Review - Star Trek

I've never been a Trekkie or a Trekker or any other type of mega-fan of Star Trek. I've seen many episodes of each of the TV Series (except the new Enterprise series...for some reason I never saw that one). I think I've seen all of the movies...original and Next Generation. So it was only natural that I go see this movie...especially after all the hype it's been getting.

Even though I wasn't a huge follower of Star Trek, I knew enough to be a little disconcerted early on that the director/writer were screwing up Kirk's and the original show's history. I hadn't heard any major complaints from die hard fans, so I thought perhaps I'd gotten the history wrong. About a third of the way through the film (when other things felt off), I figured out what was going on and was intrigued to see how it'd work.

The action sequences in this show really put earlier Trek movies to shame...even recent films. The special effects were fabulous. The action was intense. There was really a good sense of peril and adventure throughout the entire movie.

To me, the characters really made this movie.

In general order of appearance:

I was actually kind of hoping that Kirk would mimic some of the mannerisms and acting styles of Shatner. Now that I've seen it, I'm glad he didn't. Kirk was played perfectly as the hothead, womanizing, devil-may-care flyboy ready to take on the universe.

Spock seemed a little too emotional to me based on previous experiences, but I still truly felt that he did a wonderful job pulling off the character and making the role completely believable.

"Bones" Macoy was also exquisite in his performance. He really picked up on the mannerisms and dialogue of the original Bones. Of all of them, I think Bones was the one that seemed to me the most true "predecessor" of his "future" iteration in the TV Series and beyond.

Uhura, Chekov and Sulu had relatively minor roles compared to the others, but their personalities still shone through and worked well. Uhura was especially interesting as compared to the "original" series/movie.

Scotty was astounding as the brilliant engineer always being asked to do more than is humanly possible and then pulling it off. He was hilarious.

The plot itself was engaging, even if it felt somewhat overdone. I'm not suggesting this exact plot has been done before...just that so many of the elements felt like something I'd seen before. Fortunately, where I saw them before would have been in the Star Trek universe. Even though the vengeful, planet/race destroying plot felt familiar, it was still interesting and exciting.

This was a great movie. Definitely recommended and well worth seeing. I'm sure I'll see it again, hopefully on the big screen again. I'm also hopeful that this is the beginning of a series of a new Star Trek franchise. It will be exciting to bring some new blood to the saga.

****
4 stars