My review for the latest Star Trek film:

I know I made a partial review before, but I think now that it's out on DVD it's safe to make a full review without upsetting anyone. So here it is.

Like all Trekkies, I had my hopes up but had serious doubts for this film. Paramount decided to revamp the series by getting rid of the TNG cronies from the previous four films and hiring all new people. My first thought: "Getting rid of Rick Berman is a good idea... I hope it pays off." J.J. Abrams came to play, who admittedly is more of a Star Wars fan than a Star Trek fan and in my opinion the film shows it. The film can't be labelled as a prequel, even if it's retelling the Original Series story, but more of a alternative universe. One one side, this was a brilliant idea for the writing staff as they could tell any story they wanted and not alienate the Trek purist by changing things. On the other side, now that they have a whole open universe, they can do anything... and this is what they do... this, of all things? Okay... It's an alternative reality. That only means that all complaints that I can give now are solely on the film makers part, and not breaking any Trek-Dogma. (which technically even in an alternative reality they are breaking... Like having them all cadets at the same time and suddenly in command of a star ship regardless of rank structure, but you didn't hear me say that).

The film is a big action set piece, with great visual effects. But like the TNG era films, it lacks any real dramatic, character driven story. I can let some of that slide, as this film has a lot to establish in the short time it's on screen. All the characters must be reintroduced, the universe must be explained, the rules have to be in place, and the audience must be won over by all this. Its because of all this I feel the main story is almost a second thought. To me, it's really a film that's to set-up for future films. On it's own, as a movie, it's a great Summer action blockbuster. As a Star Trek film, it was so-so. It wasn't bad, but wasn't great. It just wasn't Star Trek.

The visual effects are the feature point to the film, and its great. Personally I hate the clunky looking "revamped" Constitution Class, but perhaps if I see more of it I'll get used to it. The score was forgettable, plain and simple. It felt like generic music, no themes at all until the credits rolled. This is because Michael Giacchino is overall a TV composer and doesn't know how to be "grand". Another failing is the adding of pop-culture to a futuristic setting. Yeah, that works.. The acting is as good as it can be in a film that has nothing to say, but I have to say they accomplished their goal of giving the Trek universe a fresh new feel to it. But like I said before, I think that this film is only so-so (as it isn't much of a film - try writing a script) and the sequel to this version of Trek will be the one to look out for. The rules will be established and they can do whatever they want now. The plot to THIS film couldn't get anymore generic.

Now for the writing. If you've seen any space scifi film before, you've seen this movie. The mean bad guy is upset and wants to destroy planets, it's up to a band of good guys who don't really get along to stop him. Guided by an older wise man, the hero must overcome his doubts and take control. Sound familiar? But, as I pointed out before, the story pretty much has to take a backseat to all the explanation it has to do.

Nero, as a villain, is one-dimension and overall pretty stupid. The motivation for his character to destroy the Federation is really stretching reality and what the audience can believe. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought "He can travel through time.... so wouldn't it be better for him to stop the explosion of Romulus than to go on a murderous rampage for revenge on something that hadn't happened yet? If he couldn't stop the explosion, why not get to Spock earlier and have HIM fix it..." His blaming Spock for the destruction of the planet was far to much to believe also, as Spock was trying to save the planet and got there late. ALSO Red Matter is never fully explained and the science behind it is... well anyway. Since when did a black-hole cause a shift in time. And if they could, it's a black hole... it destroys.... you know what forget it... You can't even call this Trek science, where you're asked to believe something you know is sketchy, but can buy it cause you're wrapped in a story. But because there IS no story, the fake science is up front and center and there for you to poke holes at.

Other story elements were off also, which can only be explained by the writers needing to get from one set-piece to another. Spock sending Kirk off in an escape pod to the middle of nowhere on a death-ice planet is one example. If Kirk was causing that much of a problem, the "logical" thing for him to of done was send him to the Brig. How does spouting off to your senior officer justify sending that person in exile? And why didn't anyone else object to this extreme action? Because the writers needed Kirk to meet up with Old Spock and Scotty, that's why. So away Kirk is sent.

Also the "Stopping-the-Drill" sequence, which was a beautiful thing to watch, really made no sense either. The premise was that they needed to stop this drill, so the crew takes the most backwards way of doing it. They jump on a shuttle then free drive to land on the drilling platform. Now I can believe that they needed to take a shuttle, skydive, and shut it down manually if there is some precaution like a shield or something. But there isn't. Plus you see later in this same sequence, the Enterprise beaming not only Spock and family to and from the planet, but also Kirk and Sulu from their free fall of death. So what was the point of the shuttle? (To show off the visual effects of course). Also, we see that the Enterprise was fully capable of firing it's phasers at the damn drill, so there wasn't even a freaking need to go there in the first place. Like I said, it was just trying to get an action set-point in the movie, with no real logic behind it. The writers need Vulcan to blow up so Spock and go emotional, so even with this backwards plan of stopping the drill the planet blows up anyway...

Now I know I've pretty much trashed this film a lot, so it might surprise you that I did like it... somewhat. Despite it's flaws, I felt the cast and their acting was good enough to make me stop rolling my eyes. The new Star Trek look actually kept pretty close to the Original Series (I still don't know why they gave Uhura short-sleeves, but whatever). McCoy and Spock were the stand out characters for me. Karl Urban really made me believe that he was Deforest Kelly, which was a good thing as Kelly's McCoy was the Humanity of the Original Series. Zachary Quinto's Spock had elements of Leonard Nimoy's Spock, but felt less controlled, which in the context of this film is okay. I do think that his performance suffered a bit from having the ACTUAL Spock on the film with him. It made it too easy to compare the two. Chris Pine's Kirk wasn't William Shatner's Kirk, but this was also understandable because he's from the different reality, going up without a father. There was enough elements of Shatner in there to make you believe these could be the same person, but at the same time Pine added his own take on the character.

One element I liked was that this movie made Uhura's post an roll more important. It was always implied before that she had a big job to do on the ship, but it never was really shown until now. Zoe Saldana did a great job at the character, gleaming Nichelle Nicholes wit and sexual sarcasm and adding it to her own character. I don't know if I liked her with Spock together but for the plot of this film Spock needed an anchor to reality and at this point he does not have Kirk and McCoy to rely on. Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov were alright but largely hidden in the background. Hopefully in the second movie they'll have more parts to play. (Although, even in an altered time-line I can't figure out how Chekov graduated Starfleet Academy the same time as the the others... but oh well ... makes just as much sense as Kirk becoming captain and not graduating, or any of them being allowed to keep a Starfleet ship for no good reason.)

So that is what I thought about the film. I haven't seen it in some time so my opinion might change somewhat when I see it again. But overall I think my views will remain the same. What did you think about it?