Film Review: Star Trek

I’ve been stalling on this particular review because I’ve needed time to process the whole experience. After all, I’m partial to Star Trek. I grew up on Star Trek because my mother grew up on Star Trek. She used to watch it every week with my grandfather, along with The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, etc. I used to watch The Animated Series on Nickelodeon on Saturday mornings, and I remember wearing out our VHS tape of the ABC extended version of The Wrath of Kahn. Point being, I’m a Trekkie. I love this stuff, and I can probably tolerate bad Star Trek in a way that non-fans could not (or would not). I can sit through lectures on the Prime Directive or humanity bettering themselves or Data asking naïve questions about what it means to be human. Hell, I can sit through crap like ‘A Piece of the Action’, and that involves dozens upon dozens of terrible Cagney impressions (many delivered by Capt James T himself, William Shatner). So I couldn’t be sure I wasn’t just giving the whole thing a free pass. Just to make sure, I went and saw it a second time so I could be confident I hadn’t been hypnotized.

You have to realize, Star Trek had begun to bloat after some 800 hours of adventures. By the time we’d reached Star Trek: Enterprise on TV and Star Trek Nemesis on the silver screen, even a hardcore fan like me was sick of it. How many more times could I sit through cardboard villains quoting literary giants while their super evil ultimate weapon went through its all too convenient warmup cycle which allowed just enough time for our stalwart crew to turn it off. We accept a certain amount of cliché in science-fiction anyway, but if the story stinks it becomes inexcusable.

With that in mind, my hopes for JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot/refresh/reinvention were high. The last time I was excited to see a Trek movie at the theatre was 1996! Still, I had my reservations. A young Jimmy Kirk stealing his uncle’s Corvette? Little Spock throwing down on Vulcan? This could have easily drifted into Star Wars prequel territory, and I was less than impressed with those flicks (I think we’re all more forgiving of Revenge of the Sith just because it wasn’t as devastatingly awful as the first two). The whole thing could have turned into a disaster of Lost In Spacian proportions.

Yet it isn’t! JJ, a self-professed Star Wars fan, somehow got Star Trek.

The first 15 minutes of this movie are pitch-perfect. It all begins with a lone starship streaking past, with the sounds of transmissions being received and transmitted (for Trek fans, it will remind you of the opening to Star Trek The Motion Picture). There’s some strange phenomenon (described as a lightening storm in space) being detected nearby, and our intrepid heroes are off to investigate. The action kicks in almost immediately, with a mysterious alien ship emerging and opening fire on the obviously outmatched Starfleet ship. They’re spared so that the captain can negotiate a cease fire, and first officer George Kirk (father of the famed James T) is left in charge. It’s all a ruse, of course, and George is forced to evacuate the ship’s crew, including his pregnant wife who has entered labor prematurely. I don’t want to give too much away, but the thrill of this opening scene really cannot be overstated. There’s a moment when the audience accompanies a hapless crewman as he’s sucked into the silent vacuum of space that’s really phenomenal, and should be experienced on the big screen.

From there we’re taken through a brief glimpse of how two polar opposites – passionate human James T Kirk and cold & controlled Vulcan Spock – grew up. Spock is tormented by his Vulcan classmates for his half-human heritage while Jim deals with the loss of his father by crashing cars. We’re quickly taken to both men in their mid-20’s, where the bulk of the story takes place. After a slight against his mother, Spock decides to reject an invitation into the Vulcan Science Academy and instead enter Starfleet. Jim is pushed in a similar direction after a chance meeting with Christopher Pike (captain of the Enterprise) after a fistfight in an Iowa bar (where he describes Kirk as a ‘genius-level repeat offender’).

And with these introductions we come to the heart and soul of the film – the relationship between Kirk & Spock. How did these seemingly disparate personalities come together and forge such an iconic friendship? In Abrams’ Trek, we see that maybe the two are not so different, after all. Kirk may rebel outwardly and in very obvious ways, but Spock seems to enjoy – an admittedly subtle – defiance as well (there’s a great scene early on where he turns his popular catchphrase of ‘Live long and prosper’ on its ear). The actors (Chris Pine & Zachary Quinto) absolutely nail the characters, and I have to give special kudos to Pine for creating a familiar & recognizable Kirk without doing a Shatner impression (and that certainly would have been easy to do). Though there are moments where I see a Shatnerian glint in his eye. Quinto is excellent as well, especially since he’s portraying Spock at a point in his life that we’ve only seen hinted at previously, not to mention the fact he has to hold his own against Leonard Nimoy’s Spock. These two fuel the story and propel it forward at warp speed (forgive me).

Speaking of speed, the film moves at a truly frantic pace, with little chance to catch one’s breath. This is an incredible stylistic shift from previous Trek outings. While we’ve had many good Trek films, most move at a very moderate pace (in the case of The Motion Picture, they barely move at all). So the swift plot here was a welcome change. The sets have obviously received an upgrade as well, as no Trek has ever looked this good. The Enterprise bridge and the innards of the dreaded Narada stand out as particularly great set pieces. Abrams said he set out to make ST feel more ‘real’ by shooting in industrial locations, and I think it works to great effect in Star Trek. Some of the engineering sets seem a bit jarring at first, but once I’d settled in I found myself appreciating them more and more.

We get some absurdly satisfying introductions to familiar characters in this story, like Dr. McCoy, Uhura (who is given far more to do in this film than the character ever has), Scotty (played with great enthusiasm and respect by Simon Pegg), Sulu and even boy-genius Ensign Chekov. Of course, we also have the O.G. Spock, Leonard Nimoy. I don’t want to give away too many plot points, but suffice it to say his Spock plays a vital role in the events that unfold. He also gets a few key scenes to share with the new Kirk & Spock that, as a fan, very nearly brought a tear to my eye. In terms of new characters, Eric Bana is nearly unrecognizable as the villain Nero, but manages to make his Romulan everyman character memorable. Frankly, it was refreshing to have an antagonist that wasn’t some kind of evil genius. Nero is just a regular Joe, a working class man who’s had literally everything taken from him and simply wants to rest of the universe to feel his pain. He shares that task with right-hand man Ayel, played with cool menace by Clifton Collins.

Did the film have faults? Unquestionably. The breakneck pace meant certain plot elements were glossed over, and in a few spots it felt like they were really trying to squeeze in as many references to Treks gone by as they possibly could. There are also a fair number of coincidences that begin to pile up toward the end, but overall you excuse them because the film manages to be so damned entertaining. It’s driven less by plot and more by character – anyone who watched the original Star Trek can tell you this is what the show has always excelled at. That, and telling a rip-roaring yarn that kept you glued to the TV screen. Accuracy and probability always took a back seat to people.

I also appreciated the film for its wide-eyed optimism. We’ve been treated to many great genre films in recent years, but many of those have been incredibly bleak. While I enjoyed them, I really appreciated this Star Trek for unashamedly wearing its heart on its sleeve and being something of a Pollyanna. Good guys win, bad guys lose, the universe goes on as it should (even if it suffers a few scars along the way). It may be simplistic or predictable, but it’s also incredibly satisfying.

My recommendation? See Star Trek on the biggest screen you can find. It’s fun, full of heart and the best time I’ve had at the movies in quite a while.

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