Star Trek (2009)Written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman
Directed by J.J. Abrams
The thing is, I wasn't a huge Star Trek fan before this movie came out. I mean, yeah, when I was a kid I watched The Next Generation almost religiously when I was a kid. It was on after the Simpsons on BBC2. I caught some Original Series now and then, I was aware of who the characters were, and all that. But I wasn't that into it.
I wasn't excited at all about this flick, I had no intention of seeing it. However in all the hype I happened to catch a few original series episodes and I loved them. I got really into them - given that I couldn't afford the series sets at the time I got hold of the original cast movies and holy crap I loved every one of them. To different degrees. I know the common fan opinion is that certain ones suck and suck hard... but I dug each and every one of them. So when this came out, I went as soon as I could.
In my very rushed initiation into Star Trek fandom I had become a bit weary of this new movie. Re-casting... not a huge fan. And this flick is basically one giant re-cast. How can you have Kirk without The Shat and Spock without Nimoy? It didn't seem like it would work.
Here's the thing, it totally does because in each case Abrams seems to have gone the extra mile to cast people who are right for the roles. Everyone work, Quinto, Pine and Saldana all work brilliantly. Karl Urban is the only one who really does an impression of the character he is portraying - but it's such a good impression that he quickly became my favourite character in the flick.
Even Simon Pegg as Scotty is pretty good. A lot of people seem to be very convinced by his Scottish Accent... me... not so much. Maybe it's because I'm Scottish myself, but I hear the fakeness of the accent.
The film takes that which is essentially Star Trek and makes it modern. It's brilliantly done - when I watch it I feel like I'm watching something that is part of the franchise. But updated to suit modern tastes. It's been criticised for being an 'action movie' but there is a lot of character stuff in there. The whole movie is about the development of Kirk and Spock into the men we know and love. Bit like Casino Royale in that respect.
I can't talk about this flick without discussing the CGI. Basically, it's some of the best I've seen in a film ever. I always think CGI looks very fake, you can tell things have been altered. Here it's incorporated excellently. It feels real, good job there.
Bringing Nimoy in is an excellent touch. It seems to close up the past nicely and allow us to move on to the future. But it's not too heavy handed. It allows the past to be tied up, but doesn't intrude too much on both us and the characters moving forward.
I don't know what else to say about it. It's a brilliant film, and it's exactly what Star Trek needed to bring itself back from the brink. It's perfectly cast, perfectly executed. If for some reason you haven't seen it, do so now.
I wasn't excited at all about this flick, I had no intention of seeing it. However in all the hype I happened to catch a few original series episodes and I loved them. I got really into them - given that I couldn't afford the series sets at the time I got hold of the original cast movies and holy crap I loved every one of them. To different degrees. I know the common fan opinion is that certain ones suck and suck hard... but I dug each and every one of them. So when this came out, I went as soon as I could.
In my very rushed initiation into Star Trek fandom I had become a bit weary of this new movie. Re-casting... not a huge fan. And this flick is basically one giant re-cast. How can you have Kirk without The Shat and Spock without Nimoy? It didn't seem like it would work.
Here's the thing, it totally does because in each case Abrams seems to have gone the extra mile to cast people who are right for the roles. Everyone work, Quinto, Pine and Saldana all work brilliantly. Karl Urban is the only one who really does an impression of the character he is portraying - but it's such a good impression that he quickly became my favourite character in the flick.
Even Simon Pegg as Scotty is pretty good. A lot of people seem to be very convinced by his Scottish Accent... me... not so much. Maybe it's because I'm Scottish myself, but I hear the fakeness of the accent.
The film takes that which is essentially Star Trek and makes it modern. It's brilliantly done - when I watch it I feel like I'm watching something that is part of the franchise. But updated to suit modern tastes. It's been criticised for being an 'action movie' but there is a lot of character stuff in there. The whole movie is about the development of Kirk and Spock into the men we know and love. Bit like Casino Royale in that respect.
I can't talk about this flick without discussing the CGI. Basically, it's some of the best I've seen in a film ever. I always think CGI looks very fake, you can tell things have been altered. Here it's incorporated excellently. It feels real, good job there.
Bringing Nimoy in is an excellent touch. It seems to close up the past nicely and allow us to move on to the future. But it's not too heavy handed. It allows the past to be tied up, but doesn't intrude too much on both us and the characters moving forward.
I don't know what else to say about it. It's a brilliant film, and it's exactly what Star Trek needed to bring itself back from the brink. It's perfectly cast, perfectly executed. If for some reason you haven't seen it, do so now.
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