Grace Lee Whitney as Lt. Janice Rand?
Posted on 05/08/2009 1:26:01 PM PDT by LS
This is simply a great movie. For those of us who grew up first on the television series, then the series of motion pictures, then "The Next Generation," this is the TV series on special-effects steriods, and in my opinion the second best movie of all Star Trek movies, next to "The Wrath of Khan."
The first 20 minutes is jarring, and you have to pay attention. It runs the viewer from Capt. Christopher Pike (played by a one of my favorites, Bruce Greenwood), to the evil Romulan Nero (Eric Bana, sans Hulk get-up), to the young Spock, to the risk-taking James T. Kirk (played supremely in this role by Chris Pine), then finally to the late-teen Spock who chooses Star Fleet, played by Zachary Quinto. Yet somehow the editors managed to keep the essential plot lines straight. Kirk is exceptionally bright, but a hell-raiser. Uhura (Zoe Saldana) is as beautiful as can be, and ironically has no interest in Kirk but rather is in love with Spock. Kirk proceeds to get beat to a pulp by almost everyone in this movie. (First it's cadets from Star Fleet, then Spock, then the Romulans. You begin to think Kirk was taught to fight at UN peacekeeper school).
Above all, what makes the movie is the development, on multiple levels, of the friendship between Kirk, Spock, and to a lesser degree, Bones (Karl Urban) and Scotty (Simon Pegg). John Cho plays a straight Sulu, thank God, and Anton Yelchin does a good job as Checkov.
The plot revolves around the "prime"/older Spock (Leonard Nimoy) trying to save Romulus in the future, and failing. Somehow, the evil Romulan Nero comes through a time warp to the past to destroy Vulcan out of revenge---and to make the young Spock watch!
Don't get wrapped up in debating the "time continuum" stuff, just go with it. There is a glitch with this at the end (the same person cannot exist in two places at once, or two people from different times can't co-exist, or . . . ah, forget it).
Instead, just enjoy the origins of the comeraderie, the sexual tension between Spock and Kirk over Uhuru, the one-liners, and above all, the fantastic way the actors adapted the characters to their own personas while maintaining much of the original Kirck/Scott/Bones/Spock personalities. At times, you can almost see Shatner coming through Pine; unfortunately, at times, Urban tries a little too hard to "be" Bones, and of all the characters, his is the least developed in terms of motivations or past. But the friendship between Spock---at any age---and Kirk is wonderful, if rocky at first. When Spock prime says to Kirk, "I am, and always have been, your friend," it brought a tear to my eye as I recalled Spock dying to save the Enterprise in "Wrath of Khan."
If CGI had existed in 1966, instead of cardboard sets, this is what that Star Trek might have looked like. Enjoy. Live long and prosper, unless, of course, you are Spock prime speaking to Spock in which case, as he noted, "It would be self-serving."
Bump, I’ve heard nothing but good reviews from everyone who went to see it today.
Funny...
The Onion Reports - Star Trek fans bash new film as “Too good & too much fun”
http://www.new.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=78919774634&h=M-cIl&u=leRmp&ref=mf
LOL. There are a LOT of funny lines in, but very little PC crap. Great line at the end-—won’t spoil it-—between Kirk, Spock, and the Romulan.
Right after Wolverine, it’s on my list.
As a Stooge fan, I can’t imagine how it can be good if you liked the original cast. I’m not looking forward to the “new” Three Stooges movie that’s coming out. The last “new” one fell far short. How can this one not do the same?
I purchased tickets earlier today for the 5:30 show, so I’m headed downtown to meet my husband. Thanks for the review. My favorite Star Trek movie to date has been Wrath of Khan...partly because they incorporated and built upon a story from the original series (I’m not real sure why they didn’t do that more.)
While not true to the Star Trek series, both LOST and Harry Potter have "disproved" that theory.
Just sayin'...
My son took me to see it last night. It was great. It is much more true to the original TV shows than the later (Next Generation, etc) ones. I expect to see more in the future.
Excellent, excellent, excellent. I used to think that The Wrath of Khan was the best ST movie. I have changed my mind on that. This one will not disappoint.
The reviews all seem to be very positive. I’ll check it out this weekend. But I’m surprised that they’ve rewritten the Star Trek universe so that Kirk, Spock, McCoy, etc haven’t just been tethered together from early middle-age but have instead been enduring each others company from their youths in this movie to the elderly stage they reach in Star Trek VI(?). I can’t even stand going to high school re-unions - can’t imagine what it would be like to see those people every day until I reached senility.
Please, don’t go then. Deny yourself a great movie.
I snuck out and saw it at lunch today. I’m a fan of the old Trek and loved this new one. I will see it again in the theater and I haven’t done something like that in more than 20 years.
In the original series, wasn’t Spock something like 400 years old?
How did they reconcile that with both Spock and Kirk being youths at the same time?
From the previews, it does look like a ‘must see’.
Nimoy looks a zillion years old. But it still works. This new cast should be good for 3-4 pics.
I saw it last night. Was impressed. I thought a reset was going to really mess up the known Star Trek cannon. It did but because of the plot it works and makes it acceptable to have more films in the franchise forgetting what we’ve seen in the earlier Star Trek movies and series.
It’s not the same time line anymore, but an alternative.
Wolverine can best be described by one word - disappointing. Sorry!
Star Trek looks like a better show with a better script.
I dont go to the movies except for Batman, 007, Rambo or Star Trek..so I guess its time for me to go.
Don’t see it then. If you get hung up on who is what age, you won’t enjoy it anyway. Maybe something more realistic, like, say, “Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”
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