STAR TREK REVIEW

[Blake Petit]

Review by: Blake M. Petit Blake@comixtreme.com
Quick Rating: Great
MPAA Rating: PG-13

A new Enterprise takes its first flight

Director: J.J. Abrams
Writers: Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Ben Cross, Winona Ryder, Tyler Perry
Music: Michael Giacchino
Producer: Damon Lindeloff
Studio: Paramount Pictures/Bad Robot

For over 40 years now, there has been no fandom in all the realm of science fiction to match that of Star Trek. Over the course of five television series, a cartoon show, and ten feature films, the Trek fans (whatever they call themselves) have been devoted to a degree that other fandoms can only aspire to. Director J.J. Abrams was given a difficult task – to re-launch a franchise that has been dead since Enterprise went off the air four years ago, and to do it in a way that will include not just the die-hards, but appeal to a mass audience.

He succeded beyond anyone’s expectations. This is a new Star Trek that feels familiar. It’s got the tenor, energy, and excitement of the earliest voyages of William Shatner’s crew, but with a sleek, polished, iPod-generation shine that makes it resonate with people who can’t recite lines from The City at the Edge of Forever with the rest of us.

This version begins with a sudden, brutal Romulan attack against a Federation starship, killing the command crew and sending most of the people on-board out to escape in shuttlecraft, including a pregnant woman in the midst of labor. Over 20 years later, the attack on the U.S.S. Kelvin is still a mystery, but not one a young James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is interested in pursuing until he is approached by Starfleet Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood). Pike, a character fans remember as the pre-Kirk Enterprise captain from the original series’ pilot episode, takes on a mentor role in this film, helping lead Kirk to Starfleet academy. On the day of one Kirk’s biggest test, an entire class of cadets is called to active duty to deal with an emergency beyond imagining, and Kirk isn’t about to sit this one out.

The casting of this film is spot-on. Pine’s Kirk has the same attitude, courage, and swagger as the original, but without just doing a Shatner impression. The interaction between him and Zachary Quinto, the new Spock, is the heart of this film. It’s an antagonistic relationship that even non-fans will recognize as one that has to turn into respect, and even friendship, if the Enterprise is to survive. Zoe Saldana portrays Uhura, and for the first time, gives the character a real purpose. This isn’t a knock against Nichelle Nichols, who played the character in the old incarnation, it’s just a statement that they didn’t give her very much to do.

John Cho’s Sulu is a bit naïve, but capable, and Simon Pegg’s Scotty hilariously steals the show whenever he’s on-screen, in a performance that does Jimmy Doohan proud. Karl Urban, as Leonard McCoy, is flawless. He has the voice, the looks, and the mannerisms of the late DeForest Kelly down perfectly. Finally, there’s Eric Bana as our villain, the Romulan Nero. He loses himself in the makeup – if I hadn’t seen him promoting the film on the talk show circuit I may not have recognized him. The pain and rage he manages to transfer into the role is just what he needs.

The effects in the movie are excellent – beautiful spacescapes and thrilling outer-space battles that far surpass the limited abilities of the original series. Effects technology has advanced considerably since then, and the effects are used perfectly here.

Abrams brings his Lost cohort, Michael Giacchino, on-board to do the music. His score is powerful, dramatic, and exciting, and the new version of the classic theme at the end brought the house down.

The film isn’t perfect, of course. Some really die-hard fans will be upset by the re-writing of Trek’s history, but as the film makes it clear that this is not the original crew but rather that of an alternate timeline (to put it in comic book terms, this is “Earth-2”), I could easily accept every change or twist to the Trek mythology without getting upset about it. There is one thing about Leonard Nimoy’s appearance that I thought only really made sense if you read the IDW prequel comic book, Countdown… but then again, maybe I was looking for it. None of the people I saw the film with had read the comic (although two of them pledged to buy the paperback after the movie), and they didn’t notice it at all. Anton Yelchin’s Chekov goes a bit too far in the accent department, almost cartoonlike. Even compared to Walter Koenig’s original portrayal, Yelchin takes the gag too far, to the point where it can be difficult to understand him at times.

None of this hurts my recommendation in the slightest.

The movie soars visually, and it captures the spirit of Star Trek like nothing else we have seen in a very long time. People who have never watched Trek before will find an exciting, thrilling outer space adventure, and longtime fans will find something shockingly new, but deliciously familiar. It’s not perfect, but it’s about as close as a Star Trek movie can get.

Rating:


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[Dirge]

I liked it, but it was not Star Trek. I thought the movie was very well cast. But is seems like it was missing the soul of star trek. It was washed over with modern movie sensibilities. They did put in all the little touches the ST nerd would want. Even an Orion girl

[westsidah408]

I'd have to agree with just about everything you mention here, Blake, except for Simon Pegg, who seemed completely over the top for me, on a similar level to Anton Yelchin's Chekov. It was an awesome movie for me (maybe it's because I'm not a die-hard Trekkie and have only seen TOS sporadically) and I plan on seeing it again sometime soon.

Good review.

[Blake Petit]

Originally Posted by Navin Schaduangrat

I'd have to agree with just about everything you mention here, Blake, except for Simon Pegg, who seemed completely over the top for me, on a similar level to Anton Yelchin's Chekov. It was an awesome movie for me (maybe it's because I'm not a die-hard Trekkie and have only seen TOS sporadically) and I plan on seeing it again sometime soon.

Good review.

Thanks, man.

And yeah, I've got every intention of seeing it again.

Oh -- and I forgot to mention this in the review, but if you have the option in your area, it is TOTALLY worth the extra money to see it in IMAX. Hands-down.

[cv_otaku]

Good review, Blake. I've already spoke, at length, about my love for this movie over at the Screening Room. I went to see it again last night night. And while I certainly noticed a few continuity errors, I missed the first time around, I still loved it.

I just thought it was a great movie.

(And I caught the Tribble this time. That was awesome)

[Blake Petit]

Originally Posted by cv_otaku

Good review, Blake. I've already spoke, at length, about my love for this movie over at the Screening Room. I went to see it again last night night. And while I certainly noticed a few continuity errors, I missed the first time around, I still loved it.

I just thought it was a great movie.

(And I caught the Tribble this time. That was awesome)

Kenny told me about the Tribble after I saw it. I'll have to look for it the next time.

[Scott A. Williams]

Originally Posted by Blake Petit

Anton Yelchin’s Chekov goes a bit too far in the accent department, almost cartoonlike. Even compared to Walter Koenig’s original portrayal, Yelchin takes the gag too far, to the point where it can be difficult to understand him at times.

Suddenly, all I can think is "nuclear wessels." Too bad though, Yelchin was a talented kid on Huff (a Showcase series from a few years back starring Hank Azaria as a troubled psychiatrist) and he's probably got quite a career ahead of him.

I was iffy on this but a recommendation from you Blake is a good indication to me. I'm not a huge Star Trek fanatic and I feel like I'll probably enjoy the revisions rather than feel upset by them.

[Ben Lehnsherr]

At the end of the day for me, this movie just wasn't entertaining enough. You can have a smart script, good comedic timing, tight continuity, and enough easter eggs to satisfy the long time fans.....but you still need an enjoyable, entertaining product. It wasn't bad, but not anything more than okay.

The best scenes for me took place on Earth, Vulcan, and that icy planet....but never on the ship, those were boring. And the villian was way too vanilla for me. Zachary Quinto had by FAR the best acting of the picture.

But now....take this with a grain of salt, because I've seen maybe five episodes of Star Trek in my life.

[Terry Verticchio]

Some really die-hard fans will be upset by the re-writing of Trek’s history, but as the film makes it clear that this is not the original crew but rather that of an alternate timeline (to put it in comic book terms, this is “Earth-2”), I could easily accept every change or twist to the Trek mythology without getting upset about it.

This kinda sounds like a cop-out to me.

A reason the producers can do what they want with the material and some how get a free pass from the fans.

Not that I'm complaining, as I haven't seen the movie and I have never been a overt Trek fan.

Just as long as its a good story, with adequate acting, it should be worth while. I'll wait a bit longer before seeing it.

[Magnus2k]

Originally Posted by Ben Lehnsherr

At the end of the day for me, this movie just wasn't entertaining enough. You can have a smart script, good comedic timing, tight continuity, and enough easter eggs to satisfy the long time fans.....but you still need an enjoyable, entertaining product. It wasn't bad, but not anything more than okay.

The best scenes for me took place on Earth, Vulcan, and that icy planet....but never on the ship, those were boring. And the villian was way too vanilla for me. Zachary Quinto had by FAR the best acting of the picture.

But now....take this with a grain of salt, because I've seen maybe five episodes of Star Trek in my life.

And I've never seen any episodes, and I thought this was a fantastic movie. I know nothing of Trek lore, and it still held up as an entertaining movie. Even though I knew what characters would move on in the movie, I still found myself nervous at times.

[ErinPatricia]

Fantastic. Just fantastic. Even my mom loved it lol

[Ryan Broussard]

eh.....just kinda eh.

The villain never seemed very evil, and the spok revelation was disappointing.

I thought some of the cast was good and the other just a waste...it kept me entertained for 2 hours so It was not a bad movie at all....but i wouldn't see it again

[Chase Bouzigard]

Can will never be able to wash off this movie.

[Mark Blicharz]

I didn't like it and explained my reasons in the other Star Trek thread in the screening room. Only good parts of this movie for me were the Simon Pegg segments. "Do they have sandwiches in the future?"

[Blade X]

For the most part, I'm not a STAR TREK fan, which is not to say that I hate all thinks TREK. I thought the original TV series was entertaining and interesting. I enjoyed the animated series (I liked it better then the live action TV series). I liked the characters in STAR TREK:THE NEXT GENERATION, but I found the series and (and later, the movies) boring as hell and stopped watching the series after the 2nd season. I've only caught a few episodes of the various other TREK TV series, but none of them interested me enough to want to watch every episode (although ENTERPRISE seems a tad more interesting then the previous 3 TREK series). The last STAR TREK movie that I actually managed to sit through and actually enjoy, was STAR TREK 4. For the most part, I find the STAR TREK movies to be very boring,slow,and light on the action and flashy special effects. So I was obviously very skeptical about paying money to see this new TREK flick in theaters, even though the trailers looked cool as hell and I have heard lot's of great things about this movie both on and off line. I finally gave in and saw this movie, and I thought it was GREAT/OFF THE HOOK/OFF THE CHAIN/DOPE/FLY/AWSOME/EXCELLENT. NUFF SAID.

[thegrayone]

Never seen a Star Trek movie before nor the series but this movie was awesome.

[Andrea Speed]

I finally saw this, and oddly enough, people in the theater applauded when the credits rolled, which I haven't heard happen in a while.

Fun movie, really enjoyable. There's a few nitpicks, but there would. Still, I enjoyed this film, and next to Wolverine it seems like the best movie ever. (It would have been improved with naked Hugh, though.)

And the actor who played Bones, Urban? Oh, I loved him! I think he made Bones my favorite character. He did an awesome job channeling DeForrest Kelly.

[DocOrlando]

Same experience here, Andy: the audience applauded. I think that's pretty rare these days.

Everyone I'd heard from had high praise for ST, but I was still nervous. Like you, I had a few nitpicks (and some sharp words for all the early product placement moments) but they were crushed under the steamroller of awesomeness.

This was probably the first movie since "The Incredibles" that I was ready to watch again as soon as the credits rolled.