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Written by Derek Kessler
As the geeky Star Trek fan that I am, I ended up being greatly torn by the latest iteration of my favorite entertainment franchise. Don’t get me wrong - it was great as far as movies go, more entertaining than I could have asked for, with so many call-outs to the Star Trek that preceded it that my Thursday night screening rarely stopped clapping with Trekkie excitement. For the most part, the casting was perfect, the effects were amazing, and despite my misgivings about some of their earlier work, the writers wove an interesting, touching and humorous story. The film even managed to touch on those moral Star Trek themes, like redemption the futility of vengeance. So what’s the problem? To put it bluntly, this film changes everything.
Be careful, there are spoilers beyond this point, and they are NOT blanked out.
I consider myself to be a pragmatic realistic person. Sure, I have an unhealthy relationship with Star Trek, but I don’t let my interest turn into an obsession. It is, after all, entertainment. Sure, it’s over 700 episodes in five television series, eleven movies, hundreds of novels, and scores of comics, but it’s still just TV. Or in this case, just a movie. As invested as I am in the Star Trek of old, I was thought I was comfortable with essentially resetting Star Trek. Honestly, I still think it needed to be done. I love that the Star Trek universe is wonderfully complicated and intricate and so wide and vast and rife with story-telling potential. But that complicated intricate universe is what has made Star Trek increasingly unapproachable by most of the public, and further increased the nerd label that Star Trek has long carried. Having covered this movie’s development for the better part of two years and knowing basically how it was going to end - in an alternate old school Star Trek universe where the canon I know too well can be thrown out - I’m surprised by how unsettled I was at the end with the result.
Enough with my contradictions, let’s get to the film.
Star Trek is without a doubt a fantastic piece of cinematic work. The camera angles were fantastic, the lens flares were nowhere near as distracting as I had feared. The graphics, oh, the computer graphics, my oh my have I ever seen anything so realistic in science fiction? When it comes to sci-fi cinema, visually Star Trek has set a new standard that the next film in the series will even have trouble living up to. From the very first moment when we’re introduced to the U.S.S. Kelvin in a sweeping fly-by that reveals intricate detail and deep audio effects it’s clear that every Star Trek film is going to pale in comparison to the latest entry. For the longest time Star Trek has been at the forefront of computer graphics and before that motion control work (think The Motion Picture), and while some fans may have been lamenting the abandonment of physical models, boy, wait until you finally meet the Enterprise herself - no Star Trek ship has ever looked that good, and I have a bad habit of falling in love with the latest Starfleet creations. Best shot: the Enterprise rising up out of the clouds of Titan. Seriously, I would have been happy if that was the entire film, it was that awesome.
The sound work was fantastic, and along with the graphics, will no doubt be nominated for every possible award that film awards associations can think of. I wouldn’t be surprised if they create new awards, it’s that good. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, I would be surprised, but I’m going to put it out there right now: Star Trek is going to win Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects during next February’s Academy Awards. Michael Giacchino’s scoring was phenomenal, but I’m going to cover that in another posting. What can I say, I’m a music geek too.
Having seen some of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman’s previous tag-team writing efforts, I honestly had low expectations for the story-telling of Star Trek. These are the guys that brought us Transformers, which while I fantastically entertaining film, was in no way a deep film that made me really think after I left the theater. To their credit, Star Trek did have me thinking, and not just because it’s screwed up my entire perception of the Star Trek universe, but because it was a complicated intricate story that in the end was both about the redemption of James T. Kirk and the futility of Nero’s quest for vengeance. While there were some plot points that were too convenient (Kirk being jettisoned to the same planet where old Spock was plopped by Nero, and that also being the same planet where Scotty was languishing in apparent exile), overall it kept me entertained and on my toes the entire time. I am really looking forward to the extended cut Blu-ray just so I can see how Nero’s ear ended up that way (there’s a whole Klingon backstory that was cut to bring it down to a more manageable length).
Also satisfying was the inclusion of dozens of shout-outs to the original series, from Scotty’s “I’m giving her all she’s got!” to McCoy’s iconic, “I’m a doctor, not a...” line. No original series Star Trek film reboot would be complete without them, and I’m glad they were worked in in such a way that was appropriate to the story and not just shoehorned in to give the Trekkies in the audience a fit of geekery. That said, I was continually afflicted with fits of geekery every time one of those “Yes!” lines was uttered and strongly had to resist the urge to clap until my hands were sore.
Apart from the whole resetting part, easily the most contentious part of the film was the casting. The only actor I saw people coalesce around as a unanimous solid pick was Bruce Greenwood as Captain Christopher Pike. As usual, Greenwood played his role with the fatherly approach that his previous work exemplified. There’s nothing to complain about in his performance, though I have to admit that I was slightly puzzled by one command decision: putting Cadet Kirk in the first officer’s position under newly field-promoted Captain Spock. While I can see it as a validation of Pike’s faith in young Mr. Kirk, at the same time, it seemed out of place. But it served the story well, so I’ll let it slide.
Simon Pegg was an inspired choice for Montgomery Scott. There’s no getting around it, he brings a new excited energy to Scotty that turns it up a notch from the days of the late great James Doohan. The following can be said for each of the actors: they made the parts their own. Nobody was tripping over themselves trying to imitate the actor who played their role 40 years ago, but every role was clearly recognizable as the character they were supposed to be. The casing is the true miraculous feat of this film, and the one thing I had to most doubts about. I am pleased to admit that my concern was very much misplaced.
If there’s any one character that I don’t think ever was properly developed over the course of the original series and their six movies, it’s that of Hikaru Sulu. And while well known for his comedic roles, John Cho brought a surprising seriousness to the role while bringing in a youthful energy that was lacking in George Takei’s more sober performance. Surprising fact: John Cho is 36 years old. While I’m pleased that none of the cast attempted to emulate their predecessors, I do with that Cho had Takei’s iconic voice just so we could have gotten an “Oh my...” out of him. Alas, he does not, but he did pull of the fencing much better than Takei ever did when he got to to parry and thrust down the corridor with his shirt off.
On the TrekUnited forums there was a debate about young Anton Yelchin playing Pavel Chekov. While in the original series, Chekov was added in the second season so that they’d have the cut mop-haired boy on the bridge, his presence on the Enterprise bridge from day one here was slightly more innocuous. Seventeen years old, Chekov is apparently a genius of some variety and can pull of tricks of physics that normally would have been in the prevue of Scotty. But he does provide some good comic relief, with the computer unable to recognize his code input because he can’t properly pronounce ‘V’s. Oddly, though, I was not bothered as I thought I would be by his age when revealed.
If there’s one character than proved to be a disappointment, disappointingly it is Uhura. Don’t get me wrong, Zoe Saldana played her role well. But she wasn’t given a good part, or at least the good parts of her part were cut from the film. And that’s a shame, given the iconic status of Uhura as a character. Despite her consultations with the wonderful Nichelle Nichols, Saldana was saddled with a Uhura that was turned into the object of Kirk’s flirtation and the object of Spock’s affection (more on that later). While her linguistic skills were alluded to in the film, we never got to see her in action, which is a shame.
Now, before I move on to Spock, I’d like to address the altered nature of his relationship with Uhura. Spock is serving as an instructor at Starfleet Academy, where Uhura is a cadet. And while it’s not obvious from the get-go, I thought her insistence and eventual transfer to the Enterprise were simply persistence and logic at work, it turns out that the moment can be attributed to their later revealed romantic engagement. I like the twist of Spock and Uhura being involved, what I don’t like is that the relationship consumed almost all of Uhura as a character and part of the movie.
Okay, time to take on Spock. Zachary Quinto is great in the role. Playing a role like Spock, with such emotion just under the surface at all times has to be incredibly difficult, as I know that one of the first things actors are taught is how to properly emote. As a Vulcan, you have to learn to not emote at all, but still be subtle enough that the audience can see that you’re troubled by what happened. It’s a delicate play of subtle facial expressions and voice modulation to get across just enough emotion so that you don’t come across as a complete automaton. Quinto pulls it off, and with all the losses that Spock suffers through the film, his eventual break down is artfully acted. I look forward to more of him in the role.
If there was any one character that I didn’t expect to survive, it was Leonard Nimoy’s old Spock. And while I’d hoped that his role was going to be more than a one-scene cameo, I wasn’t optimistic. Needless to say, the audience went berserk in a good way when Nimoy showed his weathered Vulcan face for the first time. Thankfully, my fears about both old Spock’s sacrifice (a suspicion of mine that would have been all to convenient for the plot) and his single cameo status were both alleviated. Nimoy, as always, was fantastic, and in some ways played the most human of all the characters in the entire film.
If Simon Pegg as Scotty was an inspired choice, then Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy must have been divine intervention. Seriously, he was perfect. From the very moment of his introduction, I could see DeForest Kelley shining through. What more can I say?
And now, the star of the show: Chris Pine as James T. Kirk. Can he play a punching bag or what? If there were any one character that I was concerned about, it was the combination of Chris Pine and James T. Kirk. For the past forty years, no actor has defined a character as much as William Shatner did with Captain Kirk. The two are practically synonyms. Thankfully, Chris Pine did not even consider playing Shatner playing Kirk. His Kirk has had a very different history, beginning with the opening moments of the movie and the death of his father aboard the Kelvin, and as such, his Kirk is a different character. He’s still the same brash womanizing Kirk that we know, but he’s not the model Starfleet officer we thought he was. It took a strong talking-to from Pike to even get him into Starfleet, and while there he’s a cocky little prick that I want to throttle to the edge of his life. But one of the themes I mentioned up top was that of redemption, and Kirk is the subject of that plot line. While his need for redemption is clichéd (he’s a rebel because he was raised without a father), it is still a satisfying character development arc. Pine almost nailed it in that last scene where he confidently strides onto the bridge in his bright yellow shirt and captain’s stripes. He was so close, but there was a little something missing. I imagine he’ll have it down by the time the next film roles around.
That other theme I mentioned, it was the futility of vengeance. Much suffering in our world has been caused by the desire for vengeance. In fact, we can blame World War II, from before the beginning, on vengeance. Nero’s character is built around vengeance, having lost his home in the future, he seeks revenge on Spock in the past, going so far as to lay in wait for twenty five years until Spock’s ship pops out of the black hole time travel plot device just to capture him so he can watch as he destroys Vulcan. This is followed shortly be the revelation that his time travelling has completely changed the timeline, and created an alternate reality in the process. Perhaps Nero understands this and just feels the need to teach Spock a lesson, or perhaps he doesn’t completely grasp temporal mechanics. After all, he is a miner, not a Starfleet captain (who still will get a headache trying to wrap their head around temporal mechanics). There’s no denying that Eric Bana plays Nero to full effect. He’s clearly hurt and struggling with his new reality, and the only thing that makes sense to him is to wipe it out the entire Federation so that Romulus can survive. Of course, the technology needed to save Romulus was created by the Vulcans, so even in this alternate timeline Romulus will still be destroyed a century later, but vengeance is blind to such realities.
Speaking of such realities, we are left at the end of this film with a new reality. Vulcan is gone. Kirk rose to command in a completely different path. Spock and Uhura are an item. The Enterprise itself - if there’s anything more Star Trek than the Enterprise - is different. And looking back at it, it’s for the better. As long as Star Trek can continue to be interesting and entertaining and relevant while still telling good stories with fascinating characters, I’ll be satisfied. Part of me is going to miss the old Star Trek universe, and as a fan fiction writer, I won’t be leaving that universe any time soon. But the rest of me is excited for this new frontier of Star Trek. I’ve talked to several friends that I wouldn’t have described as Trek fans by any measure, and they were all incredibly impressed, which says a lot: Star Trek has broken back into the mainstream, and no matter how you slice it, that’s a good thing.
There are a few things that I can say are certain: Star Trek is going to make a lot of money. Because it’s going to make a lot of money, there will be more films. In fact, the cast and crew are already signed to produce at least two more Star Trek adventures. This new alternate reality Star Trek is the Star Trek we’re going to have to live with for the foreseeable future, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And Star Trek is in good hands.
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Posted 09 May 2009 - 11:46 AM
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