Star Trek: Renegades (2015)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Really, I might be harsh, given the fact I've watched almost everything in the Star Trek, universe and I might be inclined to pat them on the shoulder and say "congrats for the effort". But no. Leaving the wooden acting aside, whoever was in charge of photography, did a lousy job. Such cheap green-screen shots are unnaceptable, when your overlay is so damn visible with the naked eye. Go for something else in this case. Even the lighting is way off... what did they use, ikea lamps? I get it, no money, but why did they went for such a small funding campaign? Bad lighting, bad set design, bad photography (no focus pulling in some key moments, wobbly camera moves, even bouncy at some times, no tracking shots), all leads for a proper self-burial of the movie. Even when the story captivates you, some shots are so bad/cheap that they manage to yank you out of the immersion in the story you were starting to feel. Look at creators on Vimeo and Youtube... those guys manage to get more cinematic shots than this movie. Wtf? You had one job to somehow save this project, with proper cinematography, and proper planned and executed shots (leaving aside amateuristic VFX and wooden acting) but you managed to screw it even in this department. Where did all the money go, in the modeling of the ships and the space action shots with them? Because those were the only things looking ok in this movie.

Some things were out of place for a 24th century civilization. The uniforms did not fit. No one (including the hologram) shaved. Glasses? Did anyone look in the mirror while putting on make-up? The plot reminded me of a Chinese western. The background music, oh, please turn it off.However, the cast of characters, were good to see. I hope they are in the next star trek movie or TV program (and there should be another one, soon). The film was high quality. Next time call me; I work for food.All in all, In my opinion, the story was not engaging. the only thing that made it watchable for me is: I am a fan!

Where to start on this? Given its shortcomings, one wonders why it is getting attention. That is easy to explain. There are several generations of people who have been brought up on one version of Star Trek or another. There is definite interest in another TV series based on it. This is exacerbated by the huge shortcomings of the recent Star Trek movies which tore the established time line, characters and precepts apart and have lowered, yes lowered, the franchise to the level of the usual overwrought, adrenalin rush, commercially obsessed material that has pushed plot and idea oriented movies far to the periphery. As a result, there are a lot of people who want Star trek: Renegades to work. The production obviously suffers from a low budget especially in comparison to the fully funded large studio Star Trek productions. The sound, in particular, is really quite bad. But it is not just a lack of budget. The production crew seems to be learning on the job with camera, costumes, lighting, CG, writing, the whole thing. There is a brew of clichés and lack of skill/time going on. That could improve with further efforts but there is a long way to go. In terms of basic themes and ideas, again, there is potential but problems as well. We have a diverse crew of misfits being used as a covert operations force. Furthermore, there are people who are out to get them. This provides a huge stream future story ideas. It is a unfortunate that the pilot used an specific idea that is very tired and old in the nature of the threat, the inability of the establishment to deal with it and the techno-babble/quasi-magic solution. Nonetheless, it used that idea to effectively introduce a large number of characters which is a prime purpose of a pilot. That brings us to the acting and the characters. This is very uneven. One hopes it could be sorted out. There is room for both hope and pessimism. Here is a rundown of some of them. Chekov - a useful link to the past.Chekov's great grand-daughter - a weak character that could evolve into an interesting sub-plot but needs to be handled extremely carefully. A wimpy cadet who has a foot in the door to the highest levels of Star Fleet Intelligence could be a disaster. This could be another Wesley Crusher but worse. When in doubt, leave her out. Tuvok - another useful link. He didn't have much material but he did fine with it. Lexxa Singh - This is a major character and as things stand now, a train wreck and thus a serious liability for the whole concept. There was not a single thing about this character that was believably delivered. I don't want to dwell on it too much or blame the actress as the concept is flawed from the start. She came across as a semi-emaciated addict who somehow is supposed to be a fierce renegade with strength, leadership, etc, etc. Not buying it for a second. I'd start with changing the costume and make-up and seriously reworking her lines and delivery. Perhaps it can be salvaged but it is not just a matter of minor changes. Alvarez - This character is very useful as a good guy who is not in the loop and can both bump heads with the main bunch and alternatively work with them. Furthermore, Corin Nemec did well with the material he had. Why they gave him a name like Alvarez is beyond me as he doesn't look like an Alvarez at all. Lucien - Sean Young looked very uncertain of herself in this role. I am not sure why she wanted to do it. Over time and with better material, she should grow into it. The character is potentially fine. They just need to keep her technical stuff more realistic.Zimmerman - Robert Picardo can effectively deliver this character in his sleep but there is not much for him to do and I am not sure why he is there. Ragnar - Not great material to work with but Gary Graham had good presence and one can have confidence in him. Icheb - another return from a previous series. This is an interesting character although with too many Borg related abilities. Acted well enough given the material. Ronara - this one needs development but by no means a lost cause. The head shaking with the mental abilities could be portrayed better. Otherwise, she seemed to be the eye candy (no problems there!) and a few fill-in lines.Fixer - another one that needs development but could work out fine. The Breen - Interesting but did not do much. There is a LOT of potential there but they have to stay out of the trap of making him a continuous running joke. The rest of the potentially returning cast had not much to do, were not paid much if at all and it seemed to show. Because of some of the people involved, the way it is being funded and the effort made on a low budget, the next "episode" of ST:Renegades will be viewed with a good bit of sympathy and again be given the benefit of the doubt by a lot of people. On the other hand, the chances of a major studio picking this up are slight. If one did, the egos involved would rework it and replace many of the people involved and the result would be hardly recognizable. In many ways that would be good but I am sure the studios already have their own ST ideas and if they were thinking of going with a new series, they would follow up on those.

This is a super bad film named Star Trek. The few actors from earlier shows gives you the level what you expect after Start Trek series and films. But the rest... Bad acting. Bad CGIs-means super bad, like made by a 5 years old. Bad photography, really bad camera sets. Bad story-telling and no character developing.It's like made by The Asylum studio but it's not. (Who does not know that studio, they made all the Sharknado films.)I was suffering during the whole film for the higher purpose to tell my honest opinion about it if I already decided to watch despite the signs. For all the real fans who really likes Star Trek universe, this is my last warning: AVOID AT ALL COST.