Much like the cast of the original series, the Star Trek franchise was finding itself slightly bloated, old and tired. ‘The Next Generation’ had proved to be a fresh take on Gene Roddenberry’s vision and ‘Deep Space Nine’ provided enough intrigue to keep things rolling along nicely. But once we got to ‘Voyager’ and ‘Enterprise’ – not to mention the numerous movies – everything started to collapse under the weight of its own mythology. Coupled with the fact that there was a – if you excuse the phrase – next generation of genre shows and movies proving enticing to audiences, it seemed that Star Trek would finally drift into TV and movie past. Enter JJ Abrams, the man responsible for confusing the hell out of us in ‘Lost’ and make us feel slightly sick in Cloverfield. His task was to reboot the franchise and breathe fresh life into some iconic characters. And a fine job he does of it as well.
We begin with the destruction of a Starship and the birth of one James Tiberius Kirk. Fast forward to a few years later and a young and confused Kirk languishes in the fields of Iowa. He soon finds Captain Christopher Pike who urges him to join Starfleet to give him direction in his life. He soon ends up at Starfleet Academy alongside the highly-strung Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy and linguist Uhura. He also forms an antagonistic relationship with half-Vulcan Mr Spock, who is also dealing with his internal conflicts about his path and heritage. But when a Romulan from the future arrives, determined to destroy an ‘Ambassador Spock’, these disparate cadets will find themselves on a ship called the USS Enterprise with their destinies changed forever.
In a bravura move Abrams completely re-writes Star Trek history and mythology from the opening scene. But, unusually for movies of this ilk (and – to be fair – unusually for the man responsible for ‘Lost’), he does it in a way that actually makes sense whilst staying respectful to the origins of the franchise. As such there are plenty of moments which will have Star Trek fans (I’m not getting into the whole Trekkies/Trekkers debate) excited – such as the explanation for Dr McCoy’s nickname, Mr Chekov’s inability to pronounce the letter ‘V’ and Kirk taking the Kobyashi Maru test – but the whole film is never predicated around these moments. Instead we have a strong sci-fi film in its own right that subtly alters and uses characters that we have to come to know and love.
This is reflected in the performances – respectful to the source material but never descending into out and out parody. Chris Pine is a swaggering Kirk, Karl Urban is a wonderfully grumpy Dr McCoy and Zoe Saldana is a bold Uhura. But it’s Zachary Quinto, as Spock, who’s the stand out here. A person conflicted by duty, emotion and heritage, it’s Spock who the entire film hinges around and Quinto pulls it off with aplomb. Indeed, in the scenes with the future Spock (Leonard Nimoy in an extended cameo) you feel that a torch has certainly been passed. And a quick note must go to Simon Pegg who gets less screen time than the others but, when he’s there, he’s provides some fun comic relief without going overboard on the silliness.
All the action is handled brilliantly, with the requisite space battles and fight sequences all providing some breathless, and well-paced, action. Particular note must also go to the set design. Whilst the look of the original is replaced by a more sleek and white look (reminiscent in some ways to 2001: A Space Odyssey) there are enough nods to the original (such as Uhura’s earpiece and the uniforms) that make sure it isn’t too jarring.
There are a couple of niggles. The story whizzes along so rapidly that you sometimes wonder if you’ve missed something. And, for a supposed logical and rational Vulcan, the older Mr Spock doesn’t half seem prepared to dick around with the time stream like there was no tomorrow. Which, when you think about it, there probably isn’t…
A great spring/summer blockbuster and a fine re-imagining of a classic franchise. Now, if they can just get someone to utter the line ‘Beam Me Up Scotty’ it will all be perfect.
Watch an interview with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto here.
Star Trek is released by Paramount Pictures on May 8th 2009. Go to www.startrekmovie.com
Laurence Boyce