Time for a Movie Review

Enough of floods, wars, recessions or other thoughts of real life. Time to escape to the movies. I saw the new Star Trek movie this afternoon. Following the spoiler space I'll tell you why I loved this escape to the world of James T. Kirk, Spock and the rest of the gang.

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When I heard that Paramount was doing a "re-start" movie for Star Trek with new actors playing Kirk, Spock, etc., I was wary. The original cast has become iconic over the last 40 years. Plus, Paramount had hired the guy who did "Lost" to do it. JJ Abrams' "Lost" lost me in the first season when a polar bear showed up on the island with the airplane crash victims. I put the movie out of my head and have not bothered to follow any of the buildup beyond noticing a few casting news notes and watching trailers. When Zachary Quinto was announced as Spock, I was interested because he plays a great villain on "Heroes." He is so good in the part, they can never kill off his murderous character. If you can do that, you can handle being Spock. I also felt better after seeing the first trailer and then, last fall, seeing a new JJ Abrams TV show called "Fringe." It's a great mad scientist TV show. I love a good mad scientist. So, I had more hope and planned to watch, but I did skip the opening night geek gathering. Instead I made it a way to begin the weekend and got to watch the rebirth of a movie franchise.

First, for all the fans of the original Star Trek series, this will not offend thee. There is no attempt to totally revamp the characters or change who matters most. The is still about Kirk and Spock followed by Bones, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov and Scotty. In fact, Chekov still has the same silly accent. Uhura still has a ridiculous short skirt. Starfleet is still described as a force for peace early on but the plot features has plenty of stuff blowing up as always.

I liked all the actors playing these characters. Zachary Quinto has the hardest job making the half-Vulcan, half-human Spock new again. They played up Kirk's wild boy side in this one. He is a bad boy in Iowa and a bad boy in Starfleet. One thing I liked was how the movie fleshed out the other four characters a bit more. We learn how McCoy became Bones and why a man who so clearly hates space travel is in Starfleet. We learn that Uhura has incredible abilities in both languages and in hearing in greater depth and detail than others. We learn that Sulu can pilot like Han Solo; Chekov is 17-year-old math genius; and Scotty invented the way to beam people and objects much farther and while they are moving. The inability for the transporter to hold on tomovie objects is actually a crucial plot pont.

The basic story is about family and friends. This is a classic theme in Star Trek for all the crews of all the Enterprises through the decades. It is fun here to see how they become friends and how they first get to the Enterprise. Plus, this Enterprise has Captain Pike at command. This is one of the nods to fans who know the details. There are more obvious nods and less obvious ones. Makes the movie fun for Trekkers of all kinds without alienating fans who lack the backstory. Or, for those who remember the first movie, it is aimed at a broad audience not just those who worship at the feet of Gene Rodenberry and want to spend hours afterward trying to figure out the meaning of the bald woman who took time away from the characters we love.

The movie begins with the birth of James Tiberius Kirk in the middle of a battle with a monstrous Romulan ship appearing out of a "black hole" that just appears in front of the USS Kelvin. Kirk's dad dies so others can escape. Kirk's psychological response to this is a reckless nature and constant refusal to lose at bar fights, chasing women or the Kobayashi Maru. We also get scenes of Spock growing up. From these we learn that Vulcan schools have bullies and the Vulcan view of humans as inferior. This is illustrated by a Vulcan elder congratulating Spock's accomplishments "despite your disadvantages." The money also went to casting Spock's parents not Kirk's. Kirk's parents are unknowns. Spock's are Winona Ryder and Ben Cross. Winona made up to be old is fine. I did notice they kept the old costuming for her from the orignial series but with a weird chest protector. Ben Cross is a great actor and I hope we see more of him as the sequels follow.

Once at Starfleet, Kirk is still the bad boy and Spock is already a commander. Then Romulans attack Vulcan and somehow the only folks Starfleet have to fill space on 8 (I think) starships, including the brand new USS Enterprise NCC-1701, are Starfleet Academy cadets. It seems the entire fleet is in some sector far, far away. You'll enjoy how Kirk ends up on the Enterprise and get a hint of something surprising about Uhura. I'll leave those alone for anyone reading this who hasn't seen it.

The movie now moves into the faster paced space adventure mode but doesn't abandon the humor or the continuing character reveals. Plus, the story of how the Romulan ship ended up where and when it was allows for a time line "reset" that sets this version on its own "alternate universe." It is right in the script. You can just hear the writers shouting "so shut up about any 'you can't do that because in episode...'" The continuity book just got a whole lot smaller.

This story even builds a bit on Star Trek:Nemesis storyline with Leonard Nimoy's Ambassador Spock on Romulus. Nimoy plays Spock one more time and even meets his "alternate" self. But before that Vulcan is destroyed; Spock maroons Kirk on a Star Trek version of Hoth complete with strange animals to chase him; and Scotty finally comes aboard. I did think it took way too long to get Scotty among the crew. It ends, of course, with Kirk in the captain's chair and Spock now his first officer even though the punk from Iowa hadn't even graduated Stafleet Academy when the excitement started. Old Spock is off to live his remaining years on a new Vulcan colony for the small number of Vulcans still alive. Nimoy is set if they need him for a movie plot with those folks.

This was a "I want the Blu-Ray" movie. I will try to go see it again next week to see if I missed any entertaining details. It is well worth a full price admission. There was one thing I didn't like and that bothered me during the movie and now...

What's up with "red matter?" This material, whatever it is, is crucial to creating the "black hole" that starts the events for this movie. No explanation is ever offered for what it is. I've now learned that there is a pre-movie comic, Star Trek:Countdown, which offers a bridge from Nemesis to this film and in sort of the same fashion as "The Clone Wars" orginial cartoons did between the last two Star Wars movies. Maybe it is there. All we get in the movie is a big red ball in a clear chamber. When I first saw it I almost let out a really loud laugh. Stuff this special is just a big red ball? Plus, it only takes a tiny red ball from the big red ball to make a "black hole." Okay... I think JJ Abrams had another polar bear moment with that one. If you don't have any real explanation of what it is or how it works, then keep it mysterious. Have the chamber dark so you can't see the substance. Emphasize the results. CGI from Industrial Light & Magic is not cheap. Don't waste their time and your money on big red balls.

I also use "black hole" in quotes here, because the Star Trek black holes seem a lot kinder than ones you usually see or read about. No crushing of matter from the massive gravity well just a trip to an alternate universe. I won't complain too much about that because who knows what could or could not happen in a black hole created by a 120+ year Vulcan.

Ultimately this movie proves that great characters don't belong to any one set of actors, writers, directors or even, at times, their creator. Great characters in the hands of quality actors, writers and directors can create tales that will allow the adolescents and teenagers of 1967 to share their love of Star Trek with their grandchildren in 2009. The world's trekkers are about to get a new influx of recruits.