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Both Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness were full of lens flare — to the point of it being excessive — we can almost all agree on that. But like all of us, with time to reflect, even superstar directors, like J.J. Abrams, can look back and understand what worked and what didn’t with the choices he’s made.
His, unfortunately, were under a microscope and received a huge amount of backlash from fans and critics, alike.
Abrams, fresh off the success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, recently sat down with comedian/actor Chris Rock during the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. The duo discussed a variety of topics, including Abrams’ overuse of lens flare in those two reboot films.
“I’m over that,” Abrams said, discussing the ridicule he received from his use of the lighting technique.
“For a period of time, on ‘Star Trek,’ there was this idea we had that the future was so bright that it just couldn’t be contained. I overdid it, then I went further, and then on the second ‘Star Trek’ movie I went nuts. We all make mistakes. Mine were with light. We literally had flashlights. The flares weren’t put in in post. We had these flashlights and we aimed them right at the lens.”
An example of Abrams’ use of lens flare in Star Trek Into Darkness
(photo: Paramount Pictures)
The next installment of the rebooted film series, Star Trek Beyond, is directed by Justin Lin, written by Simon Pegg, Doug Jung, Roberto Orci, John D. Payne and Patrick McCay. The film stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba and Sofia Boutella. It’s scheduled to hit theaters on July 22.
Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for the latest news related to Star Trek Beyond. Follow @TrekNewsnet on Twitter, TrekNews on Facebook, TrekNews on Instagram and TrekNewsnet on YouTube.
via Variety
Adam C
April 18, 2016 at 2:34 pm
into darkness that film was the worst, way freaking worse then nemesis
The Chadwick
April 18, 2016 at 4:29 pm
Indeed. But still…they killed Data. I don’t care what his sacrifice means, or that it made him “human” in the end. They killed Data and I will be forever furious about it. It’s such BS, you’re telling me Gordie only made one of those emergency transporter units, what if you grab onto someone while transporting, Star Trek IV showed us you would be transported as well. Data and Picard could have easily detonated a timed explosive and both safely gotten off the Shinzon’s ship, just such a flawed story, just like Into Darkness lol.
Darkthunder
April 18, 2016 at 4:48 pm
Agreed. And in the end, they cheapened Data’s sacrifice, by showing that “B-4” had started to regain some of Data’s memories. Just as they cheapened new-Kirk’s sacrifice, by reviving him 5 minutes later using “magic blood”.
While I’m not exactly thrilled about Beyond, one thing that COULD make me inclined to see it, is if they actually managed to make a movie without the freaking lens flares. But alas, I need to know some details on actual plot, villain etc. The “Trek Fast and Furious” trailer certainly didn’t do it for me.
jedijesse
April 18, 2016 at 5:51 pm
Good news, in the novels…Dr. Noonien Soong had created a very advanced android body for himself, and copied that backup from B-4 that Data had made, and sacrificed his own consciousness to give Data the new body.
It’s cooler than it sounds.
Adam C
April 19, 2016 at 11:31 am
yeah both killed me
ZOD
April 19, 2016 at 8:37 pm
ST2009 is in my top 3 Trek films, just behind TWOK and just ahead of Undiscovered Country. Into Darkness fits solidly into my “second tier” category somewhere around First Contact. Maybe just behind the Voyage Home. Both JJ movies were a huge improvement on the previous TNG films. Into Darkness Is definitly flawed, but it was ambitious and fun to watch. That’s not something you could say about Insurrection or Nemesis. As a (very) longtime fan, I hope they’ve learned from and built upon the last two films. IMO, there was a lot to like about them.
Erik
April 24, 2016 at 1:41 pm
I have to disagree. Especially “Into Darkness” was a bad joke of a movie. Old stories badly told.
Steven
April 26, 2016 at 2:10 am
Personally, I thought Insurrection was great to watch.
Erik
April 24, 2016 at 1:38 pm
To me the error was to make this two pointless movies. Both aren’t Star Trek to me. While I have to say, the 2009 film was watchable, “Into Darkness” was a pure disaster. As was the latest “Star Wars” it felt like a rehash of old stories we all knew.
cs_mansion
August 22, 2019 at 8:31 pm
Heh and also games like Mass Effect. Those were the times when they were really overused.
But I do like these long flares. I miss those guys.