JJ does need filmaking 101. He is a tv producer, writer and director. This is only his second film his last being MI3 which felt like a tv episode and not a hollywood blockbuster.
They are giving the reigns and of a 40 year plus old franchise and the keys to the trek kingdom to a guy who does not have the background it seems to pull it off.
If they were prepping a new modern and edgy trek for tv JJ might be the right guy but a huge epic giant 200 million dollar movie? The biggest trek film by far in terms of effects budget and scale.
Even that is doubtful because JJ never stays with any of his shows long and has had zero fidelity with any franchise he has worked on. Seriously the guy gets bored way too easily and always has too many projects going on at once.
The last time they gave the directing chores to a non trek guy Stuart Baird we got the turd that was nemesis. Meyer and bennet were outside guys too but i believe that was a special case.
Can JJ pull off what Nick Meyer did on a shoestring budget. Wrath of Khan was made for something like 15 million dollars. Look at the absurd budget JJ has. That only makes me even more fearful they will spend tons of money on digital computer generated imagery Like lucas did on the star wars prequels which by the way were inferior in every way to the originals.
I think this film could turn out to be a fun 2 hours of entertainment as far as summer blockbusters go. Hell it could even be a damn fine movie, like my example of Casino Royale and not fit what the canon is and what the characters screen history are.
Of course i never expected it to look like the sixties tv show. I always loved the film franchise first as that is what hooked me on Trek. That and TNG. I gave tos a second or third watch much later on, but as a very young kid it was too ponderous and slow and not the gee whiz, explosions and lightsaber duels of star wars.
That being said i don't want Star Trek to be anything like Star Wars than i want Star Wars to be like Star Trek.
And of Course it is impossible to expect the new movie and its actors to live up to the legendary films 1-6. The magic of the adventures of the silver screen enterprise and her intrepid crew. Any more than people never expected the star wars prequels to live up to the original trilogy, but expected at least a middle ground on terms of quality. Instead we got giant piles of shit with Super Epic Polished CGI.
This new film will be a type of star trek, just not the "star trek".
I am going to have to force myself to go into this film with a fresh perspective. This star trek is a new creation, you have to forget everything you know about star trek. Star Trek as it was died with nemesis and enterprise. This is a rebirth starts from the beginning as if star trek was being created for the first time. It will truly be the first time trek was "fresh" since the sixties. As a new continuity and entirely seperate franchise entity than what was before.
The new bond does not match the continuity of the older bond films, the new batman does not match the shumacher or burton films, and the newer star wars films despite what George Lucas says do not belong in the same continuity or universe as the original star wars trilogy. It will be the same here.
Too bad they are making the same mistake as Superman returns by having it a reboot and not a reboot at the same time. Why can't they make up their fucking minds. On the one hand they want the old school trekkies money by Putting Nimoy in a non canon film, almost like connery in never say never again. And on the other hand the want the average film viewer who goes out on a friday evening or saturday afternoon to go to the movies to see this and not just the nerds who go to conventions.