If you’ve ever been intrigued by the Star Trek universe but written it off as too campy, too old or too far below par in the special effects department, then welcome to the fan club.
As fresh and energetic as Wolverine was fetid and lifeless, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek is a blockbuster whirlwind of action, never-before-filled-in backstory, and Trekkie mythology which is at once polished, brand spanking new, and yet utterly, ineffably true to its predecessors, dated as they are by today’s bombastic, ADD-afflicted standards.
Star Trek
Directed by J. J. Abrams |
Beginning with Kirk’s birth and a kamikaze act of self-sacrifice by his father, Star Trek proceeds to the present by way of interludes in the very different childhoods of Kirk, a reckless youngster on Earth, and Spock, a half-human who grows up on the planet Vulcan, where cold logic is valorized over emotion.
Fast forward another 20 years or so, and both Kirk and Spock are beginning to rise through the ranks of the Starfleet Academy, Kirk with a cantankerous doctor – Leonard “Bones” McCoy – in tow.
When a Romulan vessel travels back in time through a black hole after the destruction of its home planet, its captain, Nero, resolves to take vengeance on the planets of the United Federation of Planets he deems responsible for the death of most of his race, beginning with Vulcan and Earth.
It falls to the men and women (and aliens) of Starfleet to foil Nero’s revenge, with help from the original, older Spock of Nero’s timeline (played by none other than Leonard Nimoy), who travelled back in time through that same singularity.
First and foremost, Star Trek has always been about its characters, an ensemble of quirky, endearing personae whose chemistry, and sheer number, always more than made up for the lack of tense, sustained story arcs or twenty-first century special effects. But if any of those classic characters could have been said to be inimitable, such a pronouncement is belied by the sheer deftness and alacrity with which new faces take over familiar roles.
Chris Pine brings a new flavour to (eventual captain) James T. Kirk, half William Shatner and half Indiana Jones, somehow inhabiting a particular brand of smart aleck insouciance that never reaches the threshold of irksomeness: think “Brad Pitt.” Zachary Quinto makes Spock his own – unsurprisingly, given that he had Nimoy around to mentor him – younger and more conflicted, but largely as impassive as ever, though we gain new insight into his human half.
Karl Urban, who has lately been hamming it up in the likes of Lord of the Rings, The Bourne Supremacy, and Doom, flawlessly appropriates the mannerisms of DeForest Kelley in the role of Bones McCoy, and Simon Pegg follows suit as the ship’s mechanic, Scotty.
Zoe Saldana is a sensual but earnest Nyota Uhura; Anton Yelchin (unbelievably the former Charlie Bartlett) assumes a Russian accent as navigator Pavel Checkov; John Cho assumes the role of Lieut. Hikaru Sulu, complete with sword-fighting pedigree; and Eric Bana is faultless, as usual, playing the vengeful Captain Nero.
If the story is less than inventive, that’s forgivable: franchise rejuvenations such as this work best playing it safe to some degree, and while it may be drenched in special effects, Star Trek can at least be said to rise above the phenomenon which entrapped Star Wars, namely a tendency to degenerate into showcasing the latest-greatest computer animation at the expense of plot and character.
In short, Abrams has set the groundwork for a new and lasting Star Trek franchise, which – thanks to a lack of obvious prima donnas in the cast – looks to be all set for another ten films to match those which preceded it. It’s packed with enough action and intrigue, to say nothing of the intermittent dashes of humour, and even a few rampaging alien beasties, to entertain the Klingon speakers and the uninitiated alike.
This is the kind of reboot Batman would have gotten if The Dark Knight had come first, instead of the hackneyed Batman Begins, and there is no doubt about it, Star Trek has set an incredibly high bar for the rest of the tent-pole actioners this summer.