Takes It's Place Next to II and VIII
Reviewed by criddic2 for Star Trek at 2010-04-01 03:07:35
My favorite Trek movies were 'Wrath of Kahn' (1982), 'Voyage Home'(1986), 'Undiscovered Country' (1991) and 'First Contact' (1996). Add this reboot to the list. It respects the original characters and their fans, while managing to be fresh and appealing for the first time in years.
True to life film
Reviewed by Mukrak for Spy Game at 2010-03-19 07:15:53
Spy Game is a true to life composite of many real operations. Spy Game is more real than fiction and is based loosely on the character of intelligence operative Tom Golden, the son of an Arkansas dirt farmer. Golden was assigned to the CIA's Phoenix program during the Vietnam War. Nathan Thomas Muir was Golden?s CIA code name in Southeast Asia, and during his CIA operations in Indochina. Golden served a distinguished career in the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the CIA. He served in Southeast Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, and Central and South America. Tony Scott does a great job of presenting the true to life dangers faced by Intelligence Agents in the field and the bureaucratic decisions sometimes made in Washington that are driven by politics.
Set in 1991, the film depicts the U.S. and Chinese Governments on the verge of a major trade agreement with the American President due to pay a visit to China to seal the deal. The Central Intelligence Agency gets word that their Special Activities Division operative Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt) has been captured trying to free an Englishwoman, Elizabeth Hadley (Catherine McCormack), from a Chinese prison near Su Chou (Suzhou). Bishop is being questioned under torture and will be executed within twenty-four hours unless he is claimed by the U.S.
Best Movie of the Year; so far.
Reviewed by Fantasea for Star Trek at 2009-12-12 16:32:32
I had my doubts, but I had to see it. They did IT! It works.
Star Trek, is back!! It just won't die. Seriously, Trekker or not, see this movie. It delivers. First must see movie of the year.
The movie needs more green skinned women...
Reviewed by UncleKitty for Star Trek at 2009-06-02 22:23:00
I need to state a few things up front:
One: I hate time travel movies. Without exception they all have huge plot holes and problems. Since it was pretty open from the beginning this was going to be one I had reservations.
Two: I hate summer action films because most are the same dumbed down crap year after year, and this was obviously going to be a summer action movie despite being a Trek film.
Three: It's a Star Trek film. No matter how much you love the series you have to admit that the record of the movies based on it ain't exactly stellar.
That being said it was pretty darn good despite a few flaws. If you have an engineering or physics background DO NOT see this film (of course you probably get told that about every scifi/action movie). If you were a fan of the original Star Trek series, they put in a lot of nods to you, and even if they don't all work, it's still more than most fans get from series reboots. I can honestly say it's the first movie I've seen recently where I didn't feel like I got robbed at the box office (the last one being The Wrestler).
Oh and a side note to Abrams should he direct a sequel: bring back the green skinned redhead. Or we will haunt you.
As a life-long Trekkie and as a movie fan, I have a couple of issues with J.J. Abrams' new prequel/reboot of Star Trek. Chief among them is a lack of screen time for Eric Bana as the villain, Nero. However, J.J. and his team just got so many other things exactly RIGHT that my few little quibbles seem very minor. This is a slightly flawed masterpiece, but a masterpiece nonetheless, and it deserves to bring Star Trek back on the map. Hell, yeah. Almost Four Bones....
Nice Premise, But Typical Hollywood
Reviewed by KHL for The Skeleton Key at 2008-04-15 15:31:33
There is some nice atmosphere here and an intriguing plotline involving hoodoo and a house with an old and not so nice history, but where it could have resembled something like Angel Heart (a similar type of movie), it just didn't really pull off the 'scary' vibe. Worth one watch, the acting is decent, but the 'scares' are too typically Hollywood and therefore aren't really that spooky.