Ok, this isn’t a full in-depth review of JJ Abrams reboot of an ailing, once-popular franchise.
Short review is that - it rocks! Yes it’s a little more action-oriented than some of the navel gazing entries in the film series which ended with the ponderous Nemesis, but this is a fantastic entry into the series - it serves to both reboot and reinvigorate the series to great effect.
Speaking of effects, ILM do a fantastic job here, and for the most part a decent origin story is told (meanders a little in the middle as the writers join up a few dots but it’s executed with such pace and panache it’s hardly noticeable) and, JJ’s trump card - an excellent cast. Pine’s Kirk is nicely nuanced, Quinto, as a young Spock, looks like he will grow into the - admittedly large - shoes once worn by Nimoy, Uhura is played as fiercely intelligent, almost bookish and beautiful (ok she had no choice on that one) by Zoe Saldana, Cho underplays Sulu effectively, Urban channels DeForest Kelley marvellously, and Pegg does a modern Scotty ok - sure he is utilised a little to comic effect but he does get the biggest laugh - in Scotland at least - when he tells Kirk and Spock to ‘get tae’! JJ even finds room to give Bruce Greenwood the chance to portray an exceptional Captain as the stoic, courageous Pike.
Nero - well as a Baddie his motivations could be a little more mapped out - apparently some of his footage was cut due to running time concerns, although Bana does his best to portray a very alien, determined foe. If you’ve not seen the film yet - then I urge you to source a copy of the prequel comic which is a decent story in itself, and greatly fills in Nero’s character background, motivation, and explains his hostility and hatred of Spock, whilst also setting up events that follow in the movie.
So yes - it’s an unqualified success.
So, the point of this ramble? Well I wanted to discuss the ‘complaints’ and ‘barbs’ that the film has still managed to attract from hardened ‘trekkers’. Now, my family are all big Trek fans - we’ve even gone so far as to have a Birthday Party for my Brother where everyone dressed as characters from Star Trek - and I’ve even dressed as a Klingon. In the early days of Sky TV we would religiously gather every evening at 10pm for the latest episode of The Next Generation.
Yet, despite this, I knew that a reboot was needed (in all honesty I though Star Trek was probably spent entirely) - Enterprise the series was turgid and bland, shedding most of it’s audience before improving towards the end, and Nemesis was dreadful, unquestionably the nadir of the series. The franchise was on it’s knees. Paramount knew this, and took the gamble of rebooting the series AND trying to engage a new, young audience - the blockbuster viewers - at the same time. Ambitious - certainly, and a huge risk which has paid off - the film already on course for a +$200 Million domestic gross, being easily the most popular film of the year.
Is it this success that has alienated some of the hardcore Trekkers? Quite possibly - this was ‘their’ baby - the previous films did not do anything near the reboot’s figures with Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home being the only one to even break the ‘blockbuster’ 100 million dollar mark. So it was their secret and now 14 year olds are discovering, and taking ownership of, their franchise. Like a slighted woman, they do not like giving up their obsession to anyone else.
Is it because the film-makers, writers etc set-out to alienate the hardcore fans? Well in a word - no. A second viewing shows the writers bending both ways in order to make a movie with the epic feel of Star Wars yet going out of their way to accommodate the fans. Don’t believe me - well a second viewing shows this little list of nods to classic Star Trek (some minor spoilers ahead):
- Bones “damnit Spock, I’m a Doctor not a physicist”
- Kirk - marooned, alone and weaponless - on a barren planet v a BIG monster
- Learning the origin of James T Kirk’s terrible middle-name
- Orion slave girl…
- …Uhura & Spock, finally (see TOS:Plato’s Stepchildren)
- Captain Pike still ends up in a wheelchair
- Kobayashi Maru…
- ..and Kirk with apple (see Wrath of Khan)
- Red Shirted Crewmember!
- Sulu fencing (see TOS:The Naked Time)
- Tribble on Scotty’s desk
- Admiral Archer’s beagle (see Enterprise)
I’m sure there are many more, but really it’s churlish to decry this movie as not having the Trek ‘ethos’. We see people, strangers even, thrown together by a huge threat who learn to work together, to save both themselves and others, in the finest tradition of Starfleet, they overcome insurmountable odds, to assume their destinies - what’s not Trek about that? Hell, they even try to redeem the baddie before the inevitable.
Gene Roddenberry would have approved.
I’d take issue with describing it as “an unqualified success” because, well, it isn’t. Yes, it’s a success, both financially and ‘artistically’ (to be generous with that word), but it’s still got more than its fair share of flaws — many of them with that artistry. So it’s not only the hardcore fanbase who are spotting niggling errors with canon (or other such things that bother fandom), but there are faults for those of us who just want a good film too.
badblokebob
May 28th, 2009