We've seen Star Trek, and it is good. Read our full review.
When JJ Abrams took on the task of directing Star Trek, he wasn't a fan. But through the filming, and the discovery of the universe so lovingly crafted by Gene Roddenbery and his original cast, Abrams came to appreciate the appeal of what he calls a "very optimistic future, one where race and colour and gender don't matter."
He also kind of fell in love with the starship Enterprise. And so will you - the new Star Trek movie is a wonderful re-imagining of the beloved, though now careworn, franchise.
The action kicks off - and that's no understatement - with the discovery of a vast lightning storm in space by the USS Kelvin, a science ship on the edge of Federation space. Right away the attention to detail is stunning - the bridge is reminiscent of a cramped submarine, and there are aerials and gritty dials all over the place, the captain of the ship is in science blue, and the ship design itself is reminiscent of ships designs from the classic Starship Battles tabletop and computer games.
If that's not obsessive detail - gloriously obsessive detail! - I don't know what is.
As the Kelvin closes in on the anomaly, a vast presence looms out, a giant starship that looks like a cross between a Shadow vessel from Babylon 5 and some spiky deep sea creature. The scale is hard to judge, until a long shot shows the shining speck of the Kelvin, hovering like a minnow compared to the vast bulk of the newcomer. And it's not a friendly newcomer either, opening fire on the Kelvin before summoning its captain aboard. The rough and ready Romulans on board ask him if he's seen an elder Vulcan called Ambassador Spock...
The captain, of course, has never heard of Spock. The Romulans ask the captain what stardate it is, and that's when you realise that things are not what they seem.
This latest Star Trek was always intended as a reboot, and JJ Abrams and his writers have come up with a very clever way to set their take on the universe apart from all the others. It's elegantly explained in the film, too, so even neophytes to Trek's habit of time-travel tales shouldn't feel too out of depth. In fact, one of the things the film does best is meld together the referential and reverential notes that dyed in the wool Trekkies (and I am most certainly one of those) will love, with the kind of action and plotting that even the most Trek-ignorant of people will be unable to resist.
But the most compelling aspect of the film, more than the stunning effects, truly stellar sound work or the incredibly tight writing, is the cast. In every familiar role is an actor confident in their part, though each still manages to bring a certain freshness to characters we know so well. From an eager young Chekov to the swaggering confidence of Jim Kirk, these are the characters that fans have loved for decades, but they are fresh again, and ready to be rediscovered in a new light all over again.
Kudos in particular to Karl Urban, who many fans will know well from the second Bourne film and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, who comes to the new Trek as the ever cranky Dr McCoy. He leapt at the chance to play McCoy, and as one of the few Trek fans in the cast, revelled in the role. "It was so great to take this character that Mr Kelly had done such great work with, for so long."
More importantly, what shines through in every scene is that the actors were able to generate that feeling of camaraderie and fellowship that so defined the series and early films. Kirk and Spock in particular, though they may start the film not on the best of terms (suffice to say we finally see Kirk 'beat' the Kobiyashi Maru simulation, and Spock is not impressed), by the end the fledgling friendship is firm and warm.
And so are this fan's feeling for the Star Trek franchise under its new ownership. Abrams, who was in town for the premiere, said to us that it was such a thrill to work with a "great group of young actors; they were exciting to be with because I knew they had this amazing potential, this great energy."
Thankfully, every bit of that energy, and Abrams' own not inconsiderable skill at telling a story, has come through on screen. Reports have already surfaced that a second film is confirmed - we cannot wait to see what bold new directions the series takes.
Issue: 106 | November, 2009