The new Star Trek…pure win!

The New Crew

Howdy Everyone,

So after months of waiting and anticipation, I finally went and saw the new Star Trek film on Friday night. I didn’t really read up on who the cast was going to be playing or look at many trailers, since I felt I would go into this with as unbiased an opinion as I possibly could.  What I experienced was, to say the least, an epic adventure fit for fans off all ages.

Warning: Possible Spoilers

From the tragic opening, to the full crew finally coming together, to the heart-pounding ending, I was enthralled throughout the whole experience (and I call it an experience because it was more than just a movie for me), from beginning to end.

Going into the theater, I was more than skeptic about if I was going to see a grand Star Trek adventure unfold, or a supped-up visually appealing piece of crap. THANKFULLY, it wasn’t the latter. I decided to splurge for the $16 IMAX tickets, which for my budget is ungodly expensive for just a movie, but hey, it’s Star Trek, it was worth it. 😀 I decided to sit down in front, three rows down from the middle section where the people in wheelchairs go, and I even found a half-deflated beach ball sitting on the floor next to me lol. I scrapped comfort for experience, because the IMAX screen, being larger that a regular screen, made me have to look from left to right a few times to fully see what was going on. I would recommend this though, as you feel like you are more immersed in the film, with it being about 25ft. (at least where I was, I could have got closer) from your face. But enough about me, onto the movie.

I was hoping that since it was based off the original Star Trek, that they would try and bring back some of the well known things we love from the 60’s series to give us a more nostalgic feeling. The way they succeeded in doing this, was through input of well known sayings and good actors. Often throughout the movie, I was compelled to blurt out connections in characters to their 60’s counterparts before they even told me who the character was supposed to be. There were simple connections, such as when Kirk meets a young pretty black women, you immediately know that it is Uhura. There were also more complicated moments, such as when Kirk meets a man who rambles on about medical problems with going into space and then says(something like this), “..all I have are my bones.”, and it clicks: “bones”, medical jargon…Doctor McCoy! The actors also did well in portraying the personalities of their 60’s counterparts as well.

Among visual queues, many of the most well-known sayings were thrown in that made me smile. Things such as McCoy’s famous, “Dammit(although he left out “Jim”, which saddened me a bit), I am a doctor, not a *insert what hes not*.” Also , Scotty’s “I’m giving her all she got Captain.”, and let’s not forget, “Live long and prosper.”, said by none other than Leonard Nimoy himself. Speaking of Nimoy, he makes a quite long cameo appearance in the film, which was pretty neat to see.

The visual affect were quite stunning, and the space scenes were quite pleasing to the eye. I feel they did a good job in recreating the feel of Star Trek(although it didn’t have the cheesy feel that I like about the old show :P).  The outfits were more modernized, but still kept to the basic design of the originals. Phasers still looked small and wimpy, but got a nice visual upgrade. The make up for some of the aliens was quite nice, and expected of the technology of today. They also did a nice job of portraying the mix of future looking technology with present day looking technology while displaying the scenes on Earth. The sports car young Kirk drives is a good example, and also the area where he grows up. The back story of how the crew of the Enterprise came together was interesting, and was a nice take on events preluding to the time that the 60’s show take place in. The movie was surprisingly funny at times, and well written humor at that. Probably only 2 or 3 times did I truly laugh, but it was more than I expected going in. The sound quality was a definite upgrade as well.

On the other hand, there were a few things I didn’t enjoy about the movie. The whole main plot to the film, of Nero wanting revenge, seemed a little generic and played out. It was original-ish being Star Trek themed, but for the most part, typical and had a very foreseeable outcome. As well as Spock accidentally coming from the future and ending up helping save the day was a little corny, but it fit well into the story I suppose. Chekov’s Russian accent was a little over-the-top and although used to a degree of comedy, it would have been better left toned down a bit. I noticed a few cheesy lines here and there and some dull acting at spots, but not enough to ruin the movie more than a very minute amount. A few of the fight scenes could have been a little better choreographed, but it was a decent attempt, and far superior than that of the original. I can’t really think of much more to say badly about the film…although I’m sure my inner Trekkie is just killing anything I would have thought to mention…that bastard. XD

To wrap it up, the Star Trek was in it’s own way, an epic and joyful experience that I would gladly relive over and over again. As a Star Trek movie, it added what it needed to please the fans (me included), but didn’t add enough to truly make it a pinnacle in Star Trek culture. As a film, it was well written, well presented, and the sound was a joy to hear, especially in IMAX. To anyone who considering going, I can tell you that you will will NOT be disappointed!

~O.M.SCotty