Chinese audiences are familiar with the Star Trek series, mostly from The Big Bang Theory's Xie Er, and from the 2009 "Star Trek" "into the pit". Is the third part of the new series worth the money we pay?
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From 1966 to 2016, Star Trek spanned half a century, initially depicting an optimistic utopian world in which the protagonists explored the galaxy and searched for new worlds, followed by six generations of 700-episode science fiction series, hundreds of novels, and more than ten movies.
Chinese audiences are familiar with the Star Trek series, mostly from The Big Bang Theory's Xie Er, and from the 2009 "Star Trek" "into the pit". As the third part of the new series, "Star Trek: Beyond the Stars" (hereinafter referred to as "Star 3") was released in the mainland last weekend, and after winning the objective box office in North America, the film stood out with the result of three consecutive days of single-day box office champion, becoming the highest box office work in the mainland of the reboot series, with a cumulative box office of more than 200 million yuan in the first weekend.
The main poster for Star Trek 3 pays homage to the same poster from 1979's Star Trek I: Infinite Space (below).
From the word of mouth, douban score of 7.6 points, higher than 75% of science fiction films; rotten tomatoes website freshness is high at 83%, it seems that "Star Trek" this classic science fiction IP, no matter how many times "restarted", there is still an unlimited market.
Plot and special effects
Transforming classics is always thankless
The last episode of "Star Trek: Dark And Bounds" brought a lot of controversy, and many fans believed that the plot structure was too much imitation of "Wrath of Khan" and the taste of space was insufficient. The plot of this one has changed, the space element has been greatly enhanced, and the new alien species has also been greatly increased. It can be said that "Interstellar 3" has more tension and entertainment than the first two, although many people have worried that Lin Yibin will make this work into "Fast and Furious", but it turns out that this is a more appropriate use of experience, whether it is the Enterprise being "dismembered" or the climax part of the "sonic boom swarm", the explosive scenes are breathtaking. However, most of the special effects and scenes are more or less noisy, stealing the focus of the plot and stimulating the audience with more or less sensory stimulation. From the perspective of entertainment and viewing, it is still a very successful commercial production, but in terms of the entire plot line, it is only a fragment of the five-year mission, and it does not prove its special value.
In addition to the continuation of ip, this film is a standard popcorn blockbuster, which is a work that is barely balanced among the original iron fans and ordinary audiences. "Interstellar" fans can see some deeply buried tributes from it, and ordinary viewers can also feel the impact of visual effects and pictures. On the other hand, many fans believe that the characters and plots are affected by large-scale special effects scenes, and lose the essence of the original work; ordinary audiences only regard the film as an action science fiction blockbuster, which is actually difficult to resonate emotionally, let alone be infected by the science fiction theme of "exploring the unknown", and in fact, this theme is the reason why the old "Interstellar" series has a far-reaching impact and longevity.
Characters and performances
Humor is a bit difficult, and Jellya is very dramatic
In the previous game, the Crew relationship of the Enterprise was not well described, and the interaction between the crew was very limited except for Kirk's interaction with everyone. In "Starworld 3", it seems that the collective sense of honor of the crew of the Enterprise is even stronger, and in the time of crisis, the screenwriter deliberately breaks up the crew and divides them into different groups to take risks together, and also pairs the crew members who usually do not communicate much: Kirk and Chekhov; Spock and "Old Bone" McCoy; Uhura and Sulu... The arrangement of "breaking into zero" is more innovative, and each character is more concrete. In addition, Simon Peggy is the screenwriter, and some humorous memes added to the bright effect of the plot. Several of Simon's screenwriters were even more appreciative, with Zoe Saldana saying, "Simon values human interaction, and although the story takes place in outer space, it can resonate with the characters. ”
It is worth mentioning that the role of "Jaylah" played by Sophia Bautra is very scene-grabbing, although the whole face is hidden under the makeup of the face, but the overall appearance and charm, compared to the ugly and strange alien is a role balance point, and the capable action scene is also a plus. But there are also regrets in the role, the portrayal of the newly added villain is not full enough, the motive of the labor is not clear, the plan is not worth scrutinizing, and the words after he is exposed are not new.
The creator said movie
Q: How did you direct a science fiction film for the first time, and how did you balance the original Star Trek book with your own style?
Lin Yibin: I didn't particularly balance it, nor did I deliberately add my own style. I myself am a fan of Star Trek, and it can influence the audience in various forms such as TV series and novels, all starting from the characters and continuing the storyline as the goal.
▲ Director Lin Yibin "used power for personal gain" to let his young son star in the film.
Q: This movie obviously has a lot more laughs, and it also faces some cultural differences when creating?
Simon Peggy: I want to add some funny elements, such as Chris Payne's own particularly fond of humorous plots, and we will also explore how to write more vivid and bright characters; as for humor, we do not choose jokes that only American audiences or Chinese audiences understand, but more about the emotional basis that all human beings can understand, including feelings and love.
Lin Yibin: I don't really pay attention to this piece, but I want to highlight the connection between the characters, laugh and cry together, so that the audience can fully experience the plot and increase the influence of the movie.
Q: It is said that "Star 3" refers to a lot of real-world current affairs materials, and wants to "pinpoint the shortcomings of the times"?
Simon Page: Star Trek has always been a science fiction film that reflects real social issues, and the script is also based on objective facts, showing our responses and feedback to our current life. For example, the disadvantages of Trump's election, the policies he encourages, the hostility to other races, are precisely contrary to what Star Trek advocates, and we want to promote social harmony.
Q: Was "Jaylah" inspired by Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bones? Why not invite the "big cousin" to play?
Simon Peggy: Yes! When writing a new character, you need a benchmark, and Lawrence did a great job in Winter's Bones, and on set we often called Sophia "Jaylaw" (short for Jennifer Lawrence), and Lawrence himself heard about it and thought it was funny. In fact, we are very grateful to Sophia, she gave this character a soul, and the effect is very good.
▲ The name and setting of "Jela" actually came from the film queen Lawrence.
Tribute with Easter eggs
★ At the end of the film, when Spock took over the relics of the old Spock, he opened a small box full of memories, and the group photo in the box was still from the last film of the original series, Star Trek 6: City of the Future, in which 3 actors have passed away, earning many fans tears with such a tribute to the previous work.
★The number of 50 new alien races pays homage to the 50 years of the Star Trek series.
★ Defeating aliens with a song, mentioning the song, I have to say that a band called Beast Boys is called Sabotage. In the Star Trek reboot trilogy, each has a soundtrack for the band, and in 2009's Star Trek, Kirk Jr. races down the road at the beginning of the film, accompanied by the music.
Audience comments
● This time the creation is with the old version of the bone, the end of the big group photo, remembrance of Nimoy and Anton are touching, Simon Peggy when the screenwriter also added a lot of old version of the stem into it, Lin Yibin's style is also obvious, nostalgia, tribute, innovation Balance is still good. (75 minutes)
● The end of the film is like the necessary elevation of the exam paragraph for middle school students' essays, "Star Trek" is almost inseparable from "Star Wars", and the implantation of climactic rock music is reminiscent of "Guardians of the Galaxy", all kinds of unoriginal embarrassment, so that there are only "pink passers-by". (60 minutes)
● The tireless "restart" finally ruined this classic IP, what is the use of scenes and special effects? The core of science fiction has long been lost, is it true that modern people are less and less scientific? (50 minutes)
Text/Zhou Hui Xiaowan