Still, I wasn't really interested in going to see the sequels that came out in the 80s. Wrath of Khan was good and so was the Search for Spock, mainly because they had more action, or in "Search's" case, it had a lot more humour, and didn't take themselves oh so seriously as they had in the past. I did like the TV series, but never took it seriously, never rushing home for the exploits of Shatner and Nimoy (I always thought T. J Hooker was more enjoyable, even if Shatner wasn't in shape enough to chase criminals or jump over the bonnet of criminals' cars).
Anyway, back to "Star Trek". Creator of "Lost" and a host of other things, J.J Abrams has updated the saga by injecting youthful energy into every scene. This is a prequel of the "Star Trek" saga that has gone before it. So, we're treated to the interesting idea of showing the crew of the USS Enterprise as space cadets, who, as the film unfolds, have their own set of problems, and don't seem, on first glance, able to take on the rigors of manning a space ship.
James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is a reckless risk-taker, stealing cars, drinking heavily and overly confident (if not very successful) womanizer. Spock (Zachary Quinto) is as logical as ever, even if he's not allowed to be emotional, despite having the conflicting characteristics of being both Vulcan and Human, as such, he's tormented by these two worlds, feeling left out of both. It isn't spoiling too much to tell you that Kirk and Spock- respected colleagues and friends in the original series-are at each other's throats in this new version, giving the film a lot of its energy and spark.
Whilst a prequel could have been boringly predictable, this "Star Trek" takes you in unexpected ways, with action sequences and a plot that shoots along with a cracking pace. If the battle with Romulan Nero (Eric Bana) is a bit old hat and one-dimensional, the screenwriters pepper the film with observations and a sub-plot-slightly complicated- regarding time travel, which includes a cameo from Leonard Nimoy. I won't spoil it, but it's an interesting conceit.
The look of "Star Trek" is bold and futuristic without being obvious. Anticipating the future, when much of the 1960s original series looks very dated and updating it for a very cynical, ungrateful age wasn't an easy ask, but the filmmakers have equipped themselves wonderfully. Not sure about the cameo from Simon Pegg as Scotty, the engineer. His 15 minutes of fame should have been up when "Hot Fuzz" opened; half an hour too long and just not very funny. Pegg's been trading off of "Shaun of the Dead" for far too long. At least he keeps his mugging to camera to a bearable minimum.
Overall, the film works. Finally Hollywood has made an intelligent, witty and engaging piece of cinema. Whilst it's easy to be cynical and point out that Hollywood has run out of original ideas, so has to rely on TV series, old films, etc, but this is actually worth the effort, able to stand alone in the vortex of space, boldly going, inevitably, to the sequel, star date... probably Summer 2010.
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