Star Trek

The following is a long form review that I originally wrote in 2013

I did like Star Trek. I did not, however, appear to like it as much as the rest of the whole damn planet.

I appreciate the decent helping of Australian actors in the mix (like personal favourite Chris Hemsworth, above). I can get behind the colourful and impressive special effects spectacle. Most of all I dig the reboot angle they pulled. The whole time travel/tangent universe thing is the perfect breeding of remaining true to the original, while still not constricting themselves to the old canon. Fantastic idea.

But I didn’t love it. I’m a big fan of origin stories, but I personally feel that Star Trek never really breached past that point. The first half was brilliant, getting to know the characters, the world, the ideals, everything. But in the latter half it seems they just sort of went “Well, we spent a bunch of time doing stuff good, but now we don’t have enough time left to make an actual movie out of this… Oh well, just chuck an hour of lasers in there and we’ll worry about that next film!” which just isn’t good enough. When Into Darkness comes out later this year, the format will probably pay off, but looking at the merits of Star Trek alone, I think it fell short.

Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) as the new Scotty and Zachary Quinto (American Horror Story, Heroes) as the new Spock were both solid choices, but other casting decisions like Winona Ryder (Black Swan, Alien: Resurrection) as Spock’s mother were an off-shot in the worst possible way.

I suppose though, in science fiction, it’s often safety first and little steps. As a member of what is probably the most frowned upon of the genres, I wish this Star Trek reboot all the best in its inevitable future, and it seems it will make good use of it. But for now, the solo film itself didn’t reach as far as I felt it could have with a little harder work towards the end.

62%

-Gimly

A franchise re-energised-big time!

It's not an understatement to say that the news of a new Star Trek movie was met in equal measure by suspicion and pretty low expectations. Step forward J.J. Abrams to direct it, and many wondered while the guy behind TV series "Lost" and "Mission Impossible III" would want to dabble on hallowed sci-fi turf?. Things were further eyebrow raising when Abrams openly admitted to not having been a fan of the original show so cherished by a legion of Trekkies. Then news came of the film being a prequel, based around the Starfleet Academy and the coming together of what we know as the U.S.S. Enterprise crew. "Ooh that will be a tough one to carry off" said many, "Kirk & Spock as young spunkers - surely not" they said. Well not only did Abrams pull it off as it were, he simultaneously appeased most Trekkies whilst garnering a whole new generation of sci-fi observers. Budgeted at $140,000,000, Abrams Star Trek went on to gross Worldwide $384,953,778. Figures that, even allowing for the huge fan-base that the franchise has, show that many first timers not only went to see it - but also that they enjoyed it so much they went back for second helpings. I know I did.

The success of the film isn't hard to fathom, because although Abrams upped the action quota (with a number of breath taking and eye appealing sequences) he also dispensed with much of the sci-fi psycho babble that has blighted some of the previous filmic instalments in this most up and down of franchise's. Sure there's stuff in there for the discerning fan, with a time travelling revenge plot at its axis, how could there not be?, But Abrams and his writers (Roberto Orci /Alex Kurtzman) keep it simple, savvy and sexy. They smartly link to Trek lore with a crucial plot and character development featuring the Kobayashi Maru, while pain, emotional conflict and personal crisis all feature heavily. This is, one can "logically" say, a spiky post 9/11 Trek movie. There's even room...

I quite enjoyed this. It is a simple, end-to-end action adventure set in space. It doesn't attempt to moralise or philosophise, it is just an interstellar shoot 'em up. Chris Pine is pretty wooden, Zachary Quinto does a passable "Mr. Spock" and Anton Yeltsin seems to be having a good time trying to get the onboard computer to recognise his particularly thick "Chekhov" accent. Sadly Eric Bana completely lacks menace as "Nero" and Simon Pegg's "Scotty" is just plain irritating but the special effects are stunning. If you're just looking for a bit of brain fodder with phasers, then this is your film...