Writers Note: Let me preface this review by saying that I am not a “Trekkie”. I’m not a fan of the show in general, and while I have seen my share of episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and a few of Voyager, I have never seen an episode of the original series that started it all.
Making the perfect blockbuster isn’t easy, in fact few films have ever able to reach the status. Spider-Man 2, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Iron Man, Jaws, and Shrek have all reached this pinnacle, and you can now add Star Trek to that list.
What constitutes the perfect summer blockbuster you may wonder? Lets go through the list with Star Trek. A good looking leading man? Check. Great cast? Check. Good plot? Check. Explosions? Check. Spaceships? Check. Great battle sequences? Check. Great CGI? Check. Romance? Check. Humor? Check. Everything is here except Will Smith.
Star Trek is an exception to the rule of summer blockbusters. Already this year we’ve seen X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a good yet deeply flawed movie. Star Trek takes some of the flaws fan-boys missed in Wolverine like terrible CGI, cheesy lines, and a mucked up story line and fixes it all for a Star Trek film.
The computer generated imagery is top notch, and some of the best ever recorded on film. The sequences of the starship Enterprise in space look extremely real all the aliens seemed well developed.
If there is one thing to applaud the film for though it’s the cast, who all are able to re-humanize their characters. Chris Pine as James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock have great chemistry together and successfully pull off the charm of the old TV show. The supporting players of, notably, ‘Bones’ McCoy (Karl Urban), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Sulu (John Cho) and Checkov (Charlie Bartletts’ Anton Yelchin) all have become the definition of a perfect supporting cast. Even the baddie Nero, played by Eric Bana, had my concern near the beginning of the film but had me won over by the end.
The humor in the film works in a joint effort with the action. In Die Hard esc fashion, the off the cusp lines delivered by the cast work flawlessly and add cheap laughs to an already enriching experience.
My surprise was amplified when I realized that this was a STAR TREK film. It’s not incredibly geeky (or no more so than Iron Man was) and not at all inside. That’s not to say that the “trekkies” in my screening didn’t laugh at a couple of lines that no one else seemed to get, but this movie is incredibly accessible to the main stream. Don’t just take my advice, just go see the movie. I’m a film critic damn it, not a miracle worker though, just see it! Grade - A
Making the perfect blockbuster isn’t easy, in fact few films have ever able to reach the status. Spider-Man 2, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Iron Man, Jaws, and Shrek have all reached this pinnacle, and you can now add Star Trek to that list.
What constitutes the perfect summer blockbuster you may wonder? Lets go through the list with Star Trek. A good looking leading man? Check. Great cast? Check. Good plot? Check. Explosions? Check. Spaceships? Check. Great battle sequences? Check. Great CGI? Check. Romance? Check. Humor? Check. Everything is here except Will Smith.
Star Trek is an exception to the rule of summer blockbusters. Already this year we’ve seen X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a good yet deeply flawed movie. Star Trek takes some of the flaws fan-boys missed in Wolverine like terrible CGI, cheesy lines, and a mucked up story line and fixes it all for a Star Trek film.
The computer generated imagery is top notch, and some of the best ever recorded on film. The sequences of the starship Enterprise in space look extremely real all the aliens seemed well developed.
If there is one thing to applaud the film for though it’s the cast, who all are able to re-humanize their characters. Chris Pine as James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock have great chemistry together and successfully pull off the charm of the old TV show. The supporting players of, notably, ‘Bones’ McCoy (Karl Urban), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Sulu (John Cho) and Checkov (Charlie Bartletts’ Anton Yelchin) all have become the definition of a perfect supporting cast. Even the baddie Nero, played by Eric Bana, had my concern near the beginning of the film but had me won over by the end.
The humor in the film works in a joint effort with the action. In Die Hard esc fashion, the off the cusp lines delivered by the cast work flawlessly and add cheap laughs to an already enriching experience.
My surprise was amplified when I realized that this was a STAR TREK film. It’s not incredibly geeky (or no more so than Iron Man was) and not at all inside. That’s not to say that the “trekkies” in my screening didn’t laugh at a couple of lines that no one else seemed to get, but this movie is incredibly accessible to the main stream. Don’t just take my advice, just go see the movie. I’m a film critic damn it, not a miracle worker though, just see it! Grade - A
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