I'm not the kind of person who normally resorts to pumping something full of hype, but if you are reading this and haven't seen the new big-screen adaptation of Star Trek, you need to be tied to something heavy so that "certain" people can know your whereabouts at all times.
J.J. Abrams' new vision of TV's original Star Trek has everything you expect from a summer movie flick that costs $150 million to make and $8.25 a ticket: laughs, big explosions, smokin' hot alien babes who spend the majority of their screen time in skimpy underwear.
However, it has accomplished something far greater than just being a great summer epic. It manages to appeal to an audience even wider than rabid Trekkies who still refuse to wash the hand they shook DeForest Kelley's hand with back in 1975. It also breathes new life into a sci-fi series whose bones were picked clean by the studio vultures long ago.
It's got a complex plot, but not one that takes the mind of a genetic physicist to understand and appreciate. A rogue Romulan, Nero (played by Eric Bana), pulls a Terminator and ventures to the past to exact revenge for the destruction of his home planet, and the Enterprise gets in his cross hairs. Of course, this isn't your Daddy's Enterprise. This is a crew of fresh faced cadets learning the ropes and each others' limits to defeat an enemy thirsty for blood.
Every level works to some degree, but casting deserves some major kudos. The cast doesn't merely imitate the original characters from the TV series. They build on them. They have fun with them, and the script gives them a lot of good material to work with. It's deeply emotional, particularly with the young Spock, played brilliantly by Heroes' Zachary Quinto who walks a very fine edge as a cold and calculating Vulcan wrestling with the power of human emotion. If the first few minutes alone don't give you a lump in your throat, check the color of your blood to make sure it's not green.
It's action packed from beginning to end. The new James T. Kirk, played by Chris Pine, bounces around the screen and gets into some over-the-top fights. There are big explosions, loud fights and giant climactic battles that assault the senses and throw fire in your eyes. The IMAX version could be considered a Class B misdemeanor in some of the wussier states.
But most surprisingly of all, it's damn funny. There are the in-jokes that just about every pop culture junkie knows. A red shirt will die. Bones, played by Keith Karl Urban, will exclaim that "he's a doctor, not an [insert random profession here]" (I was pulling for "secret shopper"). Scotty, played by Spaced's Simon Pegg, will complain that he's "giving her all she's got." Even if the scriptwriters eliminated every joke that relates to Star Trek, its own sense of humor could run on its own two engines.
And the funniest part is, this is all coming from someone who never really liked Star Trek all that much in the first place. Don't bother with the comments. I know I'm evil.
The TV Squad Podcast: Linda Purl talks about The Office, we talk spoilers, and more
Ask TV Squad: Ghost Whisperer and more!
The TV Squad Podcast: Bill Scheft of The Late Show, Cake Boss, Mad Men and more
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
5-08-2009 @ 10:16AM
stan lee said...
you're evil!
Reply
5-08-2009 @ 10:18AM
Don-Don said...
I wish it only cost $8.25 to see a new release in NYC.
Reply
5-08-2009 @ 11:47AM
Dan said...
Seriously...in San Diego it's $10.50 at the cheapest theater...man, it's been YEARS since I saw a movie ticket that cheap.
Rotten Tomatoes has 174 fresh reviews and 8 rotten ones (96% fresh)...for comparison, that's better than "The Dark Knight" (94%), "Slumdog Millionaire" (94%), "Milk" (93%), "Hotel Rwanda" (92%) and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (94%). That's insane. I was originally thinking that this movie would suck, but with reviews like that, I can't imagine this wont be awesome.
5-08-2009 @ 12:17PM
scott said...
$8.25 - i was thinking the same thing... can't even see a matinee for that much in LA!
got my tickets (at considerably more than $8.25) for an 8pm show tomorrow night... can't wait!
5-08-2009 @ 1:12PM
Eludium-Q36 said...
It MUST be seen in IMAX (where avail) and that costs $12 in the metro DC area.
5-08-2009 @ 1:20PM
Eludium-Q36 said...
Jeez, I have to correct myself! It's $14.50 at Imax-AMC and $12.50 at Imax-UdvarHazy. You gotta stop and think at these prices.
5-08-2009 @ 5:57PM
Kranz said...
Man, I paid $16.50 to see the IMAX version in San Diego.
5-08-2009 @ 10:19AM
Mike said...
Not surprising that someone who doesn't really like Trek doesn't mind its destruction... well... at least the destruction of 40+ years worth of material, characters, and stories.
This was a good movie, this was a kick to the balls for Trek.
I'm not being overly dramatic here or nerding out... the simple fact is that they traveled back in time within our timeline and irrevocably altered it. This movie wipes out every moment we've ever seen on Star Trek.
Consider this: In the TNG episode Yesterday's Enterprise, they weren't in some sort of alternate timeline... they were in our timeline as altered by the events of Narendra III. And the timeline at the beginning of the episode is still not the same as when the episode ends. Before that episode the universe they lived in had nobody named Sela. After those events, their universe did... meaning the universe they "returned to" wasn't the same one they "left". Which means that, even if they did something in future movies, we can never return to exactly the way things were... but even worse, this isn't like going from the normal timeline at the beginning of Yesterday's Enterprise to the somewhat normal one at the end... no... this movie was more like going from the awful reality where the Federation is losing, Tasha is alive, and Enterprise-C vanished and never helped the Klingon colony on Narendra III to the timeline at the end that seems restored.
Picard's choice in that episode was to destroy 23 years of history within his timeline to try to make things better... but in so doing, everything that happened in the interim was wiped clean. Gone. When Tasha and Enterprise-C return to the past the "alternate" where Enterprise is under attack and about to be destroyed ceases to exist.
Where we are now in the ST universe is exactly there... Spock and company just erased all ST we knew. Every last bit of it is gone.... as gone as the battleship Enterprise-D of Yesterday's Enterprise.
After all, here's a question to anyone that has seen this movie and is a Voyager fan:
Q. Given that Tuvok wasn't yet born before the events of this movie, what happens to him?
A. His parents are likely dead and he was obliterated from existence, never to exist.
Some people think this is just an alternate, having no impact on previous Trek... not true... what this movie did was like any other bottle episode where they create an alternate future only to return things to normal by the end, wiping out any meaningful changes.... It just happens that TOS, TMP, TWOK, TSFS, TVH, TNG, TFF, TUC, Gen, DS9, FC, Ins, VOY, Nemesis, and Enterprise were the alternates wiped away at the end of this "episode".
Sure, it gives JJ Abrams complete freedom... but at what cost?
Star Trek was the most vastly and fully realized fictional universe perhaps ever, but certainly since the Greeks came up with their mythology. And now it's all gone...
Reply
5-08-2009 @ 10:34AM
tcc3 said...
That's funny, all my dvd box sets didnt vaporize Thursday night when this premiered.
Get over it man. Berman almost killed the franchise altogether. If this is well done and allows for more well done tales, then I welcome it.
I think the reboot to circumvent continuity is lazy, but its not necessarily catastrophe either.
5-08-2009 @ 10:49AM
stan lee said...
you're nerding out man..............
5-08-2009 @ 11:30AM
Paul said...
Funny, you say you're not nerding out, but every word I read in your comment screamed just that.
I'm a pretty big Star Trek fan. I even liked NEMESIS (yes, I know, "the awful one"!). I knew exactly what episode you were referring to, and the details you were talking about.
But who cares?
Would you prefer that they just completely rebooted the franchise, ignoring the old "future" Spock from "Timeline Prime" and just started anew, with brand new stories and nothing tying it to what we know?
My preference for a "new Trek" would've been jumping ahead again, another 100 years or so, going where no one had gone before. But failing that, this was the absolute best option they had, and they really really rode with it. I thoroughly enjoyed the film from start to finish, and very genuinely look forward to the sequel.
As the guy above said -- it's not like the DVD sets are gone. It's not like TNG and DS9 and Tim Russ' Tuvok didn't exist (although I'd be okay if "Voyager" never did exist... what an awful series!). So just enjoy the ride, because it's damn fun!
5-08-2009 @ 11:51AM
RIFRAF said...
Uhh,, Dork...
5-08-2009 @ 11:55AM
Mike Davis said...
"Would you prefer that they just completely rebooted the franchise, ignoring the old "future" Spock from "Timeline Prime" and just started anew, with brand new stories and nothing tying it to what we know?"
No, what I'd really like is for a studio to try SOMETHING NEW! Stop sequelizing and rebooting and try an original f--king idea every now and then!!!
How many brilliant sci-fi (sorry: Syfy) novels have been written that will never see an adaptation because it isn't part of an established franchise?
The only people desperate for a ST reboot (or reimagining or reheating or whatever you want to f--king call it) are studio execs.
5-08-2009 @ 11:57AM
GigG said...
It just split off another timeline. Remember the episode with the thousands of Enterprise D's. One of those comes from the JJ Abrams Trekverse.
I loved the movie and JJ did the ONLY thing he could do so there could be 'Continuing Voyages of The Starship Enterprise." God bless him he did it well.
5-08-2009 @ 12:31PM
Bozo said...
It's not real, you know that right? Just be glad it's not a cartoon and in 3-d.
5-08-2009 @ 4:51PM
Brian said...
In the words of Homer Simpson:
NERD!
Seriously, if you as a Star Trek don't like the movie before seeing it, you'll never like anything new again and die with your Apple II sputtering in the background, choking on the bits of the internet.
5-08-2009 @ 8:56PM
Michael said...
What happened to Tuvok? Easy, he's a doorman on "Samantha Who?" dude!
5-08-2009 @ 9:11PM
Edward said...
So why is TVSquad trying to hide this comment? Mike is right. His point makes sense.
I HATED this movie. Trek is about the universe. Not only did JJ Abrams mess up the original universe by destroying Romulus, it also has a messed up the new universe by destroying Vulcan and having TWO Spocks existing at the same time. Really?
So basically this alternate Star Trek universe is the messed up version. Kirk's life was messed up. Quinto Spock's life is REALLY messed up. Where was the Star Trek optimism that this new team wanted to keep? Why did so many scenes look like Star Wars scenes? Might I add that this Enterprise looks very disproportionate.
This is considered good science fiction? The plot of Nemesis was better than this plot. Star Trek is not Star Wars. This flick made it look like a rip-off of Star Wars. They are supposed to be different. Trek is supposed to be smarter, and dealt with contemporary issues in a smart fashion. What Star Trek fan will like this new movie? This is a shell of a movie.
5-08-2009 @ 11:38AM
Jason said...
Not to nitpick but Bones is played by Karl Urban not country singer Keith Urban.
And I agree with the OP, best Star Trek movie ever.
Reply
5-08-2009 @ 10:36AM
Robert said...
Did Keith Urban pull out a guitar and start singing some country?
I'm pretty sure Bones was played by Karl Urban.
Reply