OK another post beckons and this un will be on a movie for a change after all the Doctor Who posts (well apart from Troy interspersed between them) and the movie is 2009 revamp of Star Trek, in otherwords the J.J. Abrahams film. So if you will forgive the cliche, set stasers onto stun and let's give this mother a look....
So a bit about the story as usual, which begins with George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) who is the father of James T. Kirk and second in command of the USS starship Kelvin, investigates a lighting storm in space. From the storm a Romulan suddenly appears and attacks the Kelvin and the Kelvin's Captain. Robau tries to negotiate with the Romulans who beam him aboard, however the Romulan leader, Nero (Erica Bana) asks Robau what he knows of Commander Spock and as Robau says he knows nothing, Nero kills him and resumes his attack on the USS Kelvin. George then takes command of the Kelvin and orders everyone to evacuate the ship and he remains onboard to remain on collision with the Romulan ship in an effort to stop them. George's wife at this time is pregnant and she also is safely evacuated from the ship and gives birth to their son, which they name as James, just before George is killed as the USS Kelvin collides with the Romulan ship.
The story then moves forward to when a young adult Spock (Zach Quinto) decides to join Starfleet and a young adult James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) has become a bit of a rebel and he one night get's involved in a bar fight with some Starfleet cadets. After the fight Kirk is taken to meet with Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) who encourages him to join Starfleet and follow in the footsteps of his father. After some thought, Kirk decides join Starfleet and as he boards the shuttle he meets the cynical doctor, Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban). The story then moves forward three years where Kirk undergoes the Kobayashi Maru combat simulation, which is used to test cadets leadership qualities under pressue. Kirk reprogrammes the simulation in order to become victorious much to the surprise of Spock who accuses him of cheating as Kirk faces a tribunal. The tribunal however is interrupted by a distress signal from the planet Vulcan which is under attack by the same Romulan ship earlier, which prompts Kirk, Spock and the other caders including Uhura (Zoe Saldana) to travel onboard the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Pike.
As the Enterprise arrives near Vulcan, Spock beams down to the surface to rescue the Vulcan high council as well as his father, Sarek (Ben Cross) however he is unsuccessful to save his human mother, Amanda Grayson (Winona Ryder) who is killed just as they are beamed out to the Enterprise as Nero's ship drills into the core of Vulcan, causing a black hole that destroys the planet. Pike surrenders himself to Nero who takes him hostage and he interrogates Pike in an effort to gain access to Earth's defence codes. Meanwhile Spock and Kirk argue about their best course of action as Kirk insists they must rescue Pike and hunt down Nero but Spock has Kirk removed from the ship after he attempts mutiny and he is marooned on a nearby planet, Delta Vega. On the planet Kirk encounters a familiar looking guy who turns out to be the older Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and from here this is where things get a bit complicated.....
As a reboot to the franchise, Star Trek is without question a very entertaining film and for the most part it successfully reimagines the series origins putting a new slant on things in the process with its new young cast and its alernate reality to the original TV series, where in this reality Vulcan is destroyed. (wow that's a pretty short paragraph might as well get to the performances section).
So moving onto the performances they are all very good and the new young cast injects some fresh life into the familiar characters. Starting with Chris Pine who is excellent as the young charismatic and plucky James T. Kirk who starts as being reckless but ends up maturing as the story goes on as he is forced to take command of near impossible situation. Pine has plenty of good moments in the film such as the scene where he first introduces himself as Kirk and get's involved in a bar fight with some cadets. And in the scene one of the cadets get's in his face and says "Hey farm boy, maybe you can't count but there's four of us and one of you!" and Kirk replies "So go get some more guys and it will be an even fight!". Then there is the scene where Kirk talks to Captain Pike who tells him after the bar fight "If you're half the man your father was, Jim, Starfleet could use you. You could be an officer in four years". And after Kirk decides to join Starfleet he goes up to Pike and says "Four years? I'll do in three!". Another fun scene comes when Kirk is caught fooling around with Uhura's saucy alien green skinned room mate and Uhura then kicks Kirk out of her room and as she does Kirk teases her by saying "I think the fact that you picked up a transmission is VERY interesting!" which is an amusing reference to something that Uhura always said in the original series. Then there is the scene where Kirk meets with the older Spock and he asks the aged Vulcan "Who are you?" and Spock says "I am Spock" and Kirk looks on in disbelief and says "Bullshit!". And lastly there is the scene where Kirk and Spock decide to embark on what could be a suicide mission to go on the Romulan spaceship. And as Kirk volunteers to go with Spock, Spock says "I would cite regulation but I know you would just ignore it" and Kirk smiles and says "See? We ARE getting to know each other!" and he pats him on the shoulder and walks off.
Zachary Quinto is quite good in his role as Spock and he bears quite a close resemblance to Leonard Nimoy in his Vulcan make-up and with the fake pointed ears! Quinto's delivery does get a bit grating in the way which he is so verbose and literal in his manner when he tries to make a point but he still has some good moments in the film. For starters there is the scene where Spock assumes command of the Enterprise once Pike has been taken hostage by Nero and Kirk briefly sits in the Captain's chair and Spock cooly says "Out of the char". Then there is the scene where Pike places Spock in command of the Enteprise and he puts Kirk as the second officer and Spock is shocked and says "Captain, please?! I apologise. The complexity of human pranks escape me!". Then there is the scene where Kirk forces Spock to become emotionally compromised in order to discharge his duties in command of the ship at the suggestion of Spock's older self and Spock kicks Kirk's ass and nearly throttles him but let's him go at the last moment and in shock says "I am relinquishing my command. Put the time in the Captain's log. I have become emotionally comprised". Another scene is when Kirk offers Nero to surrender at the end of the film and Spock says "What are you doing?" and Kirk says "Showing them compassion may be the only way to earn peace with Romulus. It's logic, Spock. I thought you'd like that" and Spock says "No not really, not this time". And last of all there is the amusing moment just before Spock goes off with Kirk to beam onboard the Romulan ship where Spock and Uhura share a kiss and he says Uhura's first name "Thank you, Nyota". And as the two men stand on the transporter pads, Kirk quietly says to Spock "So her first name is Nyota?" and Spock sharply says "I have no comment on the matter".
Zoe Saldana is also good as Uhura, the Enterprise's communications officer who is secretly in a relationship with Spock (although it later becomes more apparent). Saldana has some good moments as well but for saving time and typing I won't mention that many but I will mention one where Uhura meets Kirk in the bar and she says to him "I'm impressed. I thought you were just some dum hick who likes to have sex with farm animals" and Kirk sarcastically replies "Well not only!". And lastly there is the scene where Uhura tells off Spock for trying to reassign her to another ship and she says to him "Was I not one of your top students?? And did I not, on multiple occasions, demonstrate an exceptional aural sensitivity, and I quote, "an unparalleled ability to identify sonic anomalies in subspace transmissions tests?!". And as Spock tries to defend his decision to reassign as making it not appear to be "favouritism" she sharply says "And while you are well aware of my own qualified desires to serve on the U.S.S. Enterprise, I'm assigned to the Farragut?". And Spock awkwardly adjusts his roster and says "Yes I believe you are".
As for Karl Urban he is excellent as Leonard McCoy and while he doesn't bear too close a resemblance to DeForrest Kelley he does manage a pretty damn good impersonation of Kelley's voice and inflections. Urban also has some good moments such as his first scene where he boards the shuttle to go to Starfleet academy and he meets Kirk and says to him "Yeah. Well, I got nowhere else to go. The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I got left is my bones!" which neatly explains his nickname of course! And another good scene comes when McCoy argues with Spock over the Vulcan's decision to throw Kirk off the ship and McCoy says "Are you out of your Vulcan mind? Are you making a logical choice, sending Kirk away? Probably. But, the right one? You know, back home we have a saying: "If you're gonna ride in the Kentucky Derby, you don't leave your prize stallion in the stable!". And as Spock dismisses McCoy's concerns he walks away and McCoy angrily says to himself "Green blooded hobgoblin!".
Bruce Greenwood is also very good in his part as Captain Pike who is initially in command of the Enterprise until he is taken hostage by Nero. And Greenwood has a good scene where Pike meets with Kirk in the bar after his bar brawl and Pike tells Kirk "If you're half the man your father was, Jim, Starfleet could use you. You could be an officer in four years. You could have your own ship in eight. You understand what the Federation is, don't you? It's important". And Pike continues "Now, your father was captain of a Starship for 12 minutes. He saved 800 lives, including your mother's and yours. I dare you to do better".
Eric Bana on the other hand is the weak link in the cast here as the main villain Nero as he fails to make any real impact as the Romulan bad guy who basically stands around shouting and making loaded threats without much menace. Although his most memorable line probably comes when near the end Kirk offers assistance to Nero as the Romulan's ship has been crippled and Nero says "I would rather suffer the end of Romulus a thousand times! I would rather die in agony than accept assistance from you!". Meanwhile Anton Yelchin fairs alot better as the young Pavel Chekov and he carries off a decent enough Russian accent and delivering all of Chekov's dialogue very well and substituting his r's for w's.
Simon Pegg also does well as Scotty who for some reason is exiled on Delta Vega along with his strange wee alien companion. Pegg's Scottish accent isn't exactly perfect he does it well enough to make him passable as a Scotsman and not some English bloke from Gloucestershire (although his wife is Scottish so maybe she helped coach him a wee bit). Pegg has some fun moments in the film and one such example is the scene where we first see him as Spock and Kirk pay him a visit and Spock tell's him about his equation for trans-warp drive. And Spock shows the equation and Scotty says "Ah of course! It didn't occur to me that space was the thing that was moving!". And later there is the scene when Kirk and Scotty finally get onboard the Enterprise and Scotty after the drama between Kirk and Spock says "I like this ship! Its exciting!".
And last of all Leonard Nimoy provides a nice performance as the older Spock who fills in Kirk of their friendship on Delta Vega and also what happened with Nero. Nimoy also has some good moments in the film such as the scene where he meets Kirk for the first time and says to him "I have and always shall be your friend" and Kirk asks "Who are you?" and Spock says "I am Spock". Then there is the scene where Spock tells Kirk how to stop Nero "To stop Nero, you alone must take command of your ship" and Kirk says "How do I do that? Over your dead body?" and Spock says "Preferably not!". And Spock says to Kirk that his younger self is emotionally compromised and he must get him to show it in order to take to command and Spock says "I've just lost my home planet. Believe me I am emotionally compromised, what you need to do is get me to show it". And later on (SPOILER!!!!???) when Spock meets with his younger self, the young Spock walks over to the older Spock and says "Father?" and the older Spock says "I am not our father". And as the young Spock says he should resign Starfleet the old Spock advises "I urge you to remain in Starfleet. I have already located a suitable planet on which to establish a Vulcan colony. Spock, in this case, do yourself a favor: Put aside logic. Do what feels right!".
Direction wise, J.J. Abrahams, who had already directed Mission Impossible 3 has done an excellent job here with the film and he confidently handles the action in the film and keeps the pacing at a fairly quick rate. The only thing J.J. Abrahams does here however is continue his penchant for overusing lens flare in his films as we regularly see lens flare in the scenes onboard the Enterprise which can become annoying rather quickly. Music wise the film was scored by Michael Giacchino and its not too bad but its main theme ultimately becomes too repetitive after all and tends to grate after a while and its not a patch on the previous original theme or even Jerry Goldsmith's Star Trek The Motion Picture theme or for that matter James Horner's theme for Star Trek II and III.
As for flaws......... well OK Star Trek has a few problems here and there, for starters while the reimagining of the crew is pretty well realised there are still a few issues with the presentation of the story. And there are some moments where they are blatantly spelling out some of the origins of the characters, such as Spock and his logical behaviour and how while he remains firmly logical he also he his rare emotional outbursts. And this is well highlighted in the first scene where the young Spock is introduced and his fellow young cadets attempt to goad him into fighting by making insulting remarks about his mother. And it took 53 attempts for the cadet bullies to do it! And come to think of it if the Vulcans are so logical why would they even bother will bullying behaviour in the first place as it is so illogical anyway! If anything the scene is used as a form of racism against Spock because his mother is human and that of course makes him half human and basically he's only half one of them so somehow that gives them the right to pick on him.
Another issue comes with Kirk's intro as a reckless young kid who has stolen a car and has the law after him and that scene in itself is pretty ridiculous when Kirk's stepdad calls him up to tell him off. And what also makes that scene not work so well is Abraham's decision to use the Beastie Boys "Sabotage" which features the film's one allowance of the f-word when they leave in the line of the song "I've got this fuckin thorn in my side!". And not to sound prudish but the f-word has no place in the Star Trek universe and it just seems unecessary and totally out of place to have the Beastie Boys in the film in the first place! It might be for a fairly inconsequential niggle for most but it does really bug me all the same. You could also argue just what is it with Kirk and his afinity in this film for doing alien girls as supposed to Earth girls?? I guess the writers of the film are trying to prove that Kirk as a character likes to sexually diversify his choices in women, alien or human regardless, or as Chris Morris's character, the news reporter Ted Maul once said in his controversial satire Brass Eye "If its got a backbone, I'll do it!".
It also has to be said that the Romulans in the film don't really make for effective or menacing villains and Eric Bana's aforementioned Nero hardly has you tremble in fear as he's morely just a whiny git who loves to shout and spit out threats. The funny thing about Romulans are that at the risk of sounding racist toward a fictional alien race is that they all look alike in the film so in the scene when Kirk is nearly choked to death by one of the Romulans and he manages to just grab the baddie's gun and say "I've got your gun!" and he shoots the bad guy, I thought that was Nero he shot when I first saw it! And I was somewhat surprised when Bana later appeared to say "I would rather die than accept your assistance!" as at that point I was like "Isn't he dead already?????!". So THAT shows just how good a villain Erica Bana made in this film. I rest my case.
Anyway all that aside Star Trek is still a very entertaining film and a solid reboot of the series, which was later followed up very well by Into Darkness, which I've already reviewed in a previous entry. And with its new young cast and JJ at the helm the series so far appears to be in safe hands.
And with that I shall bid you's goodnight!
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