Film Review: Star Trek

The summer movie season is finally here! There are a number of potentially awesome movies coming out like Terminator Salvation, Transformers, Public Enemies, Harry Potter, Star Trek and more. This weekend I was lucky enough to attend a screening for J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, a week before its release, at AMC Theaters Sunset Place. Before I continue I would like to point out that this is my first exposure to the Star Trek franchise I haven’t seen any of the TV shows or movies, however I do recognize the U.S.S. Enterprise but that’s about all I know about Star Trek.

The film opens with a big sequence that sets up the story and the tone for the rest of the movie and it also kick starts the introduction of our main characters. In fact most of the characters are introduced by the half hour point where the movie suddenly shifts gears and takes us inside the U.S.S. Enterprise.

I feel that Abrams’ and his team did a great job casting all the characters, again I do not know anything about Star Trek, but the actors sure knew how to act. But I have to single out our two main characters James T. Kirk and Spock. Both characters back stories where well written and well acted on screen.

I specially liked how Zachary Quinto’s Spock portrays the conflict he is dealing with for being half human and half vulcan. There are scenes in which I really felt the pain and anger Spock was experiencing, yet he seemed calmed and logical as well. I found the portrayal very interesting and I think that Spock is a good opposite for Kirk’s character.

Kirk is played by Chris Pine, who I’ve never heard of before this movie, and he does an incredible job. I liked Kirk’s arrogance, wittiness and overall badassery. One can feel that Kirk knows he is the best of all of them and he sure demonstrates he is.

Not only did I find the cast good but the film’s cinematography is also outstanding, I loved the realistic feel the film had. Quite the opposite of the latest Star War movies where everything seems “too clean” and CGIish. The film goes by fast for a two hour long movie, an indicator that the film as a whole is entertaining and that there are no scenes that feel out of place or dull.

One of the things that I found really interesting is the way the movie kind of acknowledges the Star Trek that most people know and yet this movie clearly lets us know that this is a reboot to the franchise.

However there are some flaws. First and foremost the romantic scenes between two characters, which I thought where OK at first but where kind of annoying and over the top as the film went on. The second flaw is something I thought could have been better and that is the antagonist, captain Nero. Nero’s character does have a good story but Nero himself has little screen time and he didn’t really feel that threatening. Maybe with some more screen time Nero would have come across as more of a villain than he did.

I think that this movie will be a success worldwide and it will probably be the best if not one of the best movies this summer. I personally hope Terminator Salvation is as good if not better than this movie, but that might be tough, we will find out in a couple of weeks. Star Trek is definitely worth the price of admission and I think that it deserves a solid 4 out of 5 star rating.