At the time, liked it out of pure desperation for good sci-fi to exist again. As a whole, just a mediocre money-grab with the classic attempt to "appease all audiences" while abandoning the franchise with a parallel universe loophole.
He was right. My GF never liked Star Trek but went "holy fuck!" to the opening of the 2009 movie.
The only thing good about JJ touching Star Trek was the trailer for it, which is 10/10. The movies were all a big let down in comparison. But the trailer is amazing, in no small part due to the music from Two Steps From Hell.
People are taking this interview out of context.
He said, as a kid, he never liked Star Trek. But as an adult, after rewatching TOS to prepare for the 2009 film, he grew to appreciate Star Trek.
he grew to appreciate the money he was going to make from Star Trek.
Fixed.
But as an adult, after rewatching TOS to prepare for the 2009 film, he grew to appreciate Star Trek.
Right, so he should not have been hired to do the job. He didn't rewatch it until money, and he likes money. He liked it because of money.
There is a weird thing that i think was hinted upon in a ds9 interview that for some reason “they” do not like to have star trek fans working on the set and those that where where supposed to act low profile about it.
I can kinda see how it can be both distracting to get work done and irritating or to have crew argue canon all the time (Henry Cavill in the wincher)
But i also can’t not see how political this might all be.
the wincher
Henry Cavill plays a tow truck driver who repossesses the realms most powerful monters cars.
I think arguing canon on set is one thing, I think enjoying the work and understanding it from the start is another.
He wasn't into Star Trek, he said he was after being paid to be into it. Thats it - and honestly I don't believe he liked it in his rewatch either - and that is the issue. He wasn't interested in making a Star Trek movie. He got brought on because "BIG NAME MEAN BIG $$$" and not because it would be good for Star Trek. imo of course.
You wouldn't guess that from the movies.
Indeed. Nicolas Meyer was the same, and most fans seem to love his contributions to the franchise. Being a newcomer isn’t a bad thing. Sometimes a fresh perspective can be a great thing.
Not to say I love Abrams’ work, but in the end he did more harm to Star Wars than to Trek, and by all accounts he’s a life long Star Wars fan.
I did not like it as a kid either. My most used to watch Voyager when I was a wee lad
And what did your most think of it?
J. J. Abrams is a hack and I hate that he keeps getting work
Eh, he’s done some decent work he just isn’t always the right fit for the properties he’s given.
He's always the wrong choice for anything that calls for the bare minimum planning and substance, but that's what they keep giving him. He has good instincts for cinematography but shouldn't be trusted with anything that requires an actual plot.
Now I kinda want to see him make an Avatar movie.
(Blue skinned aliens, not ATLA. Although his ATLA would probably be better than what we got.)
He would probably announce a trilogy, spend the first movie setting up some mystery in Pandora's core and then would never follow up.
spoiler
And somehow Quaritch would return, but Cameron has that covered already.
Sorry I can't read your comment. The 20 lens flares he put on screen still have me blinded
Edit: to be clear. I don't think his movies are bad per say. They're just painfully mediocre.
What director is that supposed to represent? JJ flares are horizontal, sometimes have multiple occurrences in a single frame, and often are accompanied by a briefly blown out image in case the viewer doesn't notice the insane distraction.
The JJ lens flare then made it into DISCO although I think they toned it down a bit for SNW. I checked out of SFA after 3 episodes so I don't know if they continued to be flare happy there.
As long as you don't let him anywhere near the plot.
You can be a hack and still do great work, look at Ridley Scott.
Relatable
Yeah, but he actually succeeded though.
Star Trek 2009 revived a franchise that had been dead since Nemesis, reviewed well, is still the highest grossing Trek film ever made, and regularly appears near the top of lists of the best films in the franchise.
Yes, you are explaining it perfectly: JJ Abrams MADE MONEY for Paramount. That's all that matters.
It really was obnoxiously enjoyable; In the words of Aurelio Voltaire, "Someone tell me why I love this film so fucking much". It wasn't golden era new gen philosophy trek, let alone the heights the series hit during the "Suck it Straczynski, we can write überplot too" era of DS9, but it was far, far from the depths that Final Frontier ~~and generations~~ took the series. Imo, it was a lot more coherent than Nemisis and had way better characterization of the villains than Insurrection, the two most "action trek" of the films. It was never going to be Khan (ranking among the most influential science fiction media period), but I don't think anyone intended it to be.
... the rest of the trilogy though, hot fucking garbage. The kirk motorcycle fight is pure power-cringe, and JJ should be executed for the whole "Bumblesnatch as Khan" fiasco.
It really was obnoxiously enjoyable
Was it though? I could see it if you changed the audio track to a language you don’t understand, because it does have a lot going for it; the production design and costumes, set design and construction are all outstanding, sound design is still some of the best there’s ever been (especially when it came to modernizing legacy sfx), obviously the vfx and novel approaches to cinematography (yes, including the lens flares) are all great, etc etc.
But literally every last thing about the story is stream of consciousness, fever dream nonsense, which in any other franchise might be forgiven, but for Star Trek of all things to have such boneheaded threads of anti-science magical thinking, noxious xenophobia and childish cruelty is unforgivable. It’s a top to bottom garbage script, ironically produced with one of the most talented film crews in sci-fi movie history, which for my money anyway, makes it even more tragic and hard to enjoy.
But literally every last thing about the story is stream of consciousness, fever dream nonsense, which in any other franchise might be forgiven, but for Star Trek of all things to have such boneheaded threads of anti-science magical thinking, noxious xenophobia and childish cruelty is unforgivable.
Yeah no I totally agree, Final Frontier really is just the worst.
The kirk motorcycle fight is pure power-cringe
Absolutely, yes - it was silly.
But - the only reason we never got that motorcycle fight earlier with Shatner was lack of budget.
It doesn't fit the tone of orignal Trek because original Trek couldn't afford it, not because original Trek would not have sunk that low, if it could have. Haha.
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