Succinct Film Reviews: Star Trek Edition

The new Star Trek, fun if you aren't a Trekker, with plenty of 'fan service' for those that are, highly satisfying.

Now the longer review which won't avoid spoilers, so don't read it if you care about that sort of thing.



I mean it, avert your eyes now.




This is the last warning, don't blame me if you find out something you didn't want to know.




Star Trek feels like a proper relaunch of an old franchise, one built not just to cash in on a name, but to explore a legend from a new perspective, while maintaining a respectful fealty to the original text. The introduction of time travel not only serves as a plot point, but it also serves another possibly more important service. Star Trek fans are known for being a bit too wrapped up in the 'history' of their franchise and worrying about every minute detail of this future history. So by establishing early on that from the events in this film and forward, you are experiencing an 'alternate' future, one that won't have to adhere to any previously stated facts that fans of the previous versions know by heart. Wiping out Vulcan, and essentially wiping out (or at least severely altering their place within the galaxy) the Vulcan people, changes all that happens afterwards in a massive way. This gives the producers complete freedom with where they take the future of this franchise, should this film prove popular enough to be the beginning of a new set of films.

This is a marriage of the usual JJ Abrams obsessions (did anyone say 'Daddy Issues'?, OK, how 'bout a polar bear analog chasing down young Kirk? only thing missing, Uhura going all Sydney Bristow, but maybe in a later film...) with the feel of the original Star Trek series. How long that marriage can hold up remains to be seen, but for this one film it's a successful mating.

Things to enjoy if you are new to the franchise, the action, the characters, the brisk pace of the film.

Things to enjoy if you know these characters from their previous portrayals, seeing Kirk beat the Kobayashi Maru exercise, seeing Sulu fence, seeing sexy green alien chicks, seeing Scottie 'invent' transwarp teleportation in the same way Scottie helped 'invent' transparent aluminium, Pike in a wheelchair, the required townie v cadet bar fight (seriously, is that some sort of Star Fleet requirement, beat on, or get beat upon by a local?).

The only major WTF moment was, Tyler Perry as the head of Star Fleet?!? He should have done it in full Madea drag.