Nonsensical plot, ham acting and portentous doggerel dialogue aside, this may very well be Industrial Light and Magic’s finest hour, besting even Close Encounters in the shock-and-awe stakes. While there maybe nothing as uniquely breathtaking as the mothership in that movie, the sheer scale of the undertaking here is quite astounding- every few minutes there’s something new and striking to feast one’s eyes on. The main problem with this is that the space scenes and planetary exteriors look so good, they can’t help but throw the crude 70’s sets and lame nylon costumes into sharp relief.
Points, too, for Jerry Goldsmith’s worldbeating score, combing the best elements of his own loony Planet of the Apes soundtrack with more commercially successful John Williams efforts like Star Wars to create something consistently surprising and satisfyingly weird, but still triumphal and stirring. Far better, in fact, than the film really deserves. The question still remains- was the guy who directed The Sound Of Music really the best choice?
by Tom Huddleston | Source: Sky Movies
27 Nov 2007 11:32 AM | Comments (2)
The script and the visuals inform my pet theory that the movie is (very) loosely based on Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” — Veeger as Kurtz, the nebula as the jungle. You get the idea. It could have been an interesting premise under different circumstances.
Robert Wise was also responsible for “The Curse of the Cat People”, “The Body Snatcher”, “The Day The Earth Stood Still”, “The Haunting” and “The Andromeda Strain” and not just “The Sound of Music” before he made “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”. Almost all of those are considered classic genre fare to some degree, and in fact large degrees, so actually he was amply qualified to film “Star Trek”. “Star Trek” may be a failure or not, but regardless he was a good choice.
McLir
5 December 2007
10:44 PM