Star Trek Beyond (Film, 2016)

At the risk of making it seem like I only ever watch blockbusters these days, here are my thoughts on the latest Star Trek instalment, Star Trek Beyond.

I loved the first two reboots, 2009’s Star Trek and 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness. I’m not saying that they were perfect movies, but they were great sci-fi action films that managed to breathe new life into the Star Trek franchise. Let’s not forget that before 2009, there hadn’t been a movie for seven years and the last TV series (Enterprise) had ended four years earlier having been something of a damp squib. JJ Abrams took a lot of flak for his action-heavy approach and his insistence on reimagining bits of the canon (criticisms he also faced in respect of Star Wars: The Force Awakens), but I loved the fact that there was an incredible amount of energy being pumped into the franchise. You could tell that everyone involved was on board and having a bloody good time. And so, when Abrams departed the series, I was a little bit worried. The new director, Justin Lin, had a bunch of Fast and Furious films under his belt, which certainly meant that he knew about action, but sci-fi?

Well, no-one need have worried, because Star Trek Beyond is a complete package, and it’s a lot of fun. It has character development (not just Kirk & Spock), a plot that’s both easy to follow and engaging, and shed-loads of action. Simon Pegg and Doug Jung’s script manages to balance the requirements of a modern-day blockbuster together with an intentional focus on more traditional Star Trek elements: a strange new planet, a mystery that needs to be solved… It was also quite touching to see the tributes to Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin in the credits, both of whom played significant roles in the previous two films.

I’ll be honest and say that Star Trek Beyond is my least favourite of the three reboots, but there’s not an awful lot to choose between them and I would happily sit through it again, right now. If you didn’t enjoy the preceding two films then you should probably give this one a miss, but if you did enjoy them then you’re sure to enjoy this one too.

Jon Ronson - The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry (Book, 2011)

I suppose I’m a little bit late to the party with this book – I seem to recall there being quite a lot of talk about it when it first came out, five years. Well, better late than never, I suppose!

As with Ronson’s preceding works (see previous blogs), I found The Psychopath Test absolutely fascinating. There is something intrinsically gripping out psychopaths and the unfathomable crimes they commit, and I suppose this is why there are so many books, TV shows and films about them. If you need a character to commit a heinous crime, well, it just has to be a psychopath, doesn’t it? Nothing else would do.

Strangely, the structure of the book reminded me of The Simpsons (if you’ve never noticed, and I didn’t until it was pointed out to me, every episode of the show opens with a little introductory story that leads into a secondary, main story). The Psychopath Test opens with a ‘teaser’ regarding a mysterious book called Being or Nothingness, which is a fascinating topic in itself, but in any case this then leads on to the main topic of psychopathy itself. Ronson does an excellent job of investigating a number of areas: the treatment of psychopaths, the business of mental health medication, the methods of diagnosis and so on. There are meetings and numerous discussions with psychopaths (potential and actual) and the people who treat them, which again is a feature of Ronson’s writing: he’s not content to sit back and just research on the internet or from books, he actually wants to meet people.

If the book feels a little open-ended, that’s because there are a lot of contrasting views on offer and very few absolute certainties. How exactly do we say, with any kind of conviction, that a person is or is not a psychopath? Are we treating psychopaths fairly? Is psychiatry, in fact, bunk, as claimed by Scientologists?

The Psychopath Test certainly reignited my interest in the human mind, so it has to be yet another thumbs-up for Mr Ronson!

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Round 2!

Some people might say I was crazy to be excited about the release of Batman v Superman on digital download, but I’ve never pretended to be sane!

So yes, I bought the film yesterday, the day of its release, and watched it last night. I’m pleased, and a little surprised, to say that I enjoyed the film more the second time around. I watched the Ultimate Edition, which has an added 30 minutes or so of extra content and takes the running time up to almost 3 hours (!), although to be honest my memory of the film wasn’t good enough to be able to pinpoint most of these additions. The only bits that I knew for sure were added were the scenes of Jena Malone playing Carrie Kelly.

The same problems are still there, that’s for sure. The film is baggy and poorly constructed, more like a patchwork of scenes than a properly coherent film. It’s far too dour: everybody is thoroughly miserable, and the film is shot in such a grainy, grey palette that HD offers little, if any, benefit. And of course, Batman is still a gun-crazed killer, which is a different, valid take on the character, albeit one that’s completely inconsistent with the Batman of the comic books, who never kills and despises guns. There are moments that don’t make any sense. The film can’t seem to make up its mind whether Batman is a well-established vigilante (there is a reference to him having fought crime for twenty years, and there are nods to past run-ins with the Joker) or not (Clark Kent doesn’t know who Bruce Wayne is, nor does he seem to have any prior knowledge of Batman). The action scenes aren’t amazing either, particularly the desert battle in the post-apocalyptic future, where Batman successfully takes on one attacker at a time even though it looks like he can barely move in his bulky suit. And that training montage with Bruce Wayne hitting a big tyre with a sledge-hammer? Come on!

However, the disappointment I felt wasn’t at the same level as when I left the cinema all the way back in April, probably because I’d already gone through the motions of fan-boy disillusionment after my first viewing. I simply enjoyed what was there, rather than being annoyed at what was missing. Jeremy Irons’ Alfred is brilliant. Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor is over-the-top, but a thoroughly modern villain. The internal conflict felt by Superman felt real. Furthermore, I’m much more likely to watch Batman v Superman than Man of Steel (neither film is as good as the Batman flicks made by Christopher Nolan, but nor as they anywhere near as bad as some would have you believe.)

If, like me, you are a Bat-fan, then I would certainly recommend giving Batman v Superman another go. You might not ever love it, but you probably won’t dislike it as much.