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"Star Trek 3" To Be Helmed By "Fast & Furious" Franchise Director Justin Lin

Dave Knott writes Although J.J. Abrams directed the first two films in the popular revamped Star Trek series, his new job masterminding the Star Wars sequels had left Star Trek 3 as one of the most prestigious unfilled directing assignments in Hollywood. No longer. It is now known that Justin Lin will direct the third Star Trek film. Lin is best known for revitalizing the long-running Fast & Furious series, helming the third through sixth films in that franchise. Several top-flight directors were under consideration for Star Trek 3, but Lin was the only one actually offered the job, following the postponement of the Bourne Legacy sequel that he had previously been set to direct.

12 of 332 comments (clear)

  1. Nonstop action? Whattabore. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Roddenberry would not permit the filming of a Star Trek movie that was nonstop action.
    The ideas were more important to Gene.
    What a betrayal.

  2. Shift! by meta-monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, what you're saying is there's going to be lots of close-up cuts of Sulu stomping on the Enterprise's clutch and forcefully downshifting.

    But hey, less lens flare amiright?

    --
    We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    1. Re:Shift! by sconeu · · Score: 5, Funny

      Star Trek 3: Romulan Drift

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  3. sounds like relevent expertise by Trepidity · · Score: 5, Funny

    His skills in filming exciting race scenes will allow this incarnation of Star Trek to really do justice to the pod-racing scenes.

  4. Action movies are boring. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Modern action movies are incredibly boring.

    There's nothing interesting about seeing normal human characters defy death ten or twelve times per minute.

    There's nothing interesting about seeing them engage in combat or driving or some other activity at a level that even those with years and years of training and experience couldn't manage.

    When a character has practically no limitations, there is no risk. When there is no risk, there's nothing interesting happening. The result? Bored viewers, even if the on-screen activity is rapid and frantic.

    1. Re:Action movies are boring. by allquixotic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Indeed. Aside from that, "intellectual" threats to the characters (figuring something out with science and creativity; outsmarting an opponent; devising a diplomatic solution to a problem) create far more tension and build-up to the crescendo. The threat of massive loss of life could be the end result of whatever dreadful thing they're up against, but if their solution is to shoot the hell out of it, it's boring, because you KNOW there's no way the movie could proceed except for them to win. Sure, somebody you're attached to might tragically die, but even that trope is pretty old by now, even within the Star Trek film canon (Spock and Data).

      What I've been wanting -- and not receiving -- from modern incarnations of 'Trek are basically the scenes that directors like Justin Lin and JJ Abrams would cut, if they even allowed the scenes to be filmed.

      Like the drawn-out philosophical conversations between Wesley and Picard in TNG.

      Like the near-total audio silence between lines of dialogue during Spock's death scene in the Wrath of Khan.

      Like the many times that a character would *tell* a story through words rather than the viewer being *shown* the story through whizzy graphics.

      Like when the activities of the Federation personnel vaguely represent the moral code and rules of engagement that they apparently seek to uphold.

      It's not going to get better. The cognitive dissonance behind producing movies these days is stunning. If you don't meet quotas for number of CG-rendered frames and explosions per minute, they won't let you run it in theaters.

    2. Re:Action movies are boring. by ravenscar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Exactly. I'll add in: perhaps a "bad guy" that isn't so bad or a situation with no right answer. Often, neither side is completely wrong in a conflict. It all depends on the point of view one takes or the way one ranks morals (say, freedom over equality for example). One of the things I appreciated most about the Star Trek series was the willingness to present and explore morally ambiguous topics. Things such as:
      1. Should they get involved?
      2. Trading one life for another (or others).
      3. Are some values more important than others?

      I liked getting to the end of the show and wondering if the characters really made the right decision.

      It seems that's all gone now. The last times I really noticed similar themes were the BSG reboot and The Wire.

  5. Waste of Time by Java+Commando · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Great. That's all this once proud franchise needs is yet more pointless explosions and simpleton dialogue. Star Trek has been dumbed down so much, by their own admission, that I pretty much don't even bother watching the reboots. All the impressive CGI in the universe won't conceal the fact that these movies are brainless, patronizing wastes of time.

    Gene Roddenberry would be appalled by what's become of his creation. And everyone who grasps what Star Trek originally was intended to be knows it.

  6. Re:more NOS and less lense flare by NotDrWho · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why? Because this is going to be the MOST ACTION PACKED STAR TREK MOVIE EVER!! Fuck all that talking bullshit. This one is going to be 100mph, non-stop B A D A S S !!! More fights, more explosions, more fucking ASS KICKING than anyone has ever seen! Scene one: mad-ass crazy action. Last scene: mad-ass crazy action. Every scene in-between: mad-ass crazy action!

    Set your phasers to FUCKING AWESOME, because this movie is doing some MEGACRAZY SHIT!

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  7. Re:more NOS and less lense flare by Spy+Handler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No one will think of Wrath of Khan or First Contact when they hear the word "shit". These two were the best Trek movies period. They are classics in any sci-fi library and (IMHO) rank among the best sci-fi movies ever.

    Into Darkness on the other hand, is shit. JJ Abrams is shit. Therefore, whoever's replacing him has a low bar to overcome.

  8. Re:more NOS and less lense flare by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This one is going to be 100mph, non-stop B A D A S S !!!

    Wow! 100mph!! They'll get to Alpha Centauri in.... just under 30 million years! ...woohoo!!!

  9. Re:more NOS and less lense flare by the_skywise · · Score: 5, Funny

    Laddie, don't you think you should rephrase that?