Let's talk about a little episode first. On the eve of the filming and release of "Beyond the Stars", a fan movie "Exnar" and the "Star Trek" series, a fan film produced by the ashes of "Star Trek" crowdfunded, happened litigation disputes. Paramount took the producer to court on the grounds of infringement, and released the so-called Ten Commandments, which has the potential to drive out fan films. Why is Paramount so tough on rice-made films that cost just over a million dollars? "Infringement" may be just an excuse. Behind the high attention of "Exnall", what looms is Paramount's response to its own official website. The confidence in the work is not enough.
But for whatever reason, it is an indisputable fact that the relationship between Paramount and Interstellar fans has deteriorated after the "Exnar" incident. The reason is that the style change after the series restart is the "culprit". According to the studio and the director of the first two reboots, J.J. Abrams, the metaphysical set of interstellar philosophies, laws, etc., as well as the relatively slow narrative rhythm, are fundamental in today's market. If you can't eat it, to attract a wider audience, you have to play something trendy. After all, the problem of "Star Trek" is also a dilemma that most major IPs will encounter in the restart: "passers-by" or "ashes", who should they favor?
Although driven by the "economic account", the studio will definitely choose a more commercial side, so it is self-evident to offend the ashes. With the remaining problems of the restart version and the doubts from fans, Abrams switched to the more beloved "Star Wars" after filming "Darkness" and threw the blame on Justin Lin. In terms of style, it makes sense for Abrams to "pick" Justin Lin to take over, and the latter's work is quite in line with the tone set by the former for the reboot. However, in the eyes of fans, Justin Lin directed the tube, and Simon Pegg participated in the screenwriting, no wonder they didn't buy it.
So aside from the older generation of "Star Trek", purely from the perspective of an ordinary audience, this "Beyond the Stars" can still get a passing score. Especially considering that Justin Lin was faced with an urgent task when he received the call from Abrams, the time was tight and the task was heavy. Generally, a blockbuster of this level should have more than 100 days of shooting time, and Lin Guided only less than eighty days. The writers set two interesting backgrounds for the story. On the one hand, the day-to-day life in space has made the crew a certain sense of boredom. Captain Kirk wants to leave through the opportunity of promotion, and the death of the Spock ambassador in the parallel universe has given Spock here to devote himself to saving. The idea of going away from the Vulcan cultural business; on the other hand, the Enterprise was attacked by the villain Klaw Swarm Fleet and crashed, and the crew had to be separated.
Fatigue grows, and the road ahead is lost. Under this premise, the portrayal of characters and the interaction between the crew have become the most important elements of the story. This is not only the theme that Abrams has been advocating in the reboot version, and creating group portraits is also what Justin Lin is good at in the "Fast and Furious" series. However, in the first two installments of the reboot, Kirk and Spock, a pair of good friends, were so overcrowded that they ran out of ammunition by the third installment. Therefore, "Beyond the Stars" had to be broken up and regrouped, Kirk with Chekov, Spock with Old Bones, Uhura with Sulu, Scotty with new character Zyra, and they complement each other.
The growth of the two protagonists is obvious. Kirk has transformed from a stunned young man to a mature captain. Of course, there are also personal heroic moments when he rides a motorcycle to rescue the crew. The opening and closing of pull is a good example. And there are also a lot of secondary roles. The spirited old bone and the witty Scotty shoulder the responsibility of being humorous and funny, and the integration of the new role Zyra is not abrupt, and has a good chemistry with Scotty. . Although the death of Leonard Nimoy and the tragic death of Anton Eugene is sad, in a sense, it is the best interpretation of "Spark Legacy" and "Friendship".
Of course, "Beyond the Stars" doesn't have the charm of moving people's hearts to me, who has seen all the movie versions of the "Star Trek" series. Even if there are tribute passages, a good level of special effects, and the affirmative points above, it "doesn't quench my thirst." It's more like a superhero movie wrapped in a sci-fi coat. The story revolves around revenge, the villains are like terrorists, and the crew of the Enterprise is a monster squad, completely forgetting the task of exploring the edge of the universe. So, "The universe, the last frontier. This is the journey of the starship Enterprise. She will continue to explore strange new worlds, search for new life and new civilization. Bravely sail to the cosmic frontier that no one has ever reached." This sentence The whole series of classic narration sounds extra awkward.
Frankly speaking, a golden series spanning half a century will inevitably encounter changes in the audience's aesthetics and values. The promotion and abandonment of style, the balance between tradition and commerce are not only related to the survival of the entire series, but also the most troublesome choice for the studio. From this point of view, back to the question about "rice-made movies" at the beginning of the article. Why don't Paramount take the initiative to support this kind of low-cost work. First, it can improve its relationship with the majority of Trekers. Second, it can have two "Star Trek" platforms, so that God's work belongs to God and Caesar's. To Caesar, how beautiful is it!
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