Like Batman Begins and X-Men, this is a great start to a new franchise. The casting is perfect, and each of the characters is given their own moments to be great. Even Chekov is shown some love, which is a nice change of pace.
Spock is fantastic, and his love story with Uhura really works. Uhura is really fleshed out as an important character, and does way more than just repeating what the computer says. Scotty is hilarious, although he shows up a bit late in the movie (more of him in the sequel, please). And he has a little alien sidekick that is really funny. Bones is suitably grumpy. His "Dammit, I'm a doctor..." lines are perfect. Sulu is fine, but his coolest moment is an action scene rather than a character moment. He does have the coolest samurai sword in a movie, ever. Chekov gets to save the day a couple of times, which makes him more than just a funny accent. And Kirk gets to be suitably cocky and woman-crazy, while displaying the intelligence and strength that makes him the legendary captain he will become.
The story itself is a basic revenge story (albeit one told at large scale, with the inclusion of time travel). The villainous Romulan isn't one of the greatest villains in Star Trek history, but his plan is suitably menacing. The most interesting thing introduced in the story is the fact that the villain's intrusion in the past has altered the course of history. So while we are essentially dealing with the same characters as the original series, we are now actually in a parallel time line. This is a pretty clever way for the producers to reboot the series and maintain the ability to take some liberties with Star Trek lore if they feel the need. The core elements are the same, but the options are unlimited.
Things to geek out over: Kirk taking the Kobayashi Maru test, Leonard Nimoy's wonderful supporting role (very integral to the plot), future spock's personal ship, classic lines like "Dammit, I'm I doctor, not a physicist!" and "I'm givin' her all she's got!", it's still bad to be a redshirt, Sulu's sword.
The movie is also filled with some great light-hearted comedy which helps give it the feel of the original series. Almost all of Scotty's scenes are injected with humor, and there is a hilarious scene involving Bones, Kirk, and some alien virus. Chekov is the young one on the crew, and his youthful enthusiasm is pretty funny especially when he's pronouncing those v's.
Every Star Trek fan should be really pleased with this movie. It gets so much right when it comes to the characters and their relationships with each other. I definitely can not wait for the inevitable sequel. Now that the introductions are out of the way, they can really ramp up the stories.
2 comments:
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Loved it Loved it Loved it! Excellent review of the movie. My favorite part, though, was when a 16 year-old kid bumped into Drew on the way out and called him 'sir.' Priceless.
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