Live Long and Prosper: Star Trek Review

[This review is spoiler-free]

Going into the theater for The Dark Knight last year, probably shared the same expectations with many other people- the expectations of a comic book movie. But coming out of the movie, all I could bring myself to thinking was that it was just a hell of a movie. Not hell of a comic book movie, but hell of a movie period. It definitely revolutionized the modern comic book genre and managed to cater to regular non-fanboy audiences. For me, Star Trek did the same thing. I have never seen any of the previous 10 Star Trek movies and only seen a couple episodes of the TV series. And yet, I absolutely loved Star Trek. From beginning to end. Just like last year’s Batman movie, this film was just a damn good movie.

The film starts off aboard the USS Kelvin when it is ambushed and attacked by a Romulan ship. George Kirk takes the reigns of the ship for 12 minutes before sacrificing his own life to save the lives of the people on the ship which included his wife and unborn son, James Tiberius Kirk. Years later, Captain Pike manages to persuade a rebellious Jim Kirk to enlist in Starfleet. He is sneaked onto the USS Enterprise before being deployed for a mission and eventually helps in the battle with the same Romulan ship, captained by Nero, which killed his father all those years ago. JJ Abrams’ Star Trek is the story of the U.S.S. Enterprise’s first adventure.

The film sucks you right in from the word go, starting off with a full-out battle between a Federation ship and a Romulan ship. Right off the bat your eyes are allowed to indulge in such realistic special effects it makes you want to actually dodge the beams being fired from the ships. OK maybe not that realistic, but still it was really good SFX. Not only were there great visuals but also an incredibly high degree of suspense along with tons of emotion inducing scenes. And remember, this was all in the first scene of the movie.

This is actually a really difficult review to write because there was literally not much wrong with the movie. It was outstanding in every aspect. The action was non-stop. There were unexpected humor thrown in here and there, especially when Scotty came into the fray. And the way JJ Abrams laid out the plot was superbly done. So seamlessly did he manage to create a story that stayed true to being distinctly Star Trek, yet seem like your run of the mill, everyday great movie. I think I’ve said this earlier on but that’s the best thing about the movie; how us normal people, as oppose to Trekkies and Trekkers for that matter, could actually comprehend what was going on and enjoy this film of a heavy genre. I guess some of that boils down to the fact that this is a reboot film but it takes nothing away from the wonderful job JJ Abrams has done with the film.

When you first saw that Zachary Quinto (Sylar in Heroes) was playing the role of the legendary Spock, what did you think? What I thought was that this is going to be so weird. I have ever only known him as Sylar but now he’s Spock. I think in this film, Quinto really showed his acting prowess. I really had no thoughts of Sylar in my head any time he came up on screen. He was the most convincing cast member in the entire film. I truly believed he was a pointy-eared, emotionless, green-blooded hobgoblin. Watch the film and you’ll understand that last bit. But my point was that Quinto gave an excellent performance outshining the rest. Matt Damon recently came out and said he declined the role of Jim Kirk and thank god he did. Chris Pine was witty, funny, sarcastic in the right way; he had everything that was demanded for playing the role of Jim Kirk. The rest of the main cast, I was very satisfied with, maybe except for Uhura. It felt like she wasn’t as involved in things as the other members of the cast. I loved that there was plenty of humor coming from Scotty (Simon Pegg) and Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin), whereas John Cho from Harold and Kumar had just one humorous scene as Hikaru Sulu. As for Leonard Nimoy, well he was just old-looking, but interesting nonetheless. Eric Bana did the evil, revenge-seeking villain thing really well as Nero, captain of of the Romulan ship.

One thing I’m starting to like more and more now is the shakycam technique. The cinematography for this film was so good it only aided the FX. Its amazing how having shaky shots adds so much more to the dramatics of a scene. Made you feel right in the middle of all the action. Which was great in a Sci-Fi film like this. Something else that made so much more difference to the experience of the film was the score, composed by JJ Abrams’ regular, Michael Giacchino. Really gave an outer space/Sci-Fi kind of feel to it, if there even is such a thing.

I’m not going to tell you to watch this if you’re into Sci-Fi. I’m not going to tell you to watch this with your friends or family. I’m just going to say watch this film, no matter who you are or what kind of movie you’re into. Forget the genre, forget the title of the movie. Just keep it in mind that this might just be the best film of the year so far. I’m not too sure because I still hold Watchmen in very high regard but Star Trek is definitely up there with it. When you do eventually see this movie and if you like it, just know that a sequel has already been announced and is probably set for release in 2011.

If I offended any Trekkies (and I know I’ve already offended Trekkers by saying Trekkies) reading this, I apologize for my lack of Star Trek knowledge. You really can’t blame me, there is a lot to know about in the world of Star Trek.

Popcorn-meter

8.5 out of 10 Popcorns

Special thanks to the All Malaysian Bloggers Project are in order for the invites to the special screening of Star Trek.