Star Trek

Review by Matthew Rodgers

It’s fitting for a review about new beginnings that this writer takes you back to a childhood in which Star Trek was absent for many self-imposed reasons. It’s important because JJ Abrams is releasing a jump-start instalment to a flat lined franchise, 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis having spluttered to a hardly warp-speed $43M US gross, in an effort to win new fans and rekindle the long forgotten “geekgasms” of Trekkie’s worldwide.

A youth dominated by Star Wars, losing your cinema virginity to Return of the Jedi firmly roots you, for better or for worse, into the George Lucas marketing machine. Couple that with the fact that Star Trek: The Next Generation clashed with Baywatch for the Saturday night viewing slot, and being a young, curious male, the instinct was to go with those red swimsuits. Having a father that disagreed meant that I was forced to endure Picard, Data, and Co. and carry a burgeoning hatred for a series of shows from then to “Star Date: A Couple of weeks ago”, when I took my seat for Paramount’s re-launch. History established.

So to say this spectacular blockbuster is a fantastic, if slightly over-long thrill ride of unexpected joy, is an indication of what a good job Abrams, Kurtzman, and Orci have done in re-shaping this worn out Sci-Fi landscape. If this is the way forward then Star Trek will definitely (lazy journalism warning) “Live long and prosper”.

Sharing many similarities with Singer’s X-Men introduction, Star Trek acts as something a of a teaser trailer for what’s to come. Setting up the characters (starting as far back as Kirk’s birth) occupies the first, and better half of the movie, with the second making way for the ramshackle crew’s attempts to thwart not-very-good-bad guy, Nero (Eric Bana).

The new, largely unknown cast are uniformly brilliant. There really isn’t a blip on the quality radar. Internet naysayers can stick their rubber Vulcan ears where the Romulan sun doesn’t shine, because Chris Pine is revelatory as Kirk; arrogant, womanising, funny, and extremely likeable, his own personal journey is the driving core of a surprisingly character driven story. Heroes star Zachary Quinto admirably shares that emotional load as a raw, much more accessible Spock, struggling to balance the dual character traits of being human and Vulcan. The two also have an immediate chemistry that brings resonance to their future relationships.

Of the rest, Karl Urban surprises as the hilariously straight talking Dr. McCoy, choice line “Are you out of your Vulcan mind?” is a highpoint in what is a very funny film. Not surprising when it includes Brit fave Simon Pegg as ship engineer Scotty, he arrives frustratingly late in proceedings, but tones down the Scottish brogue for some remarkably funny one-liners. There are also excellent riffs on Shatner’s famous staccato speech pattern, and some genius little nods to the guys in “red costumes”. There is also plenty to tickle the trekkie’s funny Bones [pun intended] that the average viewer will shrug shoulders at, but the beauty of Star Trek’s success is that it appeals to old and new alike.

There are a few flaws, the aforementioned running time being the main culprit as the movie relies heavily on eroticising the Enterprise in its slow-mo space battles, it borders on tedium, but survives on the enthusiasm of the newly formed crew. And to offer some negative balance, Bana’s bad guy, despite his world ending actions and admirable motivations (he’s not simply an evil megalomaniac) is not very interesting.

There is too much to cram in without spoiling the litany of surprises, this review hasn’t even touched on Leonard Nimoy’s goose-bump inducing cameo, even a non-convert can feel the gravitas of his appearance, add to that Giachinno’s wonderful score and the amazing sound editing – listen for the opening “boings” and the impressive way in which the ships bullet their way into warp speed. But colour me impressed, give me anything but a red suit, and reserve a place on the bridge for the next voyage of the Starship Enterprise, just as long as it doesn’t clash with Baywatch: The Movie.