Star TrekI would like to stress that when I walked into
Star Trek I had very little knowledge of its past. Of course, I knew that there was a 60s show with William ('The Shat') Shatner playing Captain Kirk; and Leonard Nimoy wearing pointy ears as this guy called Spock who did this thing with his fingers that looked like this: \\//. I had also seen two of the previous films in the theatrical series, namely
Star Trek: Insurrection, and
Star Trek: Nemesis. Ask any serious 'Trekkie' and they'll tell you that those aforementioned instalments were, in a phrase, bantha poodoo. You see, I had always fallen into the 'Star Wars' camp, believing George Lucas's vision of a Sci-Fi fantasy galaxy to be
the definitive vision of the future (well, past in his case). But I was determined to view this latest entry, this 'reboot' of the franchise. Why? Well, did you read any of the reviews? Simply put, it's been the most critically praised film since
The Dark Knight. Anyway, I had high hopes for something that I knew next to nothing about, and yet for some reason was feeling rather excited about.
My newness to
Star Trek was horrifyingly made clear when the person I was sitting next to let out an excited "Ooooh!" when a notably audible BLEEP sound was emitted from the hull of a looming starship right at the start of the pre-title sequence. However, all my fears left me as the film kicked off with one of the most aggressive space battles I had seen in a film for quite some time. As if all the death and destruction wasn't enough (an electrical storm, super rockets, and people being sucked out into the vacuum of space!), they even threw a birth into the mix. That 'birth' was of a certain baby Kirk, and believe me when I say that by the time the end credits roll, he will have had one hell of a ride... and so will we.
Acting as a prequel/reboot (and, in some ways, a sequel) to the past films and television series, we are naturally taken through the early stages of Kirk's life (including a relatively pointless bit of 'vintage' vehicular destruction) as well as Spock's. If there's one thing that you'll learn from this film, it's that you don't fu#k with young Spock! At this point you may be thinking that this could be a painfully slow-moving film with a ton of build-up to its more spectacular sequences. But that's the beauty of
Star Trek. The pace never lets up. There is never a dull moment. It is constantly, always, continuously engaging. This isn't just because of a string of awesome action scenes (though there are plenty, with a brawl on top of a drilling platform thousands of feet high in the air about half way through the picture being a definite highlight), though. Indeed, much of the fun that this film exerts comes from watching the two leads: Chris Pine and Zachary (OMG SYLAR!) Quinto as Kirk and Spock respectively. Something just seems to...
click when they're on screen, be they together or apart, and present themselves as exceptional co-stars. But while Pine comes across as the roughish love child of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, Quinto excels as the half human, half Vulcan (pointy ears, raised eyebrows, bowl haircut) struggling to come to terms with his mixed origins. Even the supporting cast manage to turn heads, with Simon Pegg managing to inject some much-needed comic relief at certain points as Scotty.
But there must be something wrong with it, right? Unfortunately yes. Fortunately though, it's a very minor niggle. The problem lies with the villain, Nero, played by Eric Bana. He's a Romulan (greeny-yellow skin, also has pointy ears, Darth Maul facial tattoos) who's travelled through time with the intention of exacting revenge on poor Spock. I will not reveal why for fear of spoilers, but it all makes for an interesting storyline. Now, Bana is a fine actor and he carries out the emotionally distressed Nero very well... when he's actually on screen. As much as I liked watching the crew of the Enterprise banter away, I kept on thinking:
Where's Nero? Is Nero going to appear soon? NERO PLEASE! A great Sci-Fi film needs a great villain (cough Vader cough), and while I liked what Bana did with the part, I just wanted more. But like I said, that's a very minor niggle.
To sum up,
Star Trek is an all round fantastic Sci-Fi movie that has been built from the ground-up to cater for all tastes, whether you be a hardcore
Trek enthusiast or not. Go see it for yourself and experience the remarkable sense of enjoyment and likability that it emits. As for the director, a certain J.J. Abrams, may he live long and prosper.
4.5/5
