STAR TREK
 
STARRING: John Cho, Ben Cross, Bruce
Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Winona Ryder, Zoe Saldana,
Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Eric Bana, Leonard Nimoy, Marlene Forte, Jimmy
Bennett
2009, 126 Minutes, Directed by:
J.J. Abrams
 It’s
Star Trek Jim, but not as we know it . . .
When Lost supremo
J.J. Abrams declared that his Star Trek was going to be a re-imagining of
this venerable 42-year-old science fiction franchise, he sure wasn’t kidding
around. This Star Trek is tougher and grittier than previous
incarnations: the sets are less sterile and everything – the ships, costumes,
buildings, etc. – has a more lived-in and used quality than before.
Particularly
interesting is the huge amount of lens flares employed in the film to add to
the realism – we haven’t seen this many bright lights since the ending of
2001: A Space Odyssey!
These deliberate imperfections make it more
Star Wars than Gene Roddenberry’s utopian
vision of 22nd century life. (It is also more Star Wars
than Star Trek in other ways, but more on that later.)
However by mixing the familiar with the unfamiliar in unexpected ways (one research
station on a deserted frozen ice planet looks very much like something out of
the 20th century for instance) Abrams creates a fictional universe that is a far
cry from those cheesy cardboard backdrops of the old ‘Sixties
Star Trek TV series.
Star Trek may feature younger actors playing iconic
figures from the original Star Trek series such as
Spock, Captain Kirk, Scotty, et al, but long-time Star
Trek fans had better forget everything they know about the intricate Star
Trek universe. [PLOT SPOILERS!] When they called this Star
Trek a “reboot” they also weren’t joking either. A handy time travel plot
device in effect creates an alternate timeline version of Trek, which
means that it gives the writers of any possible future movie instalments carte
blanche to throw out the handbook on Trek continuity and start afresh
from scratch. Talk about a clean slate! In this alternate history Star Trek
(if you can call it that) the story can be pushed into whichever direction its
writers and J.J. Abrams want it to. Trekkies may fume, but if this big-screen
Star Trek movie is to be a much-needed booster shot to revive this seriously
ailing franchise, then it is a clever thing to do.
When an aged Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is unable to prevent a
sun from going supernova and destroying the Romulan home planet in the process,
he is blamed for the tragedy by a Romulan miner named Nero (Eric Bana). Nero
plots an elaborate revenge scheme whereby he travels back through time to
destroy Spock’s home planet of Vulcan and make him watch it. Thereafter he
targets all the other planets in the Federation, starting of course with Earth.
For some reason the Federation Starfleet isn’t around to help Vulcan and it is
up to a Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) to lead a starship Enterprise
piloted by Starfleet academy cadets in training to save the day. Within the
first few minutes of Star Trek the movie already demolishes
Star Trek continuity by killing off James T.
Kirk’s dad before he (Kirk) is even born. (In old
Star Trek Kirk’s father in fact lived to see Kirk graduate from Starfleet
academy.) [END SPOILERS!]
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"This is Star Trek designed for people who don't actually
like Star Trek . . . " |
The many liberties Abrams takes with these iconic
characters are bound to infuriate anal trekkies. Kirk (played by the fresh-faced
Chris Pine) is a troubled child who totals his step dad’s antique sports car
during a joy ride. Later on he is a self-destructive drunk who picks fights in
bars. When we first meet Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy (Karl Urban) he is a
borderline alcoholic embittered after nasty divorce proceedings that left him
bankrupt. Spock (Zachary Quinto) is practically a quivering mass of emotions in
comparison to the Spock of old we know from the beloved 1960s television show.
And so on.
Which brings us to our point: this is a Trek
designed for people who don’t actually like Trek. When the last episode
of Star Trek Enterprise aired on
13 May 2005 it effectively ended an 18-year run of back-to-back new Star Trek
shows beginning with Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987. The last big
screen Star Trek movie (Nemesis in 2002)
happened to be the least commercially successful in the franchise. (Yes, it did
even worse at the box office than 1989’s dismal Star Trek
V: The Final Frontier, the one Trek movie trekkies never speak of!)
This new Star Trek movie has two goals: to rally the long-time fans to
the cause again and to lure new potential fans to the franchise. To be honest it
is more successful at the latter.
This 2009 Star Trek
has taken a leaf out of the Battlestar
Galactica revival guidebook. Not only is it grittier than previous Trek
shows or movies, it is also much more action-driven. It is Star Trek
re-imagined as a fast-paced brash action movie and works remarkably well on that
level. It sucks you into the action pretty quick and doesn’t really let go until
the end. Along the way characterization is presented in broad strokes. There is
a lot of “Hi, I’m Montgomery Scott also known as Scotty” dialogue to make sure
that audiences don’t miss the point as the movie careens from one action scene
to the next.
 Sure,
there is a lot to irk dedicated fans, but the movie works well when taken on its
own terms. Long-time fans will probably be best served by a reciting a mantra
that goes something like “this isn’t real Star Trek, but it doesn’t
matter” while watching it. Some generous wallops of sentiment and references to
Dilithium crystals and adherence to Star Trek conventions (a red shirt
predictably buys it in one scene) probably won’t do it for them.
Newcomers who consider the
old ‘Sixties Star Trek to be too stodgy or iffy will have a blast. The
movie and its special effects owe a lot to Star Wars, particularly the
so-called prequels. Some CGI space battle scenes look like something taken right
out of Revenge of the Sith (if it wasn’t for
the familiar Trek hardware that is). Fortunately Abrams hasn’t repeated
any of Lucas’ mistakes. There are no deadly dull boardroom meeting scenes about
trade embargoes and Chris Pine is hardly Anakin Skywalker.
An early fan reaction
to the first trailer was that this Star Trek reboot answers the pressing
question “what if James Tiberius Kirk were more like Anakin Skywalker?” They
needn’t have worried. Chris Pine as James T. Kirk isn’t whiney and annoying like
Hayden Christensen was in Attack of the Clones and
Revenge of the Sith. Instead he is simply bland. Pine makes no effort at
imitating William Shatner’s mannerisms, which is probably for the best when one
thinks about it. The rest of the cast also do not leave much of an impression,
but then again they aren’t given that much to work with.
The truth is that we found ourselves missing the old cast,
but most audiences won’t care: Star Trek works fine when taken on its own
terms as a modern special effects-driven action flick. It is also hardly the
train smash some fans feared it would be. (It’s better than any of the Star
Wars prequels for starters. Shorter too.)
Newbies to Trek should
check it out and long-time fans should also lend their support. After all, the
financial success of this Trek will determine the very future of the
franchise and the universe will seem a much colder place without any Trek at
all, even if it is somewhat “off” Trek . . .
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