Monday, May 11, 2009

Star Trek

On Sunday I took the opportunity to go see the new Star Trek movie at the theater down the road.   The intertubes has been full of reviews which were mostly good so I was going in with pretty high expectations.

Upfront, I am a fan of Star Trek, but I would not classify myself as a 'trekker' by any stretch.  I first started watching with my step father on afternoon television, then watched some of TNG and a bit more of DS9, which, was my favorite of the series.  Never watched Voyager and saw maybe three episdoes of Enterprise.   So, although I do like the story, I am not wedded to the concept that a 70 year old man needs to play himself as a 20 year old.

So with all that caveatting done, I liked the movie.  It was a great kick off to the summer movie schedule.  There were several things that I really enjoyed tremendously and only a few minor things that I could have done with out.  

To start, I thought that the opening sequence was one of the most heart wrenching scenes in science fiction I think I have ever watched.   It showed a great deal of depth and set the tone and emotional response that was needed to get the fans engaged.   I also liked Chris Pine as Kirk.  He did a great job with the character being both brash and self-assured.  Well done Mr. Pine.  The remainder of the crew were also well cast and played well.  I thought one or two of the items were a bit over the top, namely Chekhov's accent and the whole W/V issue, but each of the characters had a few great scenes.  Uhura's 'romance' with Spock caught me off guard, but was way cool as was Sulu kicking ass...  I want a foldable ninja sword!  Finally the Enterprise itself was just huge.  I think we hadn't seen the bigger engine parts of the Enterprise before and I liked how they laid her out.

On the down side, like I said, it is pretty minimal and really just nitpicking.  I already mentioned Chekhov's accent.  As much as I really like Simon Pegg, I think they did Scotty a mis-service as he came in very late to the story and was 100% comic relief.  You never see him working, only walking about.

As for the story, I thought it was fine.  Yes it is time travel, but how do you expect to 're-boot' a franchise if you must maintain 100% canon or the fans freak?  With the exception of the whole ice planet bit, I thought it was fine.

Like I said, a fun summer movie.  Will it win an Oscar?  I highly doubt it unless it is for effects...  Maybe an MTV award...  :)

jp
Live long and prosper  

1 comment:

Warjack Prime said...

I'll be seeing this on Friday afternoon. I'm taking Thursday and Friday off this week and the plan is to see Angles and Daemons Thursday night, Terminator Friday morning and Star Trek Friday afternoon.

My dad was a huge Star Trek fan so I have fond memories of watching the movies. I just picked up all 6 movies on Bluray and Shanna and I have watched part 1, 2, 3 and 4 this past week. I don't think we'll get to see 5 or 6 before the new one but that's ok.

Anyway I'm really looking forward to the Term and Trek.