Review of the Latest Star Trek Movie

I will start by saying this: If you are a hardcore trekkie, the kind of person who screams abuse when the phasers are the wrong colour, the warp core is three shades of blue too dark, or the sensors pick up something they can’t, then don’t watch the new star trek movie.

You don’t f###ing deserve it.

It’s very hard to actually write a well structured review without slipping in spoilers at the very best of times, doubly so with the new star trek movie. In order to ensure the purity of the experience is preserved, I’m going to split this review into two sections. Section one will detail the acting, the cinematography and all the other stuff that one talks about when reviewing a film, section two will discuss the plot. Just in case you can’t figure it out for yourself, if you don’t like spoilers (and believe me, this is not you usual telegraphed star trek movie), then skip section two.

Section 1:

The best way to describe the new star trek movie would probably be ‘Battlestar Galactica’d”, Although in my opinion done a lot better. Unlike the reimagining of Battlestar Galactica, star trek stays true to its roots (for the most part), in high science fiction. The elements of the heroic charmer, Captain James T Kirk, the calm and collected First Officer, Lieutenant Spock, the ship chasing after the unknown… all of these are still there.

What they have done is a process I liked to call ‘Mini coopering’, I.E modernising something rather than changing it. There is a hell of a lot of change in this film visually from the previous iterations of star trek, and the styling is somehow slightly darker, while still maintaining the classic clean look that has made star trek stand out against other science fiction films. The bridge of the enterprise is white, spacious and light, and the engineering deck is a mass of pipes, tubes and valves that would not look out of place on the titanic. The antagonist’s ship too, has a dark, visceral almost primal look about it, both inside and out.

Star Trek is a beautifully written movie, the advantage of starting from scratch is that the writers have been able (and managed) to keep the franchise very accessible to people unfamiliar with star trek. Indeed, one of the people in the group I went to see the film had never got into star trek and knew nothing of the characters beyond their appearance and names. She was able to follow the story easily and empathised a great deal with the characters, especially Spock.

But this is not a movie that’s just supposed to get new people into the franchise. Fans of star trek are treated to dozens of references and ‘in jokes’ that only those with a passion for the franchise will get. The slugs from Star Trek II make a cameo appearance, the red shirt always dies first, the classic catch phrases and references to green alien sex that we all remember and love all make an appearance.

The crew and cast also made a fantastic job in reinventing the characters, while keeping them the same. I can only liken this to when a new character takes up the mantle of James Bond. It’s still unmistakably Bond, but with a slightly different twist. Such it is with the crew of the USS enterprise. This is good as the film is very much character driven, and while the plot is very engaging and immersive (if a little contrived at times), it only serves as a backdrop for us to learn more about the characters, and observe how they respond to the changing situation. This sort of thing just wouldn’t have been possible in the original series, and is only made possible by the reinvention of the setting in this iteration.

Perhaps the single most important aspect of this film though is the fact that it has utterly destroyed the cannon history of star trek.

Good.

This is why hardcore trekkies are never going to love it. They bitch and whine when a certain gun appears out of place, or a Klingon’s forehead is just slightly too bumpy. When they see the changes that the writers have made to this Star Trek universe, they will choke on their popcorn. This is all explained as an alternative history using that staple tool of story telling in star trek films- Time travel.

Unlike so many time travel stories that fall into exactly the same predictable routine that leads me to want to hunt down and kill the writers for being lazy bastards, Star Trek manages to pull it off wonderfully. At first I thought that all the changes would be reset via a Deus Ex Machina, a la EVERY OTHER time travel story in the history of creation.

How wrong I was.

The door has now been thrown open for a brand new branch of star trek based in this alternative reality. The writers set up some very interesting concepts that could be explored.

This about wraps it up for section one of this review. Again I say, if you do not want spoilers, then please refrain from reading section 2. In conclusion all I can do is repeat what I said before- If you enjoy star trek, but are not one of the obsessive compulsive trekkies that the media loves to ridicule, star trek will be one of the best things you’ve seen since the dark knight. If you’re looking for a movie to go an watch but have no real interest in star trek, it’s a very enjoyable way to spend an evening, and will also do a great job of introducing you to the setting. Suffice to say, go and see it now.

Section 2.

Vulcan gets destroyed. By the end of the film, there are only about 10,000 Vulcans left in the galaxy. Kirk’s farther is killed while his mother is giving birth to kirk in a battle with the Romulans (the main antagonists of the film). For a large portion of the film, Spock is captain of the enterprise. Spock and Uhura are in an involved relationship.

In short, star trek takes a lot of the preconceptions and chucks them out of a third storey window.

Leonard Nemoy plays Spock, Simon Pegg’s performance as Scotty is brilliant, Sulu screwing up the Enterprise’s maiden voyage from star dock had me in creases, the space jump (a parachute drop from orbit) was one of the most fantastic pieces of cinematography, sound engineering and acting I had ever seen (and the red shirt cacked it)!

These fantastic little moments just make the film, and had me grinning ear to ear as I watched it.

The basic overarching plot is that in the far distant future, a star goes supernova and threatens to wipe out a lot of inhabited worlds, including Romulus. Spock promises to save Romulus, and speeds off in a ship designed to create a black hole to absorb the supernova. He’s too late and Romulus goes the way of Pompeii, the only survivors being the crew of a nearby mining ship. They chase down spock and in the ensuring battle a black hole is created which sucks them both through time. After killing Kirk’s farther having arrived in the past, the Romulan crew hang around for a few years and wait for Spock’s ship to show up before capturing it, and using the black hole generating ‘red matter’ to destroy Vulcan before moving on to earth. The enterprise gives chase and stops them, but not before the history if the world is re written.

There’s a basic synopsis of the whole thing for you, but seriously you need to watch it. See section one!