Warning: You are about to experience intense and prolonged periods of a grown man geeking out. I'll try and keep it as spoiler free as possible, but forgive me if it slips here and there - I want to talk about this film. That said, read on as you will, with apologies for the delay.
In my house, I grew up with Sci fi. I started with westworld, graduated to space:1999, and then, when I was lucky, at around 9 years old, my dad let me stay up long enough to watch city on the edge of forever and amok time, a double feature on a german TV channel that night; so to say that I like, like star trek is something of an understatement; it would be fairer to say that between Gene Roddenberry and Isaac Asmiov, my life and my mind were forever changed by ideas of what could be. My love for star trek as a series grew, and even stayed constant through deep space nine; I'm sad to say that by the time Voyager or Enterprise came into being, the living, breathing giant heart that was star trek had slowed to a snails pace, and was in desperate need of a triple heart bypass to make it feel all better again.
Paramount needed to do something decisive, and in my opinion, the best thing they did was removing Rick Berman and Brannon Braga as the decision makers after the debacle that was Star Trek: Nemesis, but the genius came in asking JJ to apple some TLC to the series and bring it up to date for the 21st century, and breath new life into something that is loved by so many with so much passion, and deserves to be shared by everyone for the entertainment that it is, forsaking all the moral messages that are hidden in the subtext, and giving it the same passion, the same love and the same sense of anticipation that I used to feel growing up.
This...Is beautiful. It is...Simply the loving touch that I've wanted to see since Deep Space Nine finished, and it does it with what in my opinion is Breathtaking ease. I'll warn you now that if you're walking into the theatre and handing over your $10 expecting to see a script the likes of which would normally be reserved for A Darren Aronofsky film, you're going to be disappointed; this is a prequel in a way I don't think it's actually been approached before, and it's interesting that this prequel has come from people who've admitted that they watched very little star trek growing up, because they've done it so much justice - there are references to star trek canon to keep the hardcore and terminally critical at bay, but there's so much more to appreciate and love for the new, parallel universe that Abrams, Kurtzman and Orci have created here; in the sense that this film is every bit about the crew and their interpersonal relationships, it succeeds on a grand scale and has all of that in common with its predecessors, but that's really where the similarities end, save the overall look of the ship.
The crew, at its core are superb. I found I wanted to see less of Zachary Quinto, and interestingly enough, more of the reserve characters, portrayed by John Cho, Anton Yelchin and Zoe Saldana; Karl Urban does a fantastic job of filling DeForest Kelley's considerable shoes as Doctor McCoy, to the point that it actually made me well up a little bit in the way Brandon Routh tends to as superman, making me miss the original actor a little, but happy that they've found someone, above all that does him Justice. Chris Pine, easily the man I was most sceptical about, did a superb job of updating the swagger and the manner of the irrepressible, never easily imitated Captain James Tiberius Kirk, and Simon Pegg puts a spin on Scotty I never anticipated in my wild dreams; it was nice to see JJ continue the vein of making Scotty the comic relief in the way they did in the original - except with a sidekick in tow. All in all the acting was consistent, believable (for a sci fi show) and thrilling, and gave me everything I anticipated for the film and more. On the flip side, You had a superb bad guy in the form of Eric Bana, who while I felt could have put a little bit more energy into the mourning for his loss, easily competes with Liev Schreiber for the role of homicidal maniac of the film year 2009 - I really don't expect WB to come up with anything quite as well rounded as the Bad robot team have here.
The graphics and special effects are everything you'd expect; polished, superb and fitting for a budget this size; for me, the update to the bridge of the enterprise, and that of the enterprise itself was respectful and fit; it was nice to see that decals that fans like myself will take a little geeky joy spotting, and moulded it all together to make a first class act. It's a popcorn movie, sure, but there are...well...a few klingons in sight, better make up and no deep moral BS that has become something of a trademark over the years.
I would like to publicly thank JJ for giving me something to have looked forward to for so many months - for me, the fact that things have been changed so drastically from the established storyline aren't nearly so important, as the fact that paramount have shown me, and indeed fans of the show that they do still believe and love this show every bit as much as the fans do, and have enough faith in the show to bring someone of the calibre of Abrams on board to give new life to show that was killing me to see ailing. I plan on watching this at least three more times before it leaves the cinema, and will sure as hell be buying the bluray when it comes out over the Christmas holidays. Thank you JJ, for giving me back my constant companion when there's nothing else to watch.
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