Movie Critic - Star Trek

I’ll say it – I’m a Star Wars guy. Even though I’ve seen eight of the previous ten Star Trek movies I could just never get into it like many people have… i.e. Trekkies. None of those eight really compared to the three original Star Wars movies (plus let’s be honest, does anyone really consider the prequels real Star Wars movies?). I have to be honest, I was surprised when I heard they were making this film, Star Trek really has exhausted much of the possibilities it could’ve – with several television series and ten movies, I mean, what could be new? I guess I was wrong. This prequel shows how the Starship Enterprise came to be as we know it from the original Star Trek.
I’m going to start with the thing that first jumped out at me in this movie – the special effects. They are top notch, with many movies like this there will be at least a few times where I think to myself, ‘Oh, come on… ‘. I can honestly say I bought every minute of this film. Whether it was just simple shots of inside the ship or three men parachuting through space, I really can’t say enough about how great this film looks. Most of this is probably due to J.J. Abrams hitting another one out of the park.
Abrams (who might be Mark Attanasio’s doppelganger) has a pretty legit track record – Alias, LOST, and Mission: Impossible III. Now sure, M:I III is a lot like that hot chick you let cheat off you in high school (looks great, but nothing really on the inside) but it’s still a nice resume, and Star Trek just ads to it. He gives the feeling that you actually are in these different worlds whether it’s Vulcan, or Iowa in the future, or on the Starship Enterprise. This also helps when you have a believable cast.
There is not a poor performance in this movie… which is impressive seeing as Tyler Perry is in it. I have to admit, for a cast of mostly unknowns they really do a great job here. One of the better performances is from Chris Pines as James T. Kirk. It would’ve been easy for Pines to just slip into a cartoon of such an iconic and outlandish character, but he takes it and makes it his own. There’s also great work in here from Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, John Cho and Bruce Greenwood, as well as the always great Simon Pegg. Also a nice (and not cheap) cameo by Leonard Nimoy, who still looks great for 78.
This movie is really being advertised slightly wrong. Even though it is an effects driven ‘Summer Event’ movie, this is really more of a character driven film. One of the most important things this movie does is appeal to almost every type of movie goers. It makes references to the classic movies (the random guy in Red always dying, Bones saying, ‘damnit Jim I’m a doctor not a physicist’, and Scotty’s classic, ‘I’m giving it all she’s got Captain) pleasing the nerds who will dress up in their Enterprise gear. It will also please casual fans as well (and maybe most importantly) a person who has never seen a Star Trek movie. It’s easy to look past some of the minor shortfalls of this movie, when everything else seems to work… and is so damn entertaining. I'll say it, I loved this movie, move over Wrath of Kahn, there’s a new leader in the Star Trek clubhouse.
Star Trek is rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content, and gets 4 out of 5 Stars.