“Punch It”

The Cpt. James T. Kirk created by Chris Pine, director JJ Abrams and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman in Star Trek (’09) is obviously back in Star Trek Into Darkness (Paamount, 5.17). Basically the same cocky, rule-defying guy played by Taylor Kitsch in Battleship, Ben Affleck in Pearl Harbor, James Cagney in The Fighting 69th — brash and brave, resists authority, always waits until the last second to save the day.

Wait…”punch it”? That’s what Han Solo said 32 and 1/2 years ago before throwing the switch for sending the Millenium Falcon into light speed. Who wrote that line? Orci or Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof? Or is it an improv? Oh, and tipping the ship sideways in order to speed through a narrow crevasse? That’s another Han Solo maneuver.

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  • http://twitter.com/BurnettRM Robert Meyer Burnett

    There’s not a shread of the intellectualism or the allegorical nature of the TREK franchise on display in this new teaser. While I appreciate Abrams and company’s very successful efforts to reenergize a moribund brand, I wish they’d figured out a way to inject a little bit more thoughfulness and wonder at the universe. Instead, we get terrorist bombings in London and San Francisco, hardly where no one has gone before.

    That said, I already have my IMAX tickets for the “fan” screening on May 15th.

    • Raising_Kaned

      Hilariously typical Gen-X response : “God, I really hate what they’re doing with so-and-so property from my childhood/adolescence. I wish they’d just stop making them! Anyway — I’ll be there, front and center, at the first midnight screening, forever disappointed.”

      (And I say this lovingly, by the way, as someone on the border of X and Y who identifies way more with the former)

  • MovieSquad

    Star Wars job application

  • George Prager
  • DavidF

    1) I agree with Rob that the whole allegorical element of Start Trek looks out the window BUT a) it’s a trailer b) the allegory has largely been lacking in all the movies, especially the ones without Nick Meyer writing

    2) Hate to be a stickler to Jeff but they said “punch it” in the first JJ flick too.

    3) Hate to be a stickler to MovieSquad but there is no way JJ (or anyone else) had any clue about the whole Star Wars thing when they were making this. That said, he’s always been an unabashed fan and spoke openly in 2009 about wanting to bring some Star Wars-esque excitement to Star Trek. So, what?

    • Eloi Wrath

      I think people also forget how many episodes of the original series ended up with Kirk punching the fuck out of some alien. It always had action-adventure as part and parcel of it. Of course the TV shows can delve into more serious subject matter because of their episodic nature. But some of those episodes of TNG in particular were about as thrilling as an ethics lecture.

  • http://www.twitter.com/danrevill Dan Revill

    Yeah. I dunno, I suppose it could be great. It isn’t a great teaser though because I find myself less interested than before. Not enough Cumberbatch!

  • DuluozGray

    They tricked me into the theater once, and I left about an hour in it was so godawful. They will not trick me again. Star Trek is NOT about action! But beside that, this cast sucks ass, starting with Pine and Quinto.

    • Raising_Kaned

      Duluoz’s Dad tricked his Mom into her vagina once (speaking of “punching it”).

      It’s the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled.

      (Okay — that was harsh, and I didn’t really mean it…but I couldn’t resist…)

  • hupto

    (aka cadavra)
    Actually, Walter Hill wrote that line for Steve McQueen in THE GETAWAY (1972); he says it several times, in fact.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1329069668 Brian Bouton

    They injected “thoughtfulness and wonder at the universe” in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek V if you want to see how well that worked out.

    • http://twitter.com/BurnettRM Robert Meyer Burnett

      Quite well for THE MOTION PICTURE actually, if you consider adjusted gross. Until TREK ’09, it remained the most successful TREK film, until it was eventually surpassed. However, STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS has a long road ahead of it considering the film’s enormous cost and TREK’s traditional foreign grosses not being near those of other successful franchises.

    • DuluozGray

      TMP wasn’t bad, just wanted to be 2001 instead of Star Trek.

      Trek V was awful, nothing thoughtful about it.

      But even v was better than that Abrams piece of shit. Casting and writing in that film were abysmal.

    • punkedup

      ST:TMP was a huge hit that led to the further sequels. And because of its unique anti-action vibe, it stands out now as one of the best in the series.

  • Raising_Kaned

    Not really sure what the point of this post is/was? The Abrams’ Trek-Star Wars comparisons were overabundant four years ago — and that’s long before he was signed on to direct Episode VII.

    Is it somehow shocking that the sequel to the very financially-successful “original” is following in the same vein?

  • http://www.facebook.com/corey3rd Joe Corey

    Speaking of Battleship, I caught part of it on HBO. How exactly does a guy arrested for breaking and entering, vandalism and resisting arrest get control of a Destroyer in a matter of weeks?

  • Ray Quick

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