Jon’s Star Trek Review
To boldly go where… several movies have gone before?
The new Star Trek film is blasting into theaters, almost literally. There have been plenty of Trek movies, derived from the original television series or its various spin-offs, but this new film is stepping outside the realm of continuing a TV show. This Trek film fits into the action movie trend, with loud noises, fast-moving (almost too fast to see) vehicles, lots of explosions, and popular music played over action sequences. (The Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” is used here in the case of a car chase, for example.) The film, as an action movie, which requires a brain turn-off and a bucket of popcorn, works just fine. There’s a villain, loud noises, battles, and the aforementioned pop songs. So, if that’s what you came for, you’ll walk away happy.
The tone of Star Trek is based upon, well, almost in-action. The most powerful scenes from Star Trek films and shows are based upon logic, emotion, politics, morals, and – you get the idea. Captains Kirk, Picard, and so forth solved their problems by deducing, not destroying. Violence, as a last resort, never resulted in a victory – it just made the friends of your enemies angrier. Revenge, I suppose, is the issue with this Star Trek. Nero, a Romulan in command of a massive, spiked ship, has come from the future (where else?) to exact revenge on Starfleet – and Spock in particular. His plan: Destroy some planets, upset Spock, and… okay, he didn’t say what he’d do after that. Our heroes plan to stop him, of course. Our heroes, in this case, are a pre-TV series (not-yet Captain) Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the gang. This film appears to explain how our crew came together, and it wasn’t exactly the happy-go-lucky team-up you’d expect. In fact, Kirk and Spock meet in a quasi-court room (presided over by a very unlikely judge – one who’s usually seen in older women’s clothes) on opposite ends of an argument. From there, their relationship only grows colder, literally. Kirk ends up on an ice planet, as a result of Spock, and Kirk’s left to fend for himself against various monsters, until he’s saved by… well, if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.
And so, the usual action movie formula kicks in, and heroes have to band together to stop the one-dimensional villain from destroying the world. That probably sounds like a giant negative, but it’s not – Star Trek handles that formula just fine, and the result is fun to watch (Even if Eric Bana’s performance, under all that makeup, isn’t.). The only negative I can think of (besides an extremely cliché slow-motion dive out of a careening car by a very young James T. Kirk), is that the film should have been above such things. But, there’s certainly nothing wrong with a very polished blow-’em up.
Trek fans, I can’t speak for you, but time will tell if this film is really part of the franchise’s universe. Sure, it’s the same old characters (and one very familiar actor), and the logo is there, but… something was missing. A good example is Superman Returns – a film I enjoyed very much. I later realized that what I was enjoying was the old John Williams score, the Christopher Reeve-lookalike, and an overall slick reference to old movies I liked as a kid. I get the feeling that Trek fans may end up feeling the same. This isn’t the most terrible thing in the world, but it does raise the question: If this film was asked to stand on its on two legs, without the build-up and history provided by a 30-some year old franchise, would it hold up?
