Thanks for checking out our Star Trek Review. If you’d like to see the video version of our Star Trek review you can see it at the bottom of the written version below.
For years now I’ve been saying that Star Trek is a dead franchise. And it was. I’ve also been saying that the only way to revive a dead franchise it to do something different. Change things. Essentially what I’ve been saying for years is that they’ve needed to reboot or re-imagine Star Trek and open it up to the non-traditional fans. Then, J.J. Abrams announced they were doing just that… I had hope. Then, I heard they were going to use the old “time travel” story device, and I lost some hope. Still, the trailers have looked good so there was promise.
So off I went to see Star Trek the other night. Did it revive the dead franchise? HELL YES!!!!!! This might be the best movie of the year so far.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The basic synopsis for Star Trek looks something like this: “From the first scene, the Star Trek universe as we knew it has changed forever. Kirk is now an angry wayward young man looking for trouble. He fights with Starfleet cadets in Iowa when a Capt. Pike takes an interest in him, finding out he’s the only “genius level repeat offender in the Midwest”. Pike dares Kirk to join Starfleet, goading him with the legacy of his father. A young Spock is tortured over his mixed heritage, the emotions he fights to control and the very different paths he has before him. He must choose between the Vulcan world which will never accept him as anything other than ‘half human’ and Starfleet Academy, worlds away from everything he has ever known.
We meet Dr ‘Bones’ McCoy and a young linguist Uhura at the Academy and watch as a headstrong Kirk wreaks havoc on Starfleet’s rules and regulations. Kirk’s antics culminate in his reprogramming the famous Kobayashi Maru test and consequent disciplinary hearing. He comes face to face with the scenario creator, Mr. Spock. As this unfolds; a vicious Romulan from the future is hell bent on vengeance upon ‘Ambassador’ Spock and nothing will get in his way. The fleet is called to arms as peril aims at the heart of the Federation and Kirk and Spock are irrevocably pulled together to save the galaxy – for the first time”.
THE GOOD
J.J. Abrams along Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (also the same guys who wrote Transformers) came up with a MASTERFUL way of bridging the old Star Trek with the new one. A way of saying this is the “same” Star Trek, while at the same time giving it total free license to go in it’s own direction and not be held captive to the old traditional Star Trek canon. It is so simple and yet so effective. You never once felt like you were watching a different Star Trek, and at the same time didn’t feel like you were watching the same old one. Beautifully done, and the entire success of the film hinged on it… and it did it exceedingly well.
They NAILED all the characters. Scotty was Scotty. Karl Urban absolutely nailed Dr. Bones McCoy. Zachary Quinto was born to play Spock. Even Ben Cross as Spock’s father Sarek was damn pin point on target. They all not only got the CHARACTER of these fictional people right, they hit home runs with their nuances and mannerisms as well that made it all feel like home.
The only actor who did not nail the nuances and mannerisms of their character was Chris Pine playing James T. Kirk… and that’sa GOOD thing. Had Pine tried to act like William Shatner’s Kirk, it would have come off like he was playing Shatner playing Kirk. You know what I mean? The decision to embody the character of Kirk without also embodying the mannerisms was very very very wise. It would have been complete distracting and they avoided that brilliantly.
The action/adventure of the film is fantastic. Don’t get me wrong… the space battles aren’t as good as the one in Return of the Jedi or anything like that, but it was all beautifully done, very exciting, very intense and over all very effective. Even the hand to hand action was pretty solid (not fantastic, but solid).
One of the unique things that this Star Trek did very well was make it a story about friendship. The bonding of Kirk and Spock is as much a main story line as the invading Romulan from the future. That could have been cheesy, but instead it felt epic.
The movie is funny… so funny in places that I’m almost tempted to classify Star Trek as a Sci Fi/Comedy movie. They did such a great job of using a balance of fresh humor and humor based on winks to the old Star Trek that you were laughing and reminiscing at the same time. Bones was the funniest character to me, and I know I’ll get laughed at for this… but I think Karl Urban should be in early consideration for Best Supporting Actor. No, I’m serious. Watch the job he does in this movie. This was NOT an easy character to play and sell to the audience, but Urban did it brilliantly.
THE BAD
What would a Star Trek movie be without some things here and there that made no sense? For me, I never bought into the bad guy’s (Eric Bana) motivation. His motivation for doing everything he was doing should have been fleshed out a bit more, because the explanation they give in the movie was unsatisfying to me. I can’t go into it too much without giving away spoilers, but all I could think the whole time was “ummm… he doesn’t actually blame them does he???”. Anyway, you’ll see what I mean.
Speaking of Nero (the bad guy), as much as I love Eric Bana, I found him to be a pretty useless villain and a pretty forgettable one at that. He really doesn’t have much screen time (which is ok since the movie really wanted to use the screen time to re-introduce us to the legendary crew of the Enterprise).
There was almost TOO MUCH action. Sometimes I felt like “did we really need to turn this simple scene into an action scene of some sorts? Scotty and Kirk beam somewhere… and instead of just arriving and moving on with the story, they had to throw in some useless, non story related “action” sequence. Not a huge gripe, but it was a flaw. It’s almost like when it came to action, they were trying just a little bit too hard.
OVERALL
They did what they had to do. They reinvented Star Trek while paying homage to and honoring the original and they passed the test with flying warp speed colors. This isn’t just a good movie… this isn’t just a good remake… this isn’t just a good sci-fi movie. This is a brilliant and entertaining movie PERIOD. I loved this film. A few minor flaws here and there that could have been easily corrected, but that’s just nit picking. Star Trek is back folks! Live long and prosper! Overall I give Star Trek a 9 out of 10. I had my doubts… but they were thankfully put to rest.
YOU CAN SEE THE VIDEO VERSION OF OUR STAR TREK REVIEW HERE:
