Movie Review: Star Trek

Star Trek! Several months ago I posted the trailer and talked about how I was geeking out over this new addition to the Trek oeuvre. Well we went to see it on Friday night and color me impressed! It felt like the best kind of summer movie - fun and funny, full of action and adventure and lovable characters.

The movie surprised me - in a couple good ways. First of all, the script, while full of overly helpful plot coincidences (more on that later), was also full of witty and untechnical dialogue. It was snappy and fast-paced without being too full of geek space jargon. The story stayed wisely focused on the characters and their development, as opposed to being primarily about the honestly rather forgettable mission at hand. Which again, I thought played to the movie's favor. The movie wasn't really about what is red matter and where did it come from and how does time travel work and the intergalactic history of Romulans blah blah blah. The movie was about a group of young Starfleet newbies and how their crew came together and more importantly about how Iowa farmboy Jim Kirk and baby-faced Spock (do Vulcans have last names?) became Captain Kirk and BFF/Right-hand-man/First Mate Spock.

And speaking of those two, we come to the second surprising thing about the movie. I found that I totally and eagerly bought into the next-generation portrayals of Kirk & Spock, as brought to the film by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. Pine's version of Kirk was a classic bad-boy-with-daddy-issues-and-a-heart-of-gold without seeming overly cliche, and Quinto's Spock was as Spock-riffic as he could be without becoming a caricature of Leonard Nimoy's original. It's hard to play a character that's purposefully emotionless; Quinto somehow made him smolder under the surface. The trailer and other marketing would have you believe that the movie's romance and sexy-time is between Kirk and Uhura (played by Zoe Saldana). Thankfully, there is a much more interesting romantic pairing, and it is a much smaller part. The central relationship at stake in the film is that between Kirk & Spock. Not to mention, the two of them are easy on the eyes in and out of character...

Oh hello there boys.

I found the optimistic escapism of Star Trek refreshing after a long series of dark and serious comic/action/superhero movies, culminating in 2008's Batman-based mega-hit Dark Knight. While that was an exceptionally well-made movie with brilliant and gritty performances turned in by its leads (including the late Heath Ledger's career-defining demented take on the Joker), it wasn't... really... all that fun. It wasn't supposed to be, of course, but all the same a little fun at the movies has been sorely lacking. The last time I remember feeling quite like I did after Star Trek was after the swashbuckling of the first Pirates of the Caribbean - like I'd just had a plum good time.

A few complaints I've heard so far seem to center around this idea that the plot was underdeveloped and stretched believability. Which is true. As Spock might argue, some of what happens in the movie is highly illogical. But is plot realism our new golden standard for sci-fi, fantasy, and action movies? Give me a break! Contrivance and coincidence are the name of the game in these genres. If your main complaint about the movie is that the plot wasn't believable... then you, my friend, have missed the point. Probability takes a back seat to enjoy-ability in the summer blockbuster, and if you remember that you'll have a lot more fun at the movies.

When the movie was over, I was already thinking about seeing it again, and I wanted to find and watch episodes of the original show. That to me was a great indicator of a job well done for the creators, writers, and cast who had the weighty task of imagining an enjoyable and fun new chapter that showed respect to the legacy of the Star Trek universe. So overall I loved it and would recommend for everyone!