Geek out with your meat out: Star Trek is back
Photo: purpleslog
Words: Matt Willing
Warning: the following contains inherently geeky comments and may be foreign to people that do not associate the phrase “It’s a trap” with a large goldfish like species. Also, it will contain slight spoilers so don’t come yelling ghuy’cha (Klingon for damn you) at me later on.
The increase in rebooting dead or forgotten franchises is reaching epic proportions in Hollywood with films only a few years old mooted as targets. Star Trek (2009, Abrams) takes the arguably most popular of the Star Trek genus with a reworking of a time travel element that does a passable job to explain the need for new adventures. Star Trek is this year’s Transformers because it combines phenomenal special effects, a team of likeable, young protagonists and is an unrelenting, action-packed geeking good time. Like Transformers, it has glaring imperfections, but Star Trek is meant to be a summer blockbuster that entertains so the issues are lessened.
First and foremost, this is a movie about Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his well-known friendship with Mister Spock (Zachary Quinto). The emphasis on this relationship is simple: everyone knows Kirk and Spock, so using them to ease people back into the complicated world of Star Trek is a more feasible goal. The story follows a young Kirk as he transitions from wayward young criminal into the passionate and likeable Captain of the USS Enterprise. Make no mistake; this is a buddy movie in the true spirit of the Odd Couple, where the juxtaposition of Kirk and Spock works to highlight their need for one another so brilliantly. Picard and Data really don’t cut it against these two who form a part of pop culture history for a very good reason.
I got the feeling that the cast had a good time making this one and there are some genuinely funny moments that prove sci-fi comedy can exist outside of Firefly. Simon Pegg is in fine form as Scotty and Pine really plays up on Kirk’s reputation as a lady’s man to great effect. Karl Urban pulls the laughs out of Dr. McCoy to great effect and excels in the small role. A minor quip would have to be Anton Yelchin as Chekov. I don’t think his Russian accent could have been any worse and he clearly was uncomfortable saying anything longer than five words. His cringetastic monologue to the crew is truly awful as you can almost see the effort he’s going through to make sure every word sounds authentic. Leonard Nimoy’s cameo role as the Spock of the discontinued future is a great little extra to fans of the old series and younger fans that know him through his Simpsons appearances.
The cast really pushes Star Trek along, but that’s just the good guys: what about Romulan nasty Nero? Eric Bana does a good job of making this nasty enemy brood and scowl but not much else. Nero is the weakest link in this movie and is a very bland villain for a reboot. We’ve really been spoiled recently with excellent villains or anti-heroes such as the Joker or Rorschach that move far beyond one-dimensional characters. Nero was simply used as a plot point to move along the story rather than ever feeling like he was a threat to the Enterprise, despite destroying a fair few star cruisers with his monolith of a ship – which can only be described as over-compensating. His motives are also a bit skewed with him traveling back in time accidentally to avenge his world that exploded then but didn’t now so he could … oh and there I’ve gone cross-eyed explaining time paradoxes. The ploy to try and make Nero a misunderstood character because his wife died falls flat on its face. If you can’t be bothered making someone more realistic, just make them bloody evil like Megatron in Transformers so the viewing public goes home satisfied that the evildoer has been smoted.
The special effects for this movie were unreal and truly a testament to a time when trucks can turn into robots in high definition widescreen. The battles were on par with the magnificent work from the Battlestar Galactica TV series with excitement and tension built into the shots. Watching Vulcan implode and create a black hole was a truly amazing spectacle that was the pinnacle for what this movie achieved. There were some let downs like the overuse of slow motion where Nero and then Kirk hilariously jump about one and a half metres downwards in what is just gratuitous use of effects. Aside from this, the film really is a remarkable vision of what CGI is capable of, but it never lets special effects override the cracking pace of the plot.
So, do I think that average Joe Schmo who wouldn’t know a Klingon from a Borg if Worf slapped him in the face should see this film? Yes, the new Star Trek movie is built for people that never followed the show or movies and simply want to watch a high budget summer blockbuster. The only real weakness of the film is the shallow villain, but the highlighting of Kirk and Spock most likely did not allow for Nero to feature nearly as heavily. It’s probably not the movie to take your girlfriend to, but it’s definitely not the worst (revenge for all those unfortunate souls that got dragged along to anxiety disease causing He’s Just Not That Into You). Then again, if you think that’s a good idea you’re probably single anyway or have found the mythical sci-fi woman that only exists in my darkest dreams. Star Trek is the best hard sci-fi I’ve watched since the original Battlestar Galactica mini-series and hopefully the inevitable sequel will be as good as Wrath of Khan. Qapla’!