First of all, I admit that I'm fucking terrible at keeping promises. "Where's the in depth analysis of 'I'm Not There'? Where's the promised musings on how it relates to Dylan?", you ask. It got lost derailed somewhere between a period of intense apathy followed by finals. Maybe it will resurface someday, maybe not. Now, on to more pressing matters! It's been almost a week since I've seen it, and I've had considerable time to mull over it and absorb the musings of the general public ("This movie fucking rocks!"), the fringe iconoclasts ("J.J. Abrams is no talent hack!) and the people in between ("Set phasers to 'meh'!"). I fall somewhere in between the last two.
"Star Trek", the brain child of sci-fi legend Gene Roddenberry, was a visionary television series that broke racial and gender boundaries, and pondered questions both cosmic and mundane. The crew of the USS Enterprised consisted of distinct, fully formed characters each with their own backstories that would color the way they reacted to the fantastic things found on their voyages. For example, when the crew of the enterprise is greeted by the Greek god Apollo, he proclaims "I am Apollo", the Russian ensign Pavel Chekov retorts "And I am the czar of all Russias!".
So you can see why the news of a Star Trek prequel/reboot directed by J.J. Abrams and promising a young, sexy cast sent many devoted Trekkies in to a tizzy. The good news is that the young, sexy cast is the best part of the film. The bad news is that J.J. Abrams and his screenwriting team are the worst part. The film starts out with a strong foundation, but quickly begins to unravel once - most of - the crew boards the Enterprise for the first time.
The film opens with a nicely done prologue which introduces the main antagonist, a time traveling Romulan captain named Nero (Eric Bana). The prologue also depicts the death of one George Kirk. Wouldn't you know it, his pregnant wife begins to give birth to their son in the seconds counting down to her husbands noble demise. Flash forward to several years later in Iowa, and that infant has grown in to James Tiberius Kirk, and he's a precocious little scamp. He steals an old convertible from his guardians and speeds through the heartland whilst rocking out to the Beastie Boys. Reader, I would be lying if I said that scene didn't slap a big goofy smile on my face. Flash forward some more and Kirk, played by Christopher Pine, is a bar brawling rogue who gets an offer of a lifetime from Christopher Pike (Invaluable Canadian character actor Bruce Greenwood). He says, "You're father was a captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives, including your own. I dare you to do better".
As it turns out, Pike knew which buttons to push and Kirk is soon enrolled in the Starfleet Academy where he meets and instantly befriends Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban). Many great friendships have begun with the words "I may throw up on you". This is no different. After some nice interludes at the Academy (Kirk makes it with a green chick played by Rachel Nichols and cheats on the Kobayashi Maru) the Starfleet cadets of Bones, Kirk, and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) along with Lieutenant Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto) board the enterprise to investigate a distress call from the planet Vulcan. At this point you can almost feel the movie derailing itself when it launches in to lots of hollow, whiz bang action and special effects.
The action sequences that don't involve space ships suffer from that headache inducing shaky cam technique. A prime example would be the fight between Kirk, Sulu (John Cho),and two Romulans on a giant drill protruding from the Romulan ship. I defy someone to clearly make out what exactly happens in the fight between Kirk and his opponent, and Sulu's simultaneous sword fight - say that three times fast! - is equally murky. When are film makers going to learn that shaky cam only detracts from the excitment of fight scenes by robbing us of the visual energy provided by clearly visible fight choreography? This is not the only flaw with the films visual style, which includes a curiously high use of lense flares and distractingingly showy camerawork during scenes of simple dialogue. Of course, these visual flaws did not bother me as much as they bothered other critics, but its certainly worth noting.
And now we get to the script. The script obviously suffers from the fact that the film must reintroduce the already familiar Enterprise crew, and then attempt to create a coherent plot about the Romulan villains plans. To elaborate, Nero travels to an alternate past through a black hole and plans to destroy all of the planets in the Federation. He believes that the Federations negligence was the cause of his home planets destruction. He holds a particular hatred for future Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy) because Spock was the one sent to protect Romulus in the first place. This creates a parallel, alternate past where Kirk has to be told that he and Spock are "destined" to become great friends rather than become friends on their own. All of this sounds fine in writing, but it ends up rather formless and seems like tacked on filler between the big, loud action sequences.
But the movie isn't all bad. I'll be damned if this fresh young cast didn't win me over, and there are some really nice scenes in the beginning and peppered throughout the middle with real character and charm. Pine brings a rebellious, energetic brashness to Kirk that is more cynical than the Shatner portrayal. Quinto does a fine job of balancing Spock's mannered, logical Vulcan quirks with brief moments of humanity. John Cho wisely chooses not to impersonate George Takei and as such inhabits the character of Sulu on his own terms. Anton Yelchin is serviceable as Chekov and Simon Pegg gets shafted since Scotty isn't introduced until a good two thirds in to the movie. There's some inexplicable stunt casting involving Winona Ryder as Spock's human mother Amanda Grayson and Tyler Perry as the head of Starfleet Academy.
The movie doesn't have the quiet thoughtfulness of the television series, nor does it have that sense of exploration and adventure. But some of the action sequences are fun and I'll be damned if the cast didn't win me over in spite of the films many, many flaws. Perhaps the next film will retain the charming cast, but ditch the showy director and hire real screenwriters to give it a better, more thoughtful script. Big box office and an overall seal of critical approval basically ensures a sequel, so perhaps when "Star Trek 2" sets its phaser to "kill" the damn thing won't backfire quite as badly.
5/10
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