I’ve never been much of a fan of “Star Trek” as personally I’ve always found the intelligence vastly oversold by zealous fans, but I digress. I’ve spent most times admiring the light saber than I have the USS Enterprise and I think JJ Abrams has found a great balance where even folks who have written off the franchise can enter with a clean palette. And that’s not easy considering the Trek has lost its punch over the last ten years with a waning film series and television stake. “Star Trek” is a film that reboots the aforementioned franchise with all of its guns loaded as it looks to not only show what becomes of James T. Kirk and Spock but who their parents were and how they lived as soldiers of the Star Fleet.
This “Star Trek” though tries to venture beyond the hokum and cheese and instead focuses on a young Starfleet crew just gaining their bearings in one of the finest ships in the “Star Trek” Universe. Abrams aims for big things with alternate reality storylines, major fist fights, and conflict that is sold by its strong ensemble cast of young guns who portray the original character with great gusto. Every character from Bones to Chekov is given their times to shine particularly Spock and Kirk who go to blows halfway in to the film but learn to form a mutual respect that keeps them from going under the evil Captain Nero’s deadly blade and army of warriors.
My particular favorites were Simon Pegg as Scotty who is just hilarious and gives the constantly spoofed character a bit of dignity to his inherent madness while John Cho is gallant as the sword wielding Sulu. Cho who can do an excellent George Takei impression in his sleep never resorts to imitating the man and instead just offers his own spin. “Star Trek” is all about offering a unique spin on the world that Trekkies have come to cherish what with the future of technology and space ships intermeshed with modern conveniences like trucks and motorcycles all presumably originating from the early millennium.
Chris Pine is very effective as the man known as Kirk and plays off well against the very powerful Zachary Quinto who transfers the same dramatic flair from his stint on “Heroes” to the Vulcan half breed. Speaking as someone whose always written off the series, “Star Trek” was a fun two hour ride with some brilliant special effects along with that classic and subtle JJ Abrams touch. If the point is to recruit new fans then the goal has been accomplished as I eagerly await the announcement for the sequel and hope Abrams continues going where I’ve never been before. With JJ Abrams at the helm I will stick with “Star Trek” and hope it continues to provide reasons for this “Star Wars” fan to continue watching. With great effects, a strong story and equally stronger cast, “Star Trek” is a journey worth taking.