duh. And they are criminals for contributing to the leaked feature (I smell a rat!). Shame, shame on them.
4-07-2009 @ 9:16PM
ziven said...
If this site actually had a review, it would have probably run it in place of an piece about how everybody else's reviews are suspiciously positive.
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4-08-2009 @ 12:42AM
Matt said...
WALL-E was excellent, and everyone knew it even after early screenings. Transformers was extremely fun, and only the blowhards ever decided it wasn't, everyone else loved having fun in the theater for once and is looking forward to having fun again this summer with Transformers 2.
As for Watchmen, maybe people just didn't realize that the Graphic Novel itself was overblown trash before they saw it? For some reason the word "masterpiece" is thrown around about that piece of crap GN, so it's no wonder people thought a crappy movie like it was going to be good, since they couldn't even tell the story sucked from the beginning.
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4-08-2009 @ 10:09AM
Bill W. said...
I know we're just getting into the big movie season, but what else have we to get excited about this summer? Transformers and Terminator fims will provide robots that go boom. Will Ferrell will do Ron Burgandy goes to Jurassic Park in Land of the Lost. So a Star Trek reboot that has yet to prove itself actually looks like a good bet. Last year Iron Man kicked off the movie season with a bang and I hope Star Trek does the same this year....only the rest of this year's movie season doesn't look like it has a Dark Knight or Tropic Thunder among them.
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4-30-2009 @ 4:46PM
Mike said...
khaaaan -job
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