Star Trek

Star Trek. When someone speaks this name, various images, ideas, characters and phrases come to mind. I know they certainly do with me. Characters such as Kirk, Spock, Picard, Data, Janeway, Seven of Nine; ideas like the prime directive; phrases like "Live long and Prosper", "Good God Jim, I'm a doctor not a….". I wouldn't consider myself a "Trekkie", but I do have a deep affection for this series and world.

To my great delight, I was fortunate enough to see an advanced screening last night of JJ Abrams re-imaging of "Star Trek". I must admit that I was skeptical at first about taking such iconic characters and recasting them, even in younger iterations, because most people think of the characters of Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov with the actors that originally portrayed them. These portrayals are engrained in the pop culture consciousness of the world and hence my skepticism arose. Fortunately, my doubts were unnecessary.

This is not your father's "Star Trek". From the moment the movie begins, so does the action and it never lets up. However, this movie has more than just incredible and intense action, it also pays homage to the series of old. Sure, they wanted to bring us a Trek for the 21st century, but they also realized that they needed to respect the source material and fans of a series that has been around more than 40 years. However, you don't need to know much about Star Trek to enjoy this movie. Each character has been given a background and history that lets you know a little something about each one. There's a lot to be told in an origin movie and it is handled deftly by both the writers and the director.

But, what really made the movies for me were the actors chosen to play these roles, especially Chris Pine as Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock and Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, aka "Bones". This movie would not have worked if the casting of these three characters had not been spot on. Both Mr. Quinto and Urban uncannily channel their predecessors, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley. They took on some of their inflections, mannerisms and expressions to really give you a sense that they are just younger versions of the originals. Chris Pine, however, takes on the most memorable role in Trek history and makes it his own. This Kirk is not only the womanizer, lover, and captain that you already know, but as portrayed by Mr. Pine also has a swagger, bravado, intelligence, and is a complete adrenaline junkie. We could not have asked for a better Kirk in this movie.

They have laid a solid foundation for a new series, with new life, perfect cast and a director with a true vision. If the first movie can be this good, my expectations for further adventures have risen exponentially.

This is my first review for our website and as such might not be very good since I have no experience at writing reviews. I intentionally didn't reveal any plot points so as to not spoil anything for whoever may read this. I may in the future reveal areas that may have spoilers but mark these sections so you can skip over them. I'll be seeing Wolverine tomorrow and hope to have a review up by tomorrow night. Until we meet again, "Live long and Prosper!"

I should start this by saying that I always leaned more toward Star Wars than Star Trek. I've memorized much of the Star Wars epic sci-fi fantasy and numerous characters, but the universe of Star Trek is one I have not really explored. The beauty of this film is that you can be a hard core Trek-fan or a simple lover of sci-fi or action and still find this an incredibly enjoyable movie. I myself was surprised when I first saw it, seeing all the relatable humor it was pouring out, but unlike the redundant idiocy of let's say Michael Bay, the jokes are welcome and don't go too far.

The cast is pretty well put together, and each character is pretty memorable and involved quite well. Eric Bana was excellent as Nero, not to mention Bruce Greenwood is awesome as well. Zachary Quinto is the beloved Spock and for one of those hyper-intelligent characters it's a character you will end up feeling emotionally drawn to. The story never drags at all and it's all together a pretty well written piece of sci-fi I must add. To be honest Chris pine is great in the movie, it's just that at times he too much of an archetype 'bad-ass', dare I say it? How many times have I seen a drunken protagonist in a bar starting a fight with a guy and/or trying to get a girl who views him as trash. Other than that, though, he does fine, and the rest of the cast is no less than good.

The cinematography was beautiful on its own, let alone the action scenes. Speaking of which, a new bar for space battles has been set. And the score by Michael Giacchino and Alexander Courage was not too shabby. In fact I thoroughly embraced it. I consider it a must see, being one of those rare sci-fi gems anyone can enjoy.

As someone with a longstanding fondness for most things Trek (I've seen most of the movies and quite a few of the shows), I have to say that JJ & Co did a fine job with this picture; the character dynamics were broadly satisfying, the action scenes entertaining and the set pieces well put together. Most of all I was impressed with the lightness of touch of the whole venture - it would be very easy to criticise the picture for making what could be considered significant changes to certain parts of Trek lore, but given that the changes were accomplished with such comfort and confidence makes them, in my view, perfectly acceptable.

With regards to the acting characterisation, everyone was pretty much solid, with perhaps the exception of Sulu, who I thought didn't have much to do. Kudos, though, to Zoe Saldana's loveliness as Uhura and also, especially, to Chris Pine as Kirk - I had always thought Spock was my favourite character, but it looks like I may have to reassess; Pine lives and breathes that Kirk moxie exquisitely and he'll be great fun to watch in future instalments.

With regards to plot, it's pretty good; there is a decent sense of internal logic to it, without it being too overwrought. True, there are a number of points where you might think, "Blimey, that's serendipitous," but as I'd already suspended my disbelief to accept the possibility of time travelling green-blooded alien from the planet Vulcan, these things really didn't bother me at all. Plus there were a number of points in the movie where they were saying, "We were pulling this kind of shtick 20+ years ago, and you loved it then; run with us on this one," and I was happy to.

Oh, and most importantly of all, the movie is fun; it has the good sense to not take itself too seriously, despite remaining well aware of that sense of pomp and importance that all great character dramas should have, and that isn't a bad thing at all.

How this movie will bear up to repeat viewings, I'm not certain yet, but at the premiere, it was a blast.

Addendum: It's a month plus since I originally wrote this and I have seen the film three times in total now - the opening ten minutes remain a manipulative marvel that the remainder of the film struggles to match, the coincidences and conveniences seem even more far fetched than ever and the jokes seem even more silly BUT I still fancy seeing it again, so I guess it must work for me.

I was one of the few lucky fans who attended the Sydney premiere and my impression was "Wow!" The use of a well known Roddenberry plot device to reset the franchise was a brilliant idea and means the franchise can now move forward without the "FANS" shouting "canon!" The movie itself was brilliantly cast and performed with each actor being enough like the original to be believable in the role without the over the top acting that was part of TV when it all began in the 1960's.The special effects are top notch.

Its a film which you can take anyone who enjoys sci-fi to, not just someone who knows the last 40+ years of Trek.

So what level of fan am I? I own 3 costumes, attend conventions and appear in "Trekkies 2", and yet loved Enterprise because from the first episode I simply said its was in an alternate universe, its the same but different. I view this film in the same light, same but different.

For folks who dissed this movie, and the second, because it wasn't the Star Trek of yester year, get over it. Roddenbury rolling over in his grave? Oh, please. The events in the first movie somehow made all the other off-shoots impossible? Yikes! How does anything in this movie affect the series with Piccard, Janeway, etc.? Give it a break, eh?

Yeah, both movies had some corny lines and one or two ridiculous scenarios (Spock and Uhura making out?), but the first two movies in this reboot were great fun. The actors were brilliant even when their lines weren't, the action decent. Was either movie award-worthy? No, but not every movie has to be in order to enjoy it. I wasn't disappointed. Both kept me very well entertained. Sometimes it's good just to sit back, relax, enjoy, and not take everything so damn seriously.

Now, the third installment is altogether another matter. While it did have its moments, it was really terribly written. There is a limit to how much even good actors can do with pervasively bad lines, and how much slop a viewer can put up with. And if Hollywood doesn't stop with their "wokeness", I think I'll have to stick with foreign flicks.