God it feels weird going to watch a Star Trek movie again in a Theater. The last time I saw one in the cinema I think was in college. That time was when the powers that be thought it’d be a good idea to kill Captain Kirk by having a bridge fall on him. Well it wasn’t and as far I’m concerned in damaged the franchise irrevocably.
Now that they have some real filmmakers in charge of the franchise once again so we can mercifully forget some of the awful wrong turns the films went through after that piece of nonsense.
This isn’t like any Star Trek movie you’ve ever seen before. This Trek has had money thrown at it, and all of it has stuck to the screen in wonderful ways. The visual invention in this film takes the old warhorse into a new world and reality. where I actually really was gawking and smiling at the screen. This is Star Trek done right – it's the perfect Sci-fi popcorn blockbuster, bursting with deliciously daft ideas and time travel contrivances to fill up a whole series of LOST. This is like no prequel movie as you’ve seen in the past – this one is actually decent.
You see the guy who made this movie is a genius; J. J. Abrams is the natural successor to George Lucas and Spielberg. He’s hungry to innovate and invent, he’s ravenous to create excitement mystery and thrills, he’s dying to fill you up with plot and character, and he’s peacocking it all the way to the bank.
Currently this movie is the top performer of the year, no one has ever said that about a Trek movie before. That means he’s done the impossible, a successful reinvention that has honored what has come before, yet managed to crossover into the mainstream. What a guy, eh?
How does he do it? First off, this is a film about heroes. This is the story of Kirk and Spock and how they became the galaxy saving dynamic duo we all grew up on. J.J. Abrams smartly goes down the Joseph Campbell route and deftly shapes both of them into archetypes for the twenty first century. Kirk is wildly undisciplined and thinks with his heart. Spock, an outsider, and victim to his world’s racism is caught between logic and emotion. Through the movie they have to face their greatest fears and confront their weaknesses in order to prevail against the Rommulan bad guys.
Zachery Quinto plays Spock pitch perfect, channeling what we know and love about Nimoy’s portrayal and yet adding something new, an undercurrent of danger and unpredictability, thanks to the positive baggage he has carried over from his Sylar role in Heroes.
Chris Pine is completely new to me and fills the role of Kirk admirably. Wisely he makes no attempt to emulate the Shatner school of acting, yet brings enough verve and brashness to the role to successfully win us over. Just watch the Kobayashi Maru scene to see what I mean.
Karl Urban plays Dr McCoy superbly. Not only does he have an uncanny resemblance to Deforest Kelley, but also he manages to channel his mannerisms and cadences wonderfully. He’s the real stand out here in providing the soul of this archetypal trinity.
It’s fantastic that Abrams managed to work Nimoy into the story in a way that is integral and necessary rather than just being a silly cameo like Shatner’s in Generations. Here he takes on the role of Mentor and Wise Man. As Kirk is expelled from the higher world and descends in the lesser kingdom, where he fights some decidedly un-Trek like aliens. He then stumbles across a hermit like aged Spock. Nimoy fills the scene with the emotion and pathos in ways I hadn’t seen since the glory days of Trek II and III. In terms of mythology the elder Spock hadn’t seen his old friend for a hundred years or more. For long time fans this reunion between the characters is a real Easter egg of a moment.
Many of the other supporting roles are equally well executed; in particular I loved Anton Yelchin as Chekov, his humor and accent added the kind of color to the Enterprise that had been sorely missing in recent Trek movies. Simon Pegg provides some expert comic relief in his portrayal of Scotty, and Zoe Salanda sexes up Uhura well enough for the drawling hordes of sexually deprived teenaged trekkers out there. The one off note for me was John Cho, who plays Sulu – I was irked that once again Japanese actors were ignored in what is a Japanese role. I know that there were discussions with regard to ethnicity, but surely there must have been some Japanese actors suitable for the role.
Villain wise Eric Bana did an adequate job of snarling and snarking his way through the film, not quite up there with Riccardo Montalban’s Khan, but no where near as bad as some recent Trek movie villains, most notably the Picard clone in Star Trek X.
Really I could go on and on saluting the efforts of Abrams team in their endeavor to make Trek relevant again. The franchise is reborn once again. Bring on the sequels. Next time some bad ass Klingons please.
Comments