The coding blog of Alastair Smith, a software developer based in Cambridge, UK. Interested in DevOps, Azure, Kubernetes, .NET Core, and VueJS.
[4/5] Before I get onto the film itself, it’s worth setting up some context for this review. I’m no Trekkie; in fact, you could barely even call a fan of Star Trek. That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed watching it (I particularly liked The Next Generation and Voyager), but it’s not something I ever went out of my way to watch. In the great unspoken rivalry between Star Trek and Star Wars, I always sided with Star Wars. On the other hand, I’m a big fan of science fiction as a genre, and it’s been a little while since I’ve seen a film in truly rooted in that vein.
With that out of the way, onto the film. You can’t have failed to notice that the team behind Star Trek is the same team that brought you Lost. J. J. Abrams (also responsible for the hits Alias and Fringe) has since turned his hand to movies, writing and directing Mission: Impossible III and producing Cloverfield; Michael Giacchino (composer) has previously scored Cloverfield and Speed Racer, as well as numerous TV and video game projects; this is Damon Lindelof’s first foray into movies, however. With that kind of pedigree (particularly given the popularity of Lost), many kinds of expectations are set high. Expectations of the plot, expectations of the special effects, expectations of the characters, expectations of the actors.
Mostly, it meets those expectations; it never exceeds those expectations at all, but the bar is set incredibly high. The acting is as excellent as could be hoped for. Visually, the film is exciting and compelling. The plot, whilst not flawless, is well-devised, and is supported by a witty and entertaining script.
The film is exceptionally well cast, which might be considered surprising given how unknown the majority of the cast were. Abrams has a good track record working with relative unknowns, however: Jennifer Garner made her name on Alias, and the cast of Lost were mostly small TV actors before the island gig came along.
Chris Pine fills William Shatner’s shoes well. His swaggering arrogance is believable, and his character provides a firm base for Shatner’s “future” Kirk. Zachary Quinto is truly excellent as Spock, although in many respects he’s treading familiar ground. Both his regular character in Heroes, Sylar, and Spock have a cold, calculating air to them. Spock exhibits it through the Vulcan side of his personality: emotionless and logical to the last; Sylar through his choice and treatment of his victims. Leonard Nimoy effortlessly reprises his role as Spock (credited as “Spock Prime”), and is understandably more warm with the younger crew than Quinto’s Spock. Karl Urban, best known for his role as Eomer in Lord of the Rings, is an inspired choice for Dr Leonard “Bones” McCoy: he looks and sounds a lot like DeForest Kelley. There’s sadly not much more to say about Bones; he tempers some of Kirk’s wildness, and there’s an ingenious scene where he smuggles Kirk aboard the Enterprise, but he’s mostly in the background here. Zoë Saldana is delectable as Uhura, although she is under-utilised in the final third of the film. Simon Pegg makes a late entrance, complete with dodgy Scottish accent and comic timing; he, along with John Cho (Sulu) and Anton Yelchin (Chekov) are also mostly relegated to the background.
To an extent, it’s difficult to take Pegg seriously. He’s an excellent comic actor, but I’m in two minds about his role as Scotty. On the one hand, he plays the role well; on the other, it seems as though the “re-envisioning” of Scotty has tailored the role to Pegg. His arrival on the USS Enterprise is comical, bordering on the farcical, and many of his lines play him as the amusing sideshow, the light entertainment, the comic relief. I found this didn’t work so well, because there was plenty of humour (and a better class of it) in the film already.
The writers were obviously aware of the loyalty of the fan base. Conventions from the original series have been observed (observe carefully the team sent to destroy the drilling platform at Vulcan), and I believe there’s much to like here for existing fans. There’s much to tempt new fans, as well, as this is Star Trek with a 21st century make-over, and I mean that in a good way: it has been updated and re-styled to meet the expectations of today’s audience. The wobbly sets are out, and I am thankful for that.
What is perhaps most interesting about this film, however, is the number of parallels between Star Trek and Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. Both feature a planet-destroying weapon, both feature a character on the wrong side of the weapon, both feature a cocky, young upstart hero, both share the same closing scene. Both, too, are good “beginning” films, standing alone well, but with a sense that there is more to come in later instalments. I find these similarities significant for a couple of reasons: first, it is a tacit acknowledgement of the true significance of Star Wars in movie history; second, I believe it makes a strong case for the fusion of the “space opera” and more serious science fiction in the best traditions of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. It doesn’t have to be either-or, it can be both.
The ending may leave you cold; a couple of people described it as a “generic space adventure film ending”. I didn’t find it as jarring as that, but by no means was it anything innovative. It sets up the reinvigorated franchise without mandating further films, and makes for a rollicking adventure that will thoroughly divert for its two-hour running length.