When the ads started appearing for the new Star Trek movie, I could only groan. To me it seemed like one last ditch attempt to squeeze money out of a dying franchise which, over the later years, has been plagued by movies that continously decreased in quality, constant reusal of old ideas in yet another Star Trek series, and games that make me set my phaser to kill and use on myself. It would be with great reluctance I went to see this movie, and only after the badgering of a distant friend to review it on his website, that I did. And I am glad that I did.
Big explosions?
When it comes to special effects, this movie certainly has top notch quality, and makes no attempts to hide it. There's enough of it all in here to make Star Wars blush! With all the explosions and mandatory spaceship action happening, this movie certainly is a pleasure for the eyes. There isn't much more to say about this, it's really better than any other action/sci-fi I've seen lately. It really does help immerse you into the wonders that is the far off future. Fanservice is in this movie, of course, much to my dismay, but at least it's kept to a minimum.
Failure to communicate?
Now, on to where every bad and mediocre remake alike falls flat on its' tushie! The acting, closely followed by the story. Now don't get me wrong, the story is important, but not even a masterpiece script can keep this cynic from walking out on awkwardly delivered lines and over the top acting. I can only say that I am wholly surprised. The characters seem as lively as we once knew them, and you can really see whom is who from the way they act, before their names are even hinted upon! Chris Pine seems perfect in the role of a youthful, if somewhat overaggressive James T. Kirk. Spock is portrayed by Zachary Quinto, and his acting in the trailers is most of the cause for my shying away from the movie in the first place. Turns out he does an excellent Spock, and the scenes in question make perfect sense in context.
Leonard Nimoy makes an appearance in this movie as well, and might I say, he hasn't lost his touch! All in all, the cast could possibly not have been filled by better actors, although the accent of Chekov gets cringe-worthy rather quickly.
Camp fire not mandatory?
The story! Good actors, yes, but is it worth watching? In short? Yes.
Star Trek makes a bold move here and reboots the franchise to steer away from Star Trek as we know it, and create something different. Trying to keep spoilers to a minimum, this new breathe of life into the franchise is done with a new look into the old concept of time travel. Add a disgruntled villain into the mix, and our heroes old(future?) lives no longer look the same! Instead we have traumatized younger versions of our crew, with events changed forever. Even small touches, such as how Kirk got through Starfleet Academy, and they are certainly appreciated. Storywise, this incarnation of Star Trek managed to grip me from start to finish, with exception for the completely unecessary part where a ~14 year old Kirk flees from a police officer in the beginning. The only thing that disappointed me was the main villain of this movie. Nero, a royally pissed off miner from the future, comes back to exact a personal vendetta. He does this well, but he doesn't come off as a great threat to me, he just seems lackluster, somehow. In spite of this, with everything happening, it's an excellent movie.
The final cou-..conclusion!
What is my conclusion then? If you like Star Trek, go see this movie. If you didn't like Star Trek before, or sci-fi for that matter, this might be a great time to start.
As will be custom, if people enjoy my reviews at all, I will include a small rating of my own, and Star Trek, being a surprisingly good movie, will start this trend with an impressive 91%. I predict very little topping that this year, but we'll see.
If you like reading this, and would wish to see more, feel free to drop a comment. Commenting on the movie works too!
Star Trek score: 91% - Watch this movie, k.
Live long and prosper.
No comments:
Post a Comment