A week ago, I was enjoying a short vacation and excursion to the Windy City to visit some friends I had not seen in a bit and to enjoy a bit of shopping and high-priced dining. The trouble is that the Windy City was largely the Hot City, and so I was less apt to do outdoors and touristy activities than I was to find indoor places to play. I've been to Chicago too many times to be a bona fide tourist anymore anyway, as opposed to an idle visitor, so I did not feel like I was missing anything.
I digress. So, last Friday, when it was both hot and stormy, my friend and I decided to catch a film at the multiplex off Michigan Avenue and to take in some downtown type food afterward. We elected to see Star Trek, as neither of us had seen it, we are both modest trekkers (at least from past precedent), and none of our other friends would be likely to want to see it with us.
I must admit, I was a bit skeptical. Even though the film was directed by one of my personal heroes, JJ Abrams, and even though the film was, essentially, a prequel, focusing on younger versions of everyone's favorite James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. "Bones" McCoy, and so on, I am always a bit leery of franchise reboots because they can be so hit and miss. For example, Batman under Christopher Nolan: hit. Star Wars prequelization: miss.
This year's Star Trek, however, actually becomes quite the different animal compared to its predecessors, featuring one of the cleverest uses of a traditional science fiction plot device I have ever seen. The film opens as a Romulan vessel encounters a Federation starship. The Romulans - who are tattooed and, in some ways, far more menacing than earlier televised incarnations - are captained by Nero (Eric Bana). He questions the Federation captain about the star date and then about the whereabouts of someone named Spock, but when the Federation captain, who agrees to board the Romulan vessel with the hopes of peaceful negotations, cannot provide the answers, Nero murders him in cold blood and launches an unadulterated attack against the other ship. The damage is severe, and First Officer turned captain George Kirk, who assumes command after his captain's demise, orders evacuation, including of his pregnant wife, before committing an act of heroism that fans know is not in the annals of Star Trek history. The film then careens toward the future, as we see young James Tiberius Kirk in Iowa driving his stepfather's automobile at breakneck speeds to the rousing sounds of the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" until he manages to drive it over a cliff. Then, years later, he (now played by Chris Pine) gets into a bar brawl with recruits from the nearby Starfleet Academy outpost. When their recruiting officer, Captain Pike, who served aboard the ill-fated vessel with his father, challenges Kirk to abandon his rebellious streak and apparent daddy issues and join Starfleet, Kirk initially scoffs at the idea, but, later, seemingly to prove himself, he agrees to become a cadet. At the Academy, he flirts with a young and pretty Uhura (Zoe Saldana) who wants nothing to do with him; meets a flight-phobic young medic by the name of Dr. Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban); and a stuffy Vulcan teaching assistant named Spock (Zachary Quinto - Sylar!), with whom, at first, Kirk seems to get along like oil and water after he famously "works around" the confines of the Kobiyashi Maru psychological test (see Star Trek mythology, or this film, for further details). Of course, we learn of Spock's particular idiom as well - his half human, half Vulcan heritage and his struggle to keep his emotions in check while honoring the traditions of his father Sarek and his home planet. After Kirk is brought before an Academy tribunal to be called to task for "cheating" through the Kobiyashi Maru, the Academy learns of an attack on a nearby Federation planet. The cadets, as the closest available section of the fleet, are called aboard the newly minted Enterprise to answer the distress call, and Kirk manages to cheat his way aboard thanks to the help of his friend Bones. Noticing the pattern of the attack, Kirk remembers the story of the Romulan vessel that attacked his father's ship and tries to warn Captain Pike of the impending trap. Too late, however, does Pike realize that history is repeating, particularly when Nero's ship ensnares the Enterprise, and he demands that Pike board his vessel. Making Spock acting captain and Kirk acting first officer (much to each other's protest) in his wake, Pike agrees to go, leaving the cadets in charge of the likes of a young Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin) and a young Ikara Sulu (John Cho - Harold!). Through chance events that result from Kirk and Spock's inability to agree, Kirk eventually learns why Nero indiscriminately attacks Federation starships and embraces the road toward his destiny of becoming the youngest Starfleet captain in Federation history.
That was a lot of plot summary but, in some ways, this is the densest Star Trek plot of any of the previous motion pictures, and it barely touches half of the overall story. Star Trek had the potential of being either really good because it was so new and directed by JJ Abrams, who has the golden touch, or of being really bad because it was a complete reboot of a beloved franchise grounded in complex and complicated mythology that cannot readily be tampered with without the risk of alienating its longtime fans. Fortunately, this Star Trek is the former type of reinvention.
Abrams struck an almost impossible but highly impressive balance: he remained true to the mythology while allowing just enough tweaking to make it new and fresh. Thanks to the screenwriters, not only does this Star Trek film boast one of the best-written Star Trek stories, providing a riproaring tale that never really dragged (even when Spock Prime, played by the reverent Leonard Nimoy, had to take time out for some plot exposition), it is one of the cleverest revamps I have ever seen. Using time travel and some other interesting Star Trek/science fiction devices, Abrams and company slyly created enough fuel for sequelization without erasing the possibility of ignoring the reboot should another reboot come along in the future. I can't give too much away without spoiling the plot, but the changes were welcome and oddly exciting, even though they were significant changes in the end that longtime fans will either embrace or shun.
The visual effects were stunning, and the cinematography was actually quite breathtaking, mixing camera angles, brighter lighting, and bluescreen technology to great effect. Also, the performances by this new version of the Enterprise crew were actually quite entertaining. There were no strict imitations; instead, each actor chose to fully inhabit the characters rather than pay homage to their predecessors. Thus, Pine neglected William Shatner's melodramatic delivery, but its absence was never noticed. Quinto, though it was hard not to think of Sylar at times, managed to infuse Spock with a delicate balance of barely controlled emotional undercurrent (particularly rage) that Nimoy never offered, except in extreme situations. Urban's Bones was hyper and funny, though his delivery of "I'm a doctor, not a ..." left something to be desired. Simon Pegg, as a late-arriving, young Montgomery Scott, was easily my favorite of the new crew, but I wouldn't be able to do justice to just how hilarious his Scotty turned out to be. The only portrayal I struggled with was Uhura's; on the one hand, Uhura was frequently reduced to a two-dimensional character as the only female of the original Enterprise crew. Though Gene Roddenberry worked hard to portray the diversity of the globe and his hopes for future racial and ethnic harmony, there was still a gender-bias of sorts underlying the Original series cast, likely due to the fact that it was a product of the sixties, during which women's liberation movements were really starting to gain momentum. This incarnation attempted to give Uhura some complexity, to make her a three-dimensional woman, which was good. The problem is, three dimensions also transformed her from the sweet and loyal communications officer played by Nichelle Nichols to something of an ambitious (five letter word) as portrayed by Saldana. My struggle, therefore, is understanding why a strong woman with an irrepressible character cannot retain the sweetness inherent in the original portrayal, since I never felt such sweetness in the Uhura I saw in this film. and whether she was written, directed, or played that way is hard to ascertain. Of course, this is one of the larger philosophical dilemmas facing women in motion pictures today.
Also, while Bana was given relatively little to do as the menacing Captain Nero, what he was given to do he performed with a complete lack of originality. More than once, I felt as though he were channeling Ricardo Montalban's Khan from Star Trek II. If an actor playing a new antagonist adopts some character traits of characters from prior films while manifesting an entirely new character, the most obvious choices should be left alone. Of all of the nemeses that have threatened Kirk or even Picard in the motion pictures over the years, Khan is the most obvious choice, and it was distracting, distasteful, and a little annoying that Bana found his inspiration in this character. Of course, with the way the film ended, Kirk may never meet Khan in the likely sequels, so maybe this a minor point in the end.
Still, the most impressive part about Star Trek was that it was funny and exciting and new while remaining true to, at least, foundations provided by the mythology. The ensemble of actors had a great chemistry, and the story possibilities are endless should this cast be migrated to television thanks to the foresight and creativity of the screenwriters and Abrams. In short, the film surpassed my expectations and is actually one of the most enjoyable Star Trek film chapters, in my opinion. What is even funnier is that it is an odd-numbered entry into the film series. Interesting, yes?
In the end, I loved Star Trek. Of course, JJ Abrams can do no wrong in my eyes (I have followed and am following all of his projects, except Felicity, since his breakthrough into Hollywood), but he risked much with this film. It was a calculated risk that paid off in the end, however. I think Star Trek deserves an 8.5 between having minor flaws/very good (thanks to Bana's largely mediocre performance) and being perfectly entertaining. I also think it passes the test! I am in the process of collecting the Star Trek films, but I would love to watch this one a few times more too, just because it was so surprisingly exciting and funny. With this film, Star Trek has voyaged into new, uncharted regions of its own space-time continuum, and, frankly, I am happily along for the ride. Warp speed ahead!