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