J. J Abrams has received quite a bit of flack for the now famous underwear clip in Star Trek Into Darknes. Many have touted the scene as sexist and unnecessary. They say that it exploits Alice Eve and adds nothing to the movie. In a recent interview on Conan he explained the use of the scene in three ways:
A) It balances the shirtless Kirk scene
B) It plays on Kirk as a womanizer who just can’t help sneaking a peek
C) He really didn’t edit it the way he wanted to
As a woman I honestly was not bothered by the scene. In no way was I offended by Carol Marcus in her undies (cute set by the way). I actually thought it was funny and a typical Kirk moment as he sneaks a peek. I mean really people, it’s Jim Kirk. His a known womanizer. I think the scene, while a bit awkward, broke the tension and gave us a classic series moment. In other words.. Get over it! You see more during Victoria Secret commercials.
That being said, this movie does ramp up the sexuality a bit. As Larry has commented below it prevented him from taking his 12 year old daughter to see it. We have the underwear scene, loads of commentary and a romp under the sheets with Kirk and the cat women. As an adult I don’t have as much of an issue with the movie. But, I can understand why parents would steer clear of some the scenes. This is why they invented skip on the DVD remote!
Abrams went on to reveal a deleted scene with Benedict in the shower. True to form O’Brien couldn’t help putting his funny take on the whole scene. If you haven’t watched it yet I highly recommend it. I don’t think that this scene adds anything to the character or movie so it was a good decision. Click the video below for the whole interview.
So what do you think? Was the underwear scene gratuitous or true to Trek form? Did we really need to see Kirk and the Cat girls?
I thought the movie had too much sexuality. It kept my 12 year daughter away from the movie.
Good point. From a parental perspective I can understand this. Especially the scene with Kirk and the cat women. That was unnecessary. Yet no one is up in arms about that.
I didn’t think it gratuitous at all. That’s the nature of Jim Kirk and all it did was show that the character is still a juvenile guy who wants to catch sneak peeks at women.
It adds to the maturity level that he grows as the movie goes on.
I commented on both scenes in my review. I had a much bigger issue with the two aliens in Kirk’s bed than the underwear scene. You can see that on TV commercials. The combination of both scenes made it worse.
My daughter will get to see this at home when we can skip those scenes. It is too bad she wasn’t able to see it on the big screen. She was really bummed.