Boldly going where no man has gone before.
The Lowdown: J.J. Abram’s Star Trek is one of the best sci-fi films of the past decade, and certainly one of the greatest reboots ever. It has dazzling energy, loads of eye candy, and a smartly-cast ensemble of actors who fit neatly into the shoes of beloved Star Trek characters. You don’t need to be a Trekkie to absolutely love this film.
1. The Plot: James Kirk (Chris Pine) is a young upstart and troublemaker, despite his father’s reputation as a hero. On the day James was born, his father helped dozens of Starfleet personnel escape when their ship was attacked by Nero (Eric Bana), a Romulan who commandeers a massive time-traveling ship. Now, twenty-five years later, Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) sees the potential in Kirk and inspires him to sign up for Starfleet. However, Kirk likes to bend and break the rules rather than follow them. While this certainly proves helpful in some sticky situations, it causes a rift between Kirk and Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto), a young Vulcan who is, by nature, completely and utterly devoted to doing the most logical, honest thing. When a situation at the planet Vulcan arises, the new crew of the USS Enterprise have to muster their strength to thwart the nefarious plans of Nero. In doing so, the final frontier is forever altered.
2. The Characters:Aside from the ingenious script, the most inspired part of the film by far is the casting. From what I know of the original Star Trek, the actors who portray the characters here capture the attitude and the mannerisms perfectly. The chemistry between everyone in the cast is electric, and it makes the film so dynamic. And, this being a Hollywood production, the cast is also a pretty one. Kirk is played by Chris Pine (Unstoppable), who is a solid performer. He is every bit the brash, selfish troublemaker in the beginning of the film, but also shows compassion later in the film when things get serious. His polar opposite, Spock, is played by Zachary Quinto, who is about as rigid as one can get. The two have great chemistry as they constantly make quips and attempt to outwit each other. The rest of the crew of the Enterprise also fares incredibly well. We have Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Simon Pegg as Scotty, John Cho as Sulu, and Anton Yelchin as Chekov. Each supporting character gets enough screen time to develop their characters enough so that they don’t blend into the background. The filmmakers definitely stress the importance of these characters by always making them a part of the action, and the actors are clearly having tons of fun in their roles.
Well, this is a more serious moment.
The only weak link in the cast is Eric Bana, who plays the evil villain, Nero. I don’t know which element is weaker: the casting of Eric Bana as Nero, or how the character of Nero was written. Eric Bana overacts as Nero, and while teeth-gnashing is appropriate for this kind of role, it never comes across as convincing. Perhaps Eric Bana was just slightly miscast as a super-evil villain who travels through time. That said, Nero’s backstory isn’t really explained except via exposition, meaning he is less developed. Also, while his evil plot is certainly evil, it is also convoluted, and the more casual viewer may get lost in the time-travel plot and end up not really caring. Nero doesn't ruin the film, but he is easily the weakest part of it.
Grrrrrrrrrr...
3. The Aesthetics:Star Trek is pure eye candy. From the sets to the costumes to the makeup to the visual effects, everything is thematically appropriate and consistent, and everything looks gorgeous. The shiny interior of the Enterprise is vast and creatively constructed, as is the interior of Nero’s massive, pointy vessel. The film won its Oscar for Best Makeup, and there are just so many new, unique alien creatures to look at in the film. The CGI is also fantastic, achieving the goal of taking us where no man has gone before. Some have complained about the film having too much "lens flare", but I find that the "shininess" of the environment adds to the effect. So many different environments are created for the film, and even outer space looks breathtaking. Even small touches like spiffing up San Francisco to make it look futuristic are inspired and well-rendered.4. Reboots: Reboots are difficult projects to undertake, especially for such a massive, iconic film franchise. The primary goal of a reboot is to take something that has been well-established but in desperate need of a change, and take it in a new, inspired direction without compromising the idea and allure of the original source material. Why reboots are so difficult to do is partly because of familiarity. There is always the risk of displeasing fans of the original material because in a reboot, things have to change, but change isn’t always for the better, and people don’t like things that are different. The challenge is being able to change things in such a way that it still fits within the realm of the original material, but is different enough so that it isn’t a retread. Therefore, the elements would be familiar enough so that nothing was out of the ordinary, but also changed up enough to take the series into a new direction. Why Star Trek succeeds as a reboot is because it ingeniously uses the element of time travel to create a parallel universe, meaning that the characters and archetypes can all be the same, but completely new events occur, which facilitates the growth of these characters in slightly different ways. This ensures that the remaining components of the film, from the aesthetics to the terminology, can remain mostly unaltered so that the fans can remain pleased.
The Bottom Line: Star Trek is a pure adrenaline rush that is smartly written, perfectly cast, and gorgeous to look at. The meta narrative functions as an ingenious way to reboot the entire Star Trek series from the very beginning. It is also a clear love letter to Star Trek by J.J. Abrams. It is clear from watching this film that it was a labor of love for the filmmakers. The end result is one of the best sci-fi films, and one of the best film reboots.
Star Trekis property of Paramount Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, and Bad Robot. This review was written by me.
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