Return to The Final Frontier
We've just got back from seeing the new Star Trek film, and not to put too fine a point on it, it was awesome.
It's just over two hours long, and I've rarely had two hours shoot by quite so quickly. From the moment the USS Kelvin glides into view right at the beginning, the film sets up a breathless blink-and-you'll-miss-it pace that crams in a lot of story, great character moments for the majority of the cast and plenty of knowing nods for the die-hard Trekkers in the audience (that'd be me, then). I was on the edge of my seat for most of the film's running time, and I suspect that most of the newcomers to Trek who bother to go and see the film will feel much the same. The film achieves the near-impossible in presenting events so that even non fans will pick it up without too much trouble, whilst adhering closely to established Trek continuity to keep the existing fanbase happy.
Of course, there are plenty of old-school Trek fans who haven't been placated by the film. Some of them, unable to see what a gift has been handed to them by director J.J. Abrams and his team (for there's been no Trek of any kind on either the big or small screen since Enterprise's unfortunate and ill-deserved cancellation a few years back), have even suggested that existing Trek lore has been disregarded completely. This is more faintly ridiculous - sure, I can understand that some of the more seriously-minded fans might not like the breakneck, action-packed feel of the new film, and may even harbour misgivings about the fact that Abrams has re-cast a group of such iconic roles; that said, it'd be a very hard heart indeed that would accuse Abrams and his team of re-booting the Trek franchise without doing their very best to cater to a very large and very loyal group of fans. Reading interviews with Abrams and the writers, where they explain at length and with evident passion about the mechanics of the story and why they chose to tell the story in this way, I find it impossible to believe them of the level of ignorance and carelessness assigned to them by the die-hards that have given the film the thumbs down. As some readers may remember, I have a big problem with anyone labelling something as "crap" simply because they didn't enjoy it. To stick a label like that on such a magnificently constructed film is ridiculous, especially given that the film is quite evidently cleaning up at the cinemas, with many fans seeing it multiple times. You don't see that if the film in question "betrays" the fanbase in the way some joyless individuals are accusing it of.
Quite apart from the story - which is, frankly, very simple barring some time travel shenanigans: more a prop to enable the setting up of a new crew and spur on some intriguing character development than some huge epic - there's an awful lot to enjoy here. The cast are absolutely phenomenal, for a start. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are both incredible in their pivotal roles as (respectively) Kirk and Spock, and the rest of the familiar Enterprise family - McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura and Chekov - are all here too, and all played beautifully (and more importantly, identifiably) by the new cast. A special mention has to go to Keith Urban, who has McCoy down to an absolute tee: the accent, his mannerisms, his philosophy... even his infamous one-liners. His first "Damnit, Jim" practically had me jumping out of my seat and cheering. The excellence of the cast doesn't extend simply to the Enterprise bridge crew either, with Leonard Nimoy turning up to provide sterling support as a much older Spock, Eric Bana making for an excellent villain in the form of the renegade Romulan Nero and Bruce Greenwood making a fabulous mentor for Kirk in the shape of the Enterprise's Captain, Christopher Pike. Ah, it warmed the cockles of my geeky heart watching all this new blood effortlessly bringing those familiar characters to life again. No-one put a foot wrong throughout, as far as I'm concerned.
The whole thing provided some serious eye-candy, too: this was almost certainly the most visually stunning Trek film to date. Everything looked fabulous, from the ships, to the planets, the nasty-looking critters on the surface of Delta Vega, the not-inconsiderable pyrotechnics... all stunning. Add in a belting soundtrack, the numerous references to existing Trek lore (the Kobayashi Maru sequence is hysterical) and the relentless pace, and for me this was easily the best Trek film since the magnificent First Contact. And it might even have been better than that.
If you're in any way fond of Trek, and for whatever reason haven't seen the film yet, go and see it now. I very much doubt you'll be disappointed. If you're not a Trek fan, discard any preconceptions you might have, and go and see it anyway. I very much doubt you'll see a better big-budget film of its type this year.
Fabulous stuff. Of course, now I just want to go and see it again. The DVD can't arrive too soon.
It's just over two hours long, and I've rarely had two hours shoot by quite so quickly. From the moment the USS Kelvin glides into view right at the beginning, the film sets up a breathless blink-and-you'll-miss-it pace that crams in a lot of story, great character moments for the majority of the cast and plenty of knowing nods for the die-hard Trekkers in the audience (that'd be me, then). I was on the edge of my seat for most of the film's running time, and I suspect that most of the newcomers to Trek who bother to go and see the film will feel much the same. The film achieves the near-impossible in presenting events so that even non fans will pick it up without too much trouble, whilst adhering closely to established Trek continuity to keep the existing fanbase happy.
Of course, there are plenty of old-school Trek fans who haven't been placated by the film. Some of them, unable to see what a gift has been handed to them by director J.J. Abrams and his team (for there's been no Trek of any kind on either the big or small screen since Enterprise's unfortunate and ill-deserved cancellation a few years back), have even suggested that existing Trek lore has been disregarded completely. This is more faintly ridiculous - sure, I can understand that some of the more seriously-minded fans might not like the breakneck, action-packed feel of the new film, and may even harbour misgivings about the fact that Abrams has re-cast a group of such iconic roles; that said, it'd be a very hard heart indeed that would accuse Abrams and his team of re-booting the Trek franchise without doing their very best to cater to a very large and very loyal group of fans. Reading interviews with Abrams and the writers, where they explain at length and with evident passion about the mechanics of the story and why they chose to tell the story in this way, I find it impossible to believe them of the level of ignorance and carelessness assigned to them by the die-hards that have given the film the thumbs down. As some readers may remember, I have a big problem with anyone labelling something as "crap" simply because they didn't enjoy it. To stick a label like that on such a magnificently constructed film is ridiculous, especially given that the film is quite evidently cleaning up at the cinemas, with many fans seeing it multiple times. You don't see that if the film in question "betrays" the fanbase in the way some joyless individuals are accusing it of.
Quite apart from the story - which is, frankly, very simple barring some time travel shenanigans: more a prop to enable the setting up of a new crew and spur on some intriguing character development than some huge epic - there's an awful lot to enjoy here. The cast are absolutely phenomenal, for a start. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are both incredible in their pivotal roles as (respectively) Kirk and Spock, and the rest of the familiar Enterprise family - McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura and Chekov - are all here too, and all played beautifully (and more importantly, identifiably) by the new cast. A special mention has to go to Keith Urban, who has McCoy down to an absolute tee: the accent, his mannerisms, his philosophy... even his infamous one-liners. His first "Damnit, Jim" practically had me jumping out of my seat and cheering. The excellence of the cast doesn't extend simply to the Enterprise bridge crew either, with Leonard Nimoy turning up to provide sterling support as a much older Spock, Eric Bana making for an excellent villain in the form of the renegade Romulan Nero and Bruce Greenwood making a fabulous mentor for Kirk in the shape of the Enterprise's Captain, Christopher Pike. Ah, it warmed the cockles of my geeky heart watching all this new blood effortlessly bringing those familiar characters to life again. No-one put a foot wrong throughout, as far as I'm concerned.
The whole thing provided some serious eye-candy, too: this was almost certainly the most visually stunning Trek film to date. Everything looked fabulous, from the ships, to the planets, the nasty-looking critters on the surface of Delta Vega, the not-inconsiderable pyrotechnics... all stunning. Add in a belting soundtrack, the numerous references to existing Trek lore (the Kobayashi Maru sequence is hysterical) and the relentless pace, and for me this was easily the best Trek film since the magnificent First Contact. And it might even have been better than that.
If you're in any way fond of Trek, and for whatever reason haven't seen the film yet, go and see it now. I very much doubt you'll be disappointed. If you're not a Trek fan, discard any preconceptions you might have, and go and see it anyway. I very much doubt you'll see a better big-budget film of its type this year.
Fabulous stuff. Of course, now I just want to go and see it again. The DVD can't arrive too soon.