Star Trek Review
Star Trek
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Written by: Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Eric Bana, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood
Back in 2002, I remember being pretty excited about a little movie called Star Trek: Nemesis. It had the promise of action and adventure, along with an epic screenplay written by John “Gladiator” Logan. Sure, Star Trek: Insurrection had been a disappointment, but based on the curse of the odd-numbered Trek movies, that was to be expected. The next even-numbered movie would make things right again… they always did. But then a strange thing happened: Star Trek: Nemesis didn’t make things right again. Not only did it suck, but it also tanked at the box office. There would be no saving Star Trek after this one. The franchise that once represented a vision of the future, had now become a thing of the past.
Years later, as Hollywood started playing with the idea of reboots, someone realized that maybe Star Trek didn’t have to die after all. With a fresh, young cast and a serious makeover, maybe they could re-introduce the concept to a whole new generation. And who better to oversee this re-imagining than the current king of sci-fi, J.J. Abrams? He had certainly earned the unwavering support of geeks everywhere, but would he have the skill to steer the Enterprise in the right direction? In case you haven’t heard, the answer is a resounding yes.
This Star Trek movie is both a prequel and also a fresh start to the series, setting the stage for a whole new chronology to unfold in its wake. It is a brave new take on the franchise, one that some fans will feel uncomfortable with, and yet the core elements remain in tact. As we are first introduced to James Tiberius Kirk, he is a troubled youngster, clearly smart and talented, but with a massive chip on his shoulder. One day he gets in a bar fight with some Starfleet cadets, and crosses paths with Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood), who happened to serve with Kirk’s father. He challenges Jim to enlist in Starfleet as well, and enlist he does, even though his hot-headed and rebellious nature threatens to derail his career at every turn. Coincidentally, Kirk finds himself on board the Enterprise at the same time that its crew runs into Nero, a Romulan who has travelled back in time, hellbent on destroying Vulcan, Earth, and anything else that stands in his way.
Many have called this the best Star Trek movie since Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and indeed, there is a similar importance placed on having a bad ass villain. Eric Bana is fierce and intense as Nero, although admittedly his back story is somewhat glossed over in the movie (it is more fully explained in the Star Trek Countdown comic book mini-series). All that really matters is that he is simply an evil guy who wants revenge, and the fact that Kirk has a history with him makes for a bit of addded drama. There are no grey areas to explore, no last minute double crosses or clever plot twists. The movie is set up to be a straight ahead action movie, and that’s exactly what it is.
J.J. Abrams and his team have taken cues from Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Firefly and many other recent sci-fi series to give Star Trek a much more visceral feel than ever before. There are hand-to-hand fights, phaser fights, and dog fights in space. The ships are not slow and lumbering, they are quick and mobile. When a ship takes damage, you feel it, and you see the repercussions. Handheld camera work adds to the grittiness but never gets carried away, while bold angles and sweeping camera movements maintain a high level of energy and intensity at all times.
Star Trek has never looked this good. It’s true that the technology for the special effects are finally at a point where they can do it justice, but it’s not just the technical advancements — they’ve clearly put a massive budget behind this thing. Paramount has shown a serious commitment to the property here, bringing Star Trek to a level playing field with all the other major blockbusters and comic book movies out there today. While some may take issue with the sleek, shiny look of the bridge, or constant barrage of lens flares, the space battles alone are some of the most visually interesting ever captured on screen. Heck, they even dispense with the age old accusation that all aliens in Star Trek are just humans with weird foreheads, by adding lots of interesting digital creature FX.
It’s a difficult thing to reinvent and update something without losing the intangible feel of the original, but they do a good job of re-using certain sound effects and visuals to unlock bits of nostalgia from our minds. There are moments early on where the movie struggles a little to find its footing, and tries a bit too hard to be hip and sexy (although it’s good to know that the Beastie Boys are still being enjoyed 250 years from now). In the end, I can forgive some of these missteps because I think the goal was to help the audience to identify with the main characters by starting on Earth in a familiar environment, before the crew actually goes off into the final frontier.
The most important component to this whole project, however, was definitely the cast. These folks had the unenviable task of redefining iconic characters, staying true to the original personalities without falling into bad impressions of the previous actors. They all deliver beyond expectations. Karl Urban is perhaps the most impressive; he simply disappears into the role of Leonard McCoy to the point where he is unrecognizable. Zachary Quinto certainly looks the part of Spock, but he plays him as a much more young and unpredictable version of the character (and he even has sex appeal!). Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, John Cho and Simon Pegg all bring interesting new dimensions to their characters, but the center of the film is Chris Pine. Although some people had concerns that he was just a no name pretty boy, he absolutely nails the cocky and rugged attitude of Kirk without mimicking Shatner’s signature delivery. (I still could have seen Matt Damon in the role though, especially since Kirk is basically Will Hunting.)
All this being said, I don’t think that Star Trek is a flawless film. There are some major glaring issues with this movie, most notably in the plot department, and I’m surprised no one has really complained about them. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, J.J. Abrams’s partners in crime from Alias, write scripts that are tailor made for blockbusters, plain and simple. They paint with broad strokes and they think in terms of set pieces and punchlines, not logic and subtleties (these are the same guys who wrote Michael Bay’s The Island and Transformers as well).
There are all kinds of weird coincidences and unlikely events that we must accept in order to bring the crew that we know together on the Enterprise, things that really push the boundaries of believability — yes, even for a Star Trek movie. For the most part, I think we are willing to let it slide, because we want it to happen, but on paper I think this script would have looked pretty weak, maybe even indistinguishable from a fan script in some places. It’s the cast and the special effects that make us forget how mindless a lot of this movie really is.
Still, most people seem willing to overlook these issues, and I can understand why — once the action takes over, you are hooked and enthralled and willing to forgive just about anything. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a hero like Kirk in a major blockbuster, someone who is so much fun to root for, a loose cannon who shoots first and asks questions later. Plus, the movie has a great sense of humour, something that so many action movies lack nowadays, and it has an unmistakable chemistry among its crew members that simply crackles on screen.
I can happily confirm that Star Trek is back in a big way, and will probably be around for some time to come… living long and prospering, if you will. Are there things I miss about the old Star Trek? Sure, but I can’t deny that J.J. Abrams has given us a hell of a ride and a promising start to a whole new adventure. This is what was needed to make Star Trek a mainstream phenomenon again. Where they decide to go next is anybody’s guess, but with this crew I am willing to follow them just about anywhere. — Sean
SCORE: 
Recommended If You Like: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Wars, Serenity
