Monday, December 21, 2009

Reviewing the new Star Trek movie

Over the weekend Keisha and I fully intended to go and watch Avatar, but things took a turn and we didn't get to go watch it. Instead we wound up renting the new Star Trek movie, directed by J.J. Abrams.

To be fair, I've never watched a single episode or movie of the Star Trek franchise. What I know about it ("Beam me up, Scotty," phasers, "Live Long and Prosper," and Klingon) all comes from being ingrained into pop-culture. Plus, as a lifetime STAR WARS fan, I just assumed Star Trek was my arch-enemy. That said, I now offer my review of the newest franchise film.

Star Trek begins with an exciting action sequence, filled with beautiful space imagery and fantastic technology. This spectacular display of future technology does not cease throughout the film, and it doesn't get old, either. The Starfleet spacecraft U.S.S. Enterprise, as well as the Romulun ship the Narada, are both visually stunning. The special effects throughout the film were all well done and only slightly cheesy a few times (a green-skinned woman? What?). Watching the fate of Vulcan was mesmerizing. Overall, I found the imagery of the movie Grade A eye candy.

The second aspect of the film I enjoyed was the intense action scenes. The few battle scenes between individuals, especially when the Starfleet crew arrived at Vulcan, were all entertaining to watch (albeit not as exciting as a lightsaber duel, but that's a different matter entirely). Abrams pumped adrenaline throughout the movie, and anyone seeking an action movie would surely enjoy this film.

For the most part the plot of the film was enjoyable, too, but not completely. To remain spoiler free there was a large problem with physics and continuity and reality that I felt would have been better explained using a different mechanism. The red-matter technology had some cool stuff to it, but the implications regarding timelines felt a bit too much. Sometimes this mechanism works (like Lost) and sometimes it doesn't (like Heroes). Besides this, the story of Kirk and Spock were both intriguing, and if you could forget about some things the conquest of the Romulans was cool, too.

In the end, Star Trek was a worthwhile movie to watch. I was entertained and thought the special effects were amazing. The story was good, but not great, due to a few fickle things I didn't like. Keisha, on the other hand, had no problems with it, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. If you're looking for a thrill-ride, sci-fi, eye-pleasing movie to watch during the Christmas season that's available on DVD, I'd recommend Star Trek.

Random Bits and Pieces
  • Nearly finished with Warbreaker. Hopefully will be before the weekend.
  • Blue Mtn. Dew is definitely not the best Dew out there.
  • Those who are dead are just living in my head.
  • I joined a gym over the weekend.
  • I joined Sams Club over the weekend.

7 comments:

Bill said...

As someone who has seen all the previous Star Trek films and nearly every episode of the Star Trek franchise (excepting the Original Series because the 60s were a horrible time for special effects) I can say that what the movie lacked in continuity (cannon is hugely important among ST fans) it made up for in entertainment value. I'm glad a Star Wars fanboy such as yourself could enjoy it!

Oh, and good luck with Sam's Club. There's nothing quite like buying Raman by 400 pack :D

David Wagner said...

I've been dragging my feet to rent/watch the new Star Trek, but I think I'll bump it up on the To Do List again. Thanks for the review.

logankstewart said...

@Bill: Yes, this movie would make for a cool tv show. Perhaps revamping or reimagining the ST canon? 400 Ramen?! Yowza.

@David: Why, you're most welcome. That'll be $1.99 please.

Crystal said...

Nice Review. I watched The Next Generation as a kid. I remember enjoying it, but I don't remember any details.

Congrats on joining the gym! I love it and I go everyday.

logankstewart said...

@Crystal: Thanks. I'll hopefully start going to the gym tomorrow, but it may have to wait until after the hectic season.

Bill said...

OH! I forgot to explain the green woman in Star Trek. You mentioning the film made me watch it again last night btw.

She is one of the race of Orions, famed for their crime syndicate in the earlier Star Trek history. They later joined the Federation, but not before causing many headaches.

logankstewart said...

@Bill: Hey, that wiki is similar to Wookiepedia! Now I want to watch all of the Star Trek movies and shows. Is there a good place to start? Is there stuff I should skip? And thanks for the clarification of the green skinned woman. She reminded me of a Twi'lek from Star Wars, minus the lekku...