Finally got around to seeing Star Trek and by this stage I doubt there's much to be added by me throwing my review on the heap but what the hell - when has that ever stopped me before?
I thought it was great. Rebooting a franchise is always tough. Be too reverent of your material and you miss the chance to say anything worthwhile or different. But be too radical and you risk not only alienating the fans but also risk losing the essence of what made your franchise great in the first place. I thought this struck a near perfect balance of being true to the history and a boldness to take new directions.
I thought the direction was great. Everything zipped along efficiently but without doing so at the expense of getting to know the characters. The action scenes were suitably nailbiting and the plot was both bold and yet not too overwhelming in allowing the film to set out its own stall for a possible new vision of the franchise. I was struck by an underlying message to the film about ignoring policy and just
cracking on with stuff. This tension has always existed in Star Trek of course, usually between doing whatever the Prime Directive requires and whatever the Captain on the ground thinks is best, with the inference being that decisions are best left to visionary leaders. This is interesting to me because throughout the TNG era, I think the underlying message was, through the spirit of Picard, that rules and policy are developed through collective wisdom and experience and that a lot of harm could be caused by individuals thinking they personally knew better. A lot of TNG eps ended with, in effect Picard sending one of his officers to their room to Think About What They'd Done.
This film seemed to me to reflect a wish to escape some of these structures and to return to characters who are more personally empowered. I suspect in a meta fashion it also represents a wish to escape some of the weight of the history and tradition of the franchise. Even Spock who traditionally represented the eternal voice of Star Fleet regs here uses this ambiguously. When he ostensibly acts in his Policy type role, the strong suggestion is that he is using them as justifcation for his personal frustrations with Kirk's actions. It's tempting to wonder if the filmaker's are trying to reflect a message of taking control of one's life back or at least reflecting a waish to escape from constant advice and policy. Maybe its just me. But I was very struck by the sense of infinite possibility when the Enterprise suddenly found itself being commandered by that fledgling crew. It felt so fresh and exciting.
I was very impressed with the cast. Zachary Quinto was indeed pretty great as Spock, I thought. Capturing the essence of the character whilst adding something of his own voice. I thought Chris Pine was decent enough but I admit I never got a sense of this being a truly Kirk like character. In fact it only made me surer than I had been going in that William Shatner never really got the credit he deserved for the charisma, charm and swagger he brought to that role. However, saying that I thought his scenes with Spock were suitably intense and that is the main thing. Because no matter on what level you choose to read it, if you've got a Spock and Kirk wihtout chemistry, you've got NOTHING.
Amusing to see that Simon Pegg is continuing the noble tradition of having Scotty having an totally unconvincing Scottish accent do full marks. And also I thought his performance was amusing and engaging. And I thought the new Dr McCoy was FANTASTIC. Again, I thought he really conveyed the soul of the original character without delivering anything so crass as straight up impersonation. He's one of the characters I am very much looking forward to seeing more of in the next movie. Obviously I approve of Uhura moving away from the role which, as pointedly satirised in Galaxy Quest as more or less repeating what the computer just said and instead conveying a sense of a character who is intelligent and independent. Again, I hope to see more.
Hopefully they will make a new movie and soon because seriously, that rocked. And if the new movie is heavily focussed on Spock and thus requires tons and tons of Zachary Quinto's time? Well that would be gravy.