Star Trek: A Review

As I began to type this, on Sunday evening,  we had only just returned from seeing the new Star Trek movie.  I’m not ashamed to tell you that I am an exceptionally happy middle aged geek!

By now, you may have heard the movie praised by the usual suspects:  jaded reviewers who enjoyed the visuals or the slam-bang action; the purists who enjoyed the fact the Enterprise had the appropriate hull number (NC-1701);  time-travel fans who found no fault with the way that potential paradox was handled; and young fans who don’t remember the original show in the first place.  I’m here to tell a different tale… maybe.

For me, Star Trek was a coming home experience.  Yeah, that’s what I said.  If you have been with me for a while, you know that I was practically raised by a television.  You also know that Captain James T. Kirk was a life-long role model for me.  To see my old friend and mentor, Captain Kirk in action again would heave been reason enough to give this movie the highest of praise, but I can’t, in any honesty, stop there. 

This is the Star Trek movie that I  have been waiting for since 1979, when I was 15.  That was when the original (lame-ass) Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released.  This new film  satisfied where so many of the other Star Trek movies were mere parodies of themselves (or dead-boring, like the first one).

I have to admit that I was as skeptical as any other fanboy over the fact that there was going to be a new, young, unknown James Kirk, but I am here to tell you that I was not disappointed. 

This movie was nicely filmed, as you would expect of any highly anticipated, big-budget summer blockbuster, and the special effects were pretty good, too, but not so spectacular that they deserve their own review.  The story was good, too, not that I am going to do spoilers here, I’m not.  I will say this:  This movie was tightly written, and the cast was great!
 

 

With the cast being led by Chris Pine, who played the brash, impetuous, womanizing Kirk, and being incredibly well-supported by Zachary Quinto as a young, emotional Spock, and Zoe Saldana as Uhuru (who has a surprising role to play!).  How could you have anything less than a... well... stellar (yeah, I know) movie experience.  Add to all of this, the inclusion of an actor who did such a credible job of playing Dr. McCoy, and you are set up for a good time, no matter what.

The story itself?  It was good enough.  It was interesting... not too simple, but not so complex as to give you a headache.  This is true space opera, which is what star trek always was.

One of the other things that you have to love about this movie is that it is almost... almost a total homage to decades of Trek geeks AND those who have and made fun of them us.  The Bones McCoy character shouting "Spock!  Are you out of your Vulcan mind?", Kirk shagging the green chick, and so many other things, made this movie even that much better.

I loved this movie... it took me back to late Saturday afternoons, watching Star Trek after a long day of swimming and water polo at the local Boy's Club when I was 12  It brought me more than just an entertaining two hours, it brought me something that movies seldom do: 

It brought me joy. 

It brought me happy memories of an otherwise troubled time.

It reminded me of a time when I still believed that I could boldly go wehere no one had gone before (oh, quit groaning)

It has been nearly 48 hours now, and I am still grinning.  How's that for good?

I think that you should go see this movie.  Taken on all of it's merits, you'll love it, even if you aren't a huge Star Trek fan.

Live long, & prosper!