Overall Rating
  Awesome: 33.52%
Worth A Look: 27.93%
Average: 11.17%
Pretty Bad: 15.64%
Total Crap: 11.73%
9 reviews, 125 user ratings
|
|
| Star Trek (2009) |
by William Goss
"Keep Your Eyes On The Enterprise"
|
Space. It’s grown a bit louder, hasn’t it?When sixties sci-fi staple “Star Trek” made its leap to the silver screen in 1979, it opened with a sweeping Jerry Goldsmith overture and not one phaser was fired throughout as the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise made their way across the depths of our galaxy. Thirty years later, exploration has given way to excitement, as J.J. Abrams drops us in medias res as a starship (not the starship) is forced to take a very sudden and intense stand against a looming threat. The number of those narrowly escaping the skirmish includes the barely born James Tiberius Kirk, who lost his father in the heat of that battle and will grow up to earn a reputation as a genius-level repeat offender in the Midwest of the future (which, it should be said, is still mostly plains).
In the neighborhood and among Kirk’s father’s fans, Capt. Pike (Bruce Greenwood) dares the rascal to sign up for Starfleet Academy, maybe even serve a purpose for a change. It is among these ranks that Kirk (Chris Pine) will bond with Bones (Karl Urban), flirt with Uhura (Zoe Saldana), and butt heads with the logic-loving likes of Spock (Zachary Quinto), he too of a troubled adolescence. And before you ask, yes, Chekov (Anton Yelchin) and Sulu (John Cho) have their place on the bridge as well, each helping as they can to fend off the attacks of Romulan extremists, led by a very determined Nero (Eric Bana), whose motives will be revealed in due time…
Abrams (Mission: Impossible III) just barely keeps his direction on the proper end of the frenzied mayhem spectrum, rivaling the attention spans of today while suggesting that those of tomorrow may only grow shorter. For all of Bones’ talk about space being “disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence,” the peril faced here is often bright and loud and proudly disorienting – after all, there’s no ‘up’ up there, only where the enemy is firing from or toward – with lens flares invading almost every frame to a nearly annoying degree. We get that the future’s bright, J.J., but the audience shouldn’t have to wear shades. For every lens flare, there’s a horn's blare, as Michael Giacchino’s score hits all the right notes of bombast and triumph and menace that one could hope for without being slavish to the themes that came before it (the screenplay follows suit, but we’ll get to that). Even the film’s poster is a striking blur of motion, of sheer velocity, and when framed against the rings of Saturn in the money shot of money shots, the Enterprise itself can barely be contained on the screen. It’s all so much, all so close, and yet instead of damning Abrams for his sense of sensory overload, the effort ultimately comes across like a prime example of the modern kinetic blockbuster (as opposed to an ideal one). This must be what it looks and sounds like when they’re giving it all they’ve got.
Not to write off most of the cast, but many of them are doing such a capital-s Suitable job of emulating their predecessors and then adding their own spin on it that it’s hard to elaborate on most to any great extent. Yelchin pulls off teenage pluck, Cho can wield a sword when need be, Saldana credibly struggles with one’s obedience to order over their emotions, Greenwood carries the gravitas of an experienced officer, and Urban is as endearingly ornery as they come. The humor is front-loaded by way of Urban, while Simon Pegg’s Scotty arrives just in time to bring up the rear (as he had in M:I-3), with all manner of medical mishaps, wacky accents and gleeful exclamations popping up exactly when appropriate and without ever really wearing out their welcome. That really just leaves Bana, who comes across as equally intimidating whether staring down a foe, screaming out in anger, or subjecting his rivals to pain equal to his own; Pine, whose cocksure demeanor slowly, surely, convincingly gives way to doubts and defining moments of leadership; and Quinto, whose character’s lineage both on-screen and off- makes his quiet balance between logic and passion all the more remarkable for not giving in to simple imitation.
Having worked with Abrams on his “Alias,” “Fringe,” and (yes) M:I-3, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman step up their game accordingly (they also wrote the perfectly Bay-worthy Transformers, mind you), coming up with a crafty narrative catch-all that excuses them from heeding endlessly to Trek canon while allowing just enough room for reverent touches that amuse more than distract. The logic holds up to the scrutiny of multiple viewings, the pacing rarely flags in terms of action beats, and the feat of working in franchise keystone Leonard Nimoy makes this passing of the torch seem that much more consecrated, as if blessed by his mere presence.Sure, there are villains and gadgets and creatures, but 'Star Trek' was never about any of those as much as it was about the crew, and now that this one is assembled, I can’t wait to see where Abrams and friends may lead them next. Even if they opt to double-back on the more familiar elements of the series that some have come to known so well, it won’t matter where they go so much as how boldly they decide to get there.
link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=17128&reviewer=409
originally posted: 05/07/09 08:09:07
![[printer]](/images/icon/printer.gif) printer-friendly format
|
TV to Screen: For more in the TV to Screen series, click here.
Trilogy Starters: For more in the Trilogy Starters series, click here.
|
 |
USA
07-May-2009 (PG-13)
DVD: 17-Nov-2009
UK
N/A
Australia
07-May-2009
DVD: 17-Nov-2009
![[trailer]](/images/icon/trailericon.gif) Trailer
|
|
Articles 
subscribe to this feed![[AllPosters.com]](/images/icon/ap.gif){kind=icon}
