ArsGeek

Ok, so at this point writing another Star Trek review is white noise. Even more so considering that I loved the movie. In fact we already have one review up on Ars Geek, provided by Mark. However, I was enthralled by the movie enough to provide my two cents.

“Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its 5-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. “

You’ve read the line before, some of you can recite it 50 times in a minute — the question is if the same spirit in that ever famous line can be found in the redux of the 2009 Star Trek. Without sounding too poetic, the answer is simply; yes.

Before I start my review of Star Trek, I should probably provide a history of my Star Trek fanhood. I’ve always loved the original series, and never really got into TNG or the other variations of the Star Trek universe. Just give me the good ol’ Spock and Kirk days, everyone else can have their Picard and whoever was captain of the other Trek shows. Now that we have that settled, let’s move onto the review.

Abram’s greatest directorial feat in Star Trek is the balance that it took to create not just a masterpiece, but a film that can be enjoyed by everyone. Trekkies will find obscure references that will make them giddy with delight. Yet the average movie-goer will be presented with a kinetic, yet elegant thrill ride that doesn’t let up until the very end. All of this is able to occur while setting up the characters, specifically Kirk and Spock with great ease.

Speaking of characters, the 64k question is … How are the characters handled?

For the most part, the characters are portrayed wonderfully. None of the renditions ever strayed too far from how the characters acted in the original show. In fact, one of the glaring weaknesses I found in the movie was how two of the performances felt more like impressions than interpretations. Karl Urban tried way too hard to pull off the sounds of DeForest Kelley’s voice as Doctor “Bones” McCoy. What was even worse than that was Anton Yelchin’s portrayal of Checkov. Instead of just providing a russian accent, Yelchin went too far to capture the unique tone of Walter Koenig’s voice. When you hear the “v’s” become “w’s”, you’ll cringe more than smile.

Luckily, the weaker performances of Urban, and Yelchin are propped up with great performances from Pine, Quinto, and Pegg. Chris Pine isn’t quite as charismatic as Shatner, but let’s be fair, there’s no one as charismatic as the ‘Shat’. The storyline of the movie actually supports the difference in the two renditions, but I won’t explain further for fear of the dreaded spoiler. In terms of ‘proximity’, Quinto’s portrayal of Spock is probably the closest to the original show than any of the other characters. Quinto looks like Spock, his voice inflection matches Spock; he really is the ‘new’ Spock. While Pine and Quinto were great, my favorite character and performance was Simon Pegg as Montgomery Scott. Which is odd considering I was most worried about Pegg playing Scott, for fear he would be turned into the ‘comedic relief’. However, Pegg came through and really captured the role of Scott while adding his own little ‘Pegg’ twist to it. He is the comedy relief, but there’s not too much relief.

The plot development, and writing of Star Trek was handled by someone who is definitely a Star Trek fan. There is so much ambiance, and cleverness in the writing that it almost felt like I was watching an extended version of a Star Trek episode. It’s almost too hard to define, but Abrams doesn’t lose that air of ‘goofiness’ that you feel when watching Star Trek. He doesn’t take it too serious, but at the same time provides a story that encapsulates the entire spirit of Star Trek. I would actually explain some of the story, but even providing a pinch would have me applying a spoiler tag. I will say this, the first 15 minutes of the movie is easily the most epic 15 minutes of cinema viewing that I’ve experienced in years.

As I stated earlier, everyone will have a reason to love this movie. If you liked the fact that Kirk got it on with alien chicks in the original show, then you’ll be appeased. If you just like sci-fi action, then the movie has it in spades. If you’re a Trekkie, and love the sense of superiority of explaining things like black holes, time paradoxes, and Vulcan traditions to lesser life forms then you shall not be disappointed.