Alright, so I’m about two years too late on this one, but I figured I couldn’t call this a legitimate Star Trek blog without a review of JJ Abram’s Star Trek reboot, released in May 2009. If some of you are still contemplating buying the DVD or BlueRay, then (maybe) this review could be helpful.
I’ll just start off by saying very simply that I thought the movie was great. At the time that I watched it in theaters, I thought that this was exactly what Star Trek needed: a major jolt to a style we had all grown comfortable with for sooooo many years. Star Trek (2009) was fresh, exciting, and fun.
The casting was near-perfect, which I think was one of the biggest contributors to its’ success. Chris Pine was surprisingly convincing as Kirk, and I think I can say that for all of the actors that played the crew of the Enterprise. I’m glad that the producers spent considerable effort in making the proper casting choices; after all, the big reason that fans like myself dished out our dough in the first place was to see our favorite characters in a new light. Even one wrong casting choice could have spelled ruin.
I was not as big of a fan of the time-traveling Romulan plot, but it turned out that I didn’t care. The film was fun enough that I could forgive yet another, “OMG, someone from the future is polluting the timeline.” At least, no one bothered to try and fix it.
I can perfectly understand that certain hardcore Star Trek fans might have been furious about it at the time. After all, it was a total slap in the face from Paramount to all of the fans that had stayed loyal from TNG all the way through the end of Enterprise, least of all by hiring someone to direct the new movie who never even liked Star Trek. And then we are asked to forget about everything we grew to know and love about the 24th century by creating this “alternate” timeline? If there was ever an insult, there it is.
But bringing in someone completely from the outside was what was exactly needed for the franchise, in my view, especially someone talented at gathering a broad audience. First and foremost, the film had to be profitable, or Paramount simply would cease to invest funds into further projects. Paramount had a lot riding on this; and no doubt the film could have turned out a lot worse if put in the wrong hands (stay away, Michael Bay). That would have been the quickest way to seal Star Trek‘s fate.
Fortunately, it’s safe to say that Star Trek was a huge success among (most) fans and critics as well as in the box office. That said, I don’t find myself popping in the BlueRay very often; it ranks low in terms of “re-watchability” for me. Once the novelty is gone, there doesn’t seem to be much reason to watch the film again. I guess that just means we’ll have to wait until 2012 for the next one. No pressure, JJ.
My rating: 4.5/5.0
