| Review : |
To start off I will say that I found the movie to be fantastic. It contained all the essentials for a Star Trek movie; action, drama, comedy, and geek-talk to the extreme. I've heard several hardcore fans protest the obvious discontinuities and changes made to the STU timeline, but I was surprised at how many nods there were to the previous movies and series. Take the battle of the drill, not only does the token red shirt die but it was in a very pointless way; pull the stupid cord, man! There were tons of quotes used from the previous movies; there was the father/son tension between Spock and Sarek and I was stunned at Karl Urban's ability to play McCoy. I was pleased to see a more diverse alien cast (no Andorians though, arg) and the overall design of the Enterprise's interior was very imaginative. She was beautiful, but not all polished and clean like those that came after her. McCoy had it right when he said that space was dangerous and Enterprise's design reflected that. Her bridge and upper decks were streamlined but as you go into her guts, she's all robust and twisted; complete with shuttles with scratched paint. Well now, on to the bad. My problems with the film aren't exactly problems. Like all good movies, it could have been longer. There was so much going on in ST that it gave me a kind of rushed filling; as if they were trying to sprint to the end. There were so many new things in the film that it has me wishing that they'd immediately start a new series that takes off after the film ended. Personally it's the subtle details, the things you see in the background, are what draw me to Star Trek. Look at that massive station above Earth, those seven other Starfleet vessels; I'm thinking it's time to bring back the Star Trek Encyclopedia specifically for this movie. The only other change I would make is to Nero and his crew. Yes it was explained why they were there and the reason behind his attack but I felt that especially Nero needed to have a much stronger personality. If he was supposed to be bloodthirsty then make him bloodthirsty, insane then make him really insane. He was intense but I think he needed a finer edge; like he was a breath away from losing it. As for the discontinuity errors, I'll learn to live with them. |
