Rating of
3/4
Already Looking Forward to the Sequel
Franz Patrick - wrote on 05/14/09
I’ve never seen an episode of the original “Star Trek” series nor have I seen any prior feature films. Having said that, I’ll review this picture as a stand-alone film instead of comparing it to the original television show and the ten movies that came before. I’m so glad that J.J. Abrams took over this franchise. Being familiar with his best work such as “Alias” and “Fringe,” I knew that, as a director, he would expertly balance three elements: humor, intelligence and thrilling action. Just when things would get too serious, a character would say something really funny to release some tension and avoid taking “The Dark Knight” direction (which is dark, brooding and heavy). “Star Trek” completely embraced a somewhat light-hearted tone and it worked because this film’s ultimate goal is to reboot a barely alive franchise. When it comes to winning new fans, I think it’s successful because me and four of my friends had no idea what we were in for but all of us ended up really liking it. Even I have to admit that I’m now interested in watching the films that came before it. Each actor had something significant to contribute. Chris Pine was a really good James T. Kirk because even though he seemed a little hard on the edges, he had a sense of humor and he knew how to take control when the situation was dire. He balanced danger and charisma exceedingly well. Zachary Quinto as Spock was consistently entertaining because he managed to turn a very intellectually and emotionally serious character into someone that I rooted for despite his (very) uptight nature. In the end, I wanted to know more about him because I could feel that the character had the potential to evolve. Although Eric Bana as Nero could’ve been used more, I thought he was manacing enough to be the villain-of-the-week. Aside from them, I also enjoyed watching Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov, John Cho as Sulu and Simon Pegg as Scotty. But out of all the supporting characters, Yelchin stood out to me the most because of his really thick (and often amusing) Russian accent. (Though I may be a bit biased because I just love him in everything.) I heard that sequels are already planned and I’m excited to see them. Now that the main characters are established, I think the sequel has more than enough chance of being bigger and better by exploring other planets and meeting new life forms. I hope Abrams will stick with this franchise because in each of his projects, he has a certain syle that I cannot help but admire. But best of all, it’s his vision that separates this film from just good to almost great. Older fans of the franchise will most likely nitpick and say something negative. Nonetheless, “Star Trek” is not to be missed. Don’t be fooled by my three-star rating because this is a solid three-and-half-star film. (I just don’t do halves.) I refrained from giving it my best rating because I felt like it somewhat held back from becoming “too epic.”
