I would not consider myself a Trekkie at all, nor would I consider myself someone who would even come close to being a tenth of what a Trekkie is. I think I would call myself a “casual-uninterested-cynical-observer” of the Star Trek world. I grew up in the 80′s so naturally I fell in love with, and am still in love with, the other “Star” world: Star Wars. The Star Trek universe always seemed cheesy to me from the outside, it was just a TV series that my Dad might like. Even when the movies first started coming out, I still never wanted to pay money to see them in the theaters.

The only reason I mention all of that to you is to give you an idea of what my level of expectation was. I knew it was going to be an action-popcorn-flick that would fit my ideal of a big budget blockbuster summer movie. From the trailers and previews I could easily ascertain that the effects would be awesome and epic, and the scale of the film would certainly be huge and encompass and fulfill the role of a Summer Movie…

But, not in my wildest dreams did I think I would walk away from this film thinking it was the BEST film I had seen in 2009.

Ok, so there haven’t been a lot of films I HAVE SEEN in 2009 to compete with Star Trek, but nevertheless, this was a fantastic film. Being a “movie guy” and someone who follows all of the latest in movie news and happenings, I knew all about this film. I knew about the controversy with Shatner, the blessing from Leonard Nimoy, the casting of Heroes baddie Sylar as SPOCK, I even knew about the story and the “alternate universe” that afforded this movie to be made at all in light of all of the previous tv shows and films’ timelines…and yes, I was aware of the tremendous difficulty that J.J. Abrams and his staff were facing by attempting to touch a culture that is eternally set in stone. Like fellow DFW movie blogger Kate Erbland said in her review of Star Trek, this type of film “should be stamped with a giant “GOOD LUCK, SUCKER!” to warn off any and all who would dare to take them on.”

In waiting to see this film, I thought about how George Lucas must have felt when he decided to bring episodes 1-3 to us after so many years had passed after Return of the Jedi. Could he still maintain the magic that Star Wars created in the late 70′s early 80′s? Would the fans rebel and start a worldwide riot if he didn’t get it right? Could he possibly find new fans that had never heard of the Star Wars universe yet still satisfy all of the 80′s fans appetite? Since this is about Star Trek and not Star Wars, I’ll let you be the judge on whether or not Lucas succeeded, but then again, that was a conscious thought in my head going into this film, and yet it still blew me away.

Do you want to know who I think did the most outstanding job in the whole film: April Webster & Alyssa Weisberg. I know what you’re thinking, “Who are they? Were they some of the extras? Was one of those girls the green lady? Maybe a Romulan?” April Webster and Alyssa Weisberg are the casting directors for Star Trek. It was their job to find the next crew of the Starship Enterprise, a crew of actors and actresses that had already been burned into the minds of thousands of people (read:Trekkies). How do you possibly look around at the current Hollywood pool of talent and find the younger version of the iconic “James T. Kirk” character played uniquely by William Shatner? I don’t know, but in my opinion, Chris Pine was the RIGHT person! I thought his portrayal of who Kirk was and who we all know is now was beautiful. I can’t pretend to know exactly how the original Kirk ended up to be at the end of the original Star Trek, but based on this movie alone, I’d say he nailed it. I loved his rebellious spirit that we saw early on, as a kid stealing a car or as an arrogant punk getting into bar fights. I think it helped to shape the kind of Captain he was going to become. The kind of Captain that spits in the face of how things are “supposed” to be done and fights to maintain his integrity by being the guy no one expects him to be: the hero.

When I first heard about Sylar being cast as the new Spock I definitely had some hesitance. Not to do with his ability at all, because he is one of my favorite, if not the favorite, character from Heroes, but because of the kind of shoes he would be stepping into. At first, it just sounded like a knee-jerk casting decision because of the popularity (or un-popularity depending on what week it is) of Heroes, and Spock isn’t a bad guy, I mean, he’s the glue that holds that entire story together…how is the guy who slices people’s head open going to be able to pull that off? I really must not know much about acting because he was an awesome Spock. The dialogue that was written for him was poetic in its delivery and logic, and Quinto truly settled the question on whether or not he would be able to walk the line of logic vs. emotion.

There is so much talk right now about the balance that J.J. Abrams had to maintain in order to please both the Trekkies and win over some new fans. I am not going to get all involved in the debate because quite frankly, I don’t know anything about the other side. How I see it is that there is this see-saw: on one side you have the Trekkies who a) would crucify anyone who would attempt to mess or tamper with their beloved series, or b) if they can accept someone trying to remake it, they would want to have their DREAM film. (I will not define what the DREAM film is, because like I said in the beginning, I am not on this side) And on the other side, you have the movie fan who wants to see a really “cool” summer blockbuster. (I know the world isn’t broken down by just two sides of people, but for the sake of this review, it is) So, you have DREAM film for die hard fans vs. a new COOL film for indifferent fans, which one was this Star Trek? I thought this was an excellent balance between the two sides. I heard enough little chuckles and applause at random times during the movie, which I guessed were responses to inside references to the Star Trek world that only the Trekkies understood, that I thought the movie satisfied both appetites.

I don’t know exactly everything about the “alternate universe” storyline that was a major part of the existence of this movie, but what I can say is that it gets confusing. When you add time travel and past and present and future “selves” with an already established time line of events, for the average movie-goer, it became a little confusing. That fact didn’t detract from the overall excellence of the film too much, but it was enough of a head scratcher that I had to seek the counsel of other more knowledgeable Trek fans. But, aside from the comparison to older Trek storylines and how it all intertwines, I loved the story. I thought it was moving. I watched an interview First Showing did with the screenwriters, Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci, and in it they talk about when Leonard Nimoy first read the script that he described it as moving and it made him get emotional. I didn’t shed any tears or anything, but I was moved. I won’t give away too many details for people who haven’t yet seen it, but the scenes involving the original Spock, Nimoy, and Zachary Quinto’s new Spock were touching.

A few things that bothered me about the film were the over use of the lens flares. I know it’s a neat way to transition to another scene and a clever way to remind people that they are in space and aboard an industrial and metallic ship, but I thought it was a little much. This is when you know it’s too much: in telling me what he thought about the film, my Dad leans over to me in the car and says, “There was an element to the movie that I didn’t particularly care for. Can you guess what it was? (before I had time to answer) It was the lens flare. They used it everywhere.” And J.J. Abrams, if you’re reading this, please, you need to silently and quickly replace Anton Yelchin with someone else, or at least tame his overused Russian accent. Man that was distracting! Was it just me, or did Eric Bana sound like he was from Texas or some southern state? His voice was very drawn out and he talked out of the side of his mouth like that actress on TNT. (Holly Hunter) For the next film, bring on some more Bones McCoy!

This film will set the tone for the rest of the summer movie season in my opinion. The action, the effects, the story, the prestige, the history, and everything else that went into this film to make it excellent sets the bar pretty high. J.J. Abrams has made me a fan of Star Trek – at least of this version anyway.

Content Warning: Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content. There is a small scene where Chris Pine is on top of a green girl making out, but it’s really nothing to worry about. This was a great film for the entire family!

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