Have you heard that there’s a new Star Trek movie? Of course you have because there’s been press junkets, interviews and previews everywhere. This from a film whose title wasn’t even released until recently. Rather than the slow and effective publicity campaign for Star Trek 2009 which cleverly used online games to unlock a teaser, this is full blown publicity drive with the first footage shown in an “announcement” trailer, followed by this, the teaser trailer just a week later.
Maybe it’s to remind everyone that this is a franchise since the writers and directors were all so busy on other projects for two years. That’s a long time in movie land and we have short memories dammit.
This is actually a good tease because it doesn’t actually give the whole plot away – Oblivion, trailer I am looking you squarely in your manly face.
Instead we get a voice over from Kirk’s father figure, Pike, telling him he lacks humility and it’s going to get everyone killed. Whatever Christopher, you’re not my real dad. Nice they have stuck to the format of advice from Pike changing Kirk, and actually that is definitely an area of Kirk’s psyche worth examining, especially this too-young-to-be-captain version of James T.
There are some nice shots of the empty Enterprise corridors and the iBridge, some running in some red vegetation on an alien planet and many a fast cuts of the crew looking serious. Hey Chekov is wearing Red, what’s that all about?
So Pine’s speech is then counterpointed with Cumberbatch’s John Harrison being all evil and English and questioning everyone’s complacency. You better listen to him Kirk, or Tumblr will take you down.
And there are drums and explosions and actions and space and jumping and screaming. They like the quick cuts in this trailer. You get the idea that this isn’t the most optimistic of films, but hey you know what the guys who made this film love? That’s right Star Wars.
So this is their Empire Strikes Back. This is the film where it all turns to shit and bad things happen to the good guys.
If that’s the mood they want to convey then it’s a great trailer. There’s just one thing missing -Space. I want to see the USS Enterprise in all its glory. You can say what you like about The Motion Picture but the one thing they got right was the ship. The Enterprise was a character and you got all those slow lingering shots. JJ rarely lets the camera stay still. And that’s fine and in an all-action blockbuster, but sometimes you need a little bit of awe. The Enterprise is a beautiful ship and it defines Kirk so it needs to be more than just a vehicle.
What do you think of the trailer? Share your thoughts and I’ll take you dancing
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