The word “Star Trek” probably means different things to different people. To some, it may be the holy grail of science fiction which has influenced every other movie of its kind since then. To others it is the ultimate of fandomonium where followers dress up as their favourite characters, can recite Klingon lingo, and know the order of every television episode by heart. Others might see it as a corny campy sixties show with a hammy lead actor and lame special effects.
When I think of “Star Trek” I think of myself almost reluctantly embracing the series, I never really watched the series as a kid, but have found myself growing fonder of it as I grow older. At its best “Star Trek” was a hopeful look into the future and contained some intriguing, often profound science fiction stories worthy of Ray Bradbury or Rod Serling.
The new “Star Trek” as envisioned by director J.J. Abrams wants to invite those not familiar with its universe in on the fun, however by doing that, he seems to have turned the originality of the concept into a more mundane series of events.
Abrams’ “Star Trek” begins with the birth of James T. Kirk when his father is killed almost at the exact moment by a time traveling Romulan spaceship. Without his father Kirk (Now Chris Pine) grows up to be a rather distraught young man with some rebellious tendencies. He’s taken in by a new father figure, that of Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) who gets him to enlist in Starfleet.
Meanwhile on the Planet Vulcan, we get to see the emergence of Spock who as a young boy is conflicted by having both a Vulcan father and human mother. As a man Spock (Zachery Quinto) suffers from severe emotional repression by being taught not to tap into his human side.
The fun of the film comes as with all origin stories by seeing how all your favourite characters meet, and the young talented cast is all game. No one is left in the dirt here, I particularly liked Karl Urban’s dead on interpretation of DeForest Kelly’s Dr. McCoy, it’s a nice homage to both character and actor. There are also nice shout outs to some of the original television and movie series, perhaps the most affecting coming from the appearance of Leonard Nimoy as the older Spock.
However despite all these nice touches, director Abrams fails to lose us in the world of “Star Trek”. Part of the original appeal of “Star Trek” was the actual space explorations “To seek out new life and new civilizations....etc”, also the nice character nuances. For a film that boasts attention to character I found very little of it in here. There are choppy moments of real nuance from the actors, but don’t be fooled; Abrams can’t wait to show off the expensive eye candy right away.
I constantly was at odds with “Star Trek”, I wanted to enjoy it, but it seemed to have a certain agenda that didn’t fit with me. The action sequences seemed muddled and incoherent, the spectacle is lost by the fast editing, and I don’t even remember how the “Enterprise” the most iconic image from the series was revealed to us.
In the end, “Star Trek” never becomes anything more than fast food entertainment, you come in, get a thrill, and you leave forgetting what you saw. I enjoyed the actors but wish I could’ve believed their environment more. The world I was transported to was incomplete, here’s hoping it will look like something I could believe in the next time around. 2.5 stars out of 4
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