Star praising

Summer movie catch-up continues and this time it's one of the biggest blockbusters from earlier this year, J.J. Abrams' reboot of the Star Trek franchise. Now admittedly, I am anything but a Trekkie or Trekker or whatever their fanbase prefers to be called these days. With that said, my hat goes off to J.J. and everyone else associated with this movie. This is phenomally fun while doing everything in its power to remain faithful to the original series.

Clearly no stranger to science fiction, J.J. does a great job, along with screenwriters Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, of creating an engaging science fiction film that has broad appeal. Everything looks awesome here from the sets, to the action sequences, to the visual effects. It seems about as realistic as a sci-fi film set in space is going to look. Watching it, I was struck by how cheesy the most recent Star Wars films look in comparison. George Lucas always claimed that he waited so long to do the prequels because he was waiting for the technology to catch up to his 'vision'. But those movies look like they were done by a kid with a Mac in comparison to this film. The look of the film immediately sucks you in to the point where you completely buy into the world that's being presented.

All the money in the world can buy you good looking visual effects, but if you don't have a decent cast you'll fail to be able to bring your movie to life. That isn't the case here as the casting is superb. The actors chosen were absolutely perfect. They each do a great job of re-introducing us to these well known characters without resorting to parodies or homages of the previous portrayers. It also helps that the script allows each of them to have a moment(s) to shine. John Cho, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban and Zoe Saldana all bring something to the table to make their character interesting while not detracting from the story. Of course, you also have Zachary Quinto playing Spock. I think most had confidence that Quinto would do a worthy job and he didn't disappoint. He is wonderful at portraying the level headed Vulcan, who chooses to keep his raw emotion buried deep with inside himself.

As good as everyone is though, for me, the real star was Chris Pine as Kirk. Based on initial judgments I had severe reservations about this casting. It seemed like they were trying to appeal to the younger generation by just sticking a pretty face in the lead role. I was glad to say I was wrong, as Pine bring such energy to this role. It's a testament to the performance that the guy can play someone who comes off so cocky, yet equally likable. I heard someone compare his Kirk to Harrison Ford's portrayal of Han Solo, which I think is an apt comparison in many ways. The casting of Pine was probably the film's biggest hurdle. You look at a film like G.I. Joe and their casting of Channing Tatum. There was a guy with moderately good looks but the personality of a stump and the acting chops to match it. In that case, the lack of a good lead sagged the film down. Here, Pine's performance drives the film and was one of the main reasons why Star Trek won me over.

In terms of the story, they kept everything relatively simple so as to devote more time to re-introduce these characters to a new audience. There's just enough peril going on, thanks to evil Romulan, Nero (played by an unrecognizable Eric Bana) to keep the audience motivated in seeing the Enterprise crew prevail. Some people may complain about the time travel aspects introduced in the story, especially because of the narrative headaches it can produce. However, I thought it worked well enough here and allowed the filmmakers some wiggle room to tell future stories without having to be considered with devoted fans playing the role of continuity cops.

It's a lot tougher to write reviews when films are really well made. And since I really can't think of too many other faults with the movie, I guess I'll just wrap things up. I'll admit that I had some severe reservations, even as far as 20 minutes into the film. However as soon as the main story kicks into gear, I was hooked and remained that way for the rest of the movie. This film works on multiple levels and is sure to please virtually all audiences. There is a little something for everyone here and I cannot compliment J.J. and the rest of his crew for doing the unthinkable; making Star Trek cool again. If you have any doubts, please give this a try and you too will be pleasantly surprise with how much you will like it. Grade: A-