Space, the final frontier...

Star Trek. The new Star Trek. For a life long Trekkie this was a big thing. Yes any Trek movie is a big thing, but this is as big as when TNG first aired. Possible bigger. In this movie characters that I have known all my life (sad, but it is true) were recast. Yes the last couple of Trek movies have kind of sucked (esp. Nemesis) but at least they were familiar. This could have been a total raping of Star Trek and sucked. Thank fuck it did neither. There is so much to talk about in regards to this movie that I shall split my review up into sections.

Oh and by the way, it absolutely ruled.

The Cast
Enterprise Crew:
Chris Pine (Kirk) This guy was great. I really cannot fault the performance. It wasn't quite Kirk as we know him, Pine defiantly put his own spin on the Captain, but it's a good spin. He plays the rebellious kid in a grown-ups body perfectly, and his transition into a person more like the Kirk we know was organic and believable.

Zachary Quinto (Spock) When Zack was cast almost everyone thought it was inspired casting. Then a couple of clips came out and while initial concerns about Pine were quickly dashed, people (for people read Internet Trekkers) started to worry about Quinto. They needn't have. No he doesn't have Nimoy's gravely voice that so defines Spock, but hey, only Nimoy has Nimoy's voice. Quinto nails Spock's internal struggle between his human and Vulcan side, and again, like Pine, adds a great deal to his own mark to the role.

Karl Urban (McCoy) It has been much commented that Urban is the actor most "channeling" the original actor, in this case Deforest Kelley. And I suppose that's because he is. He does it very well though. He is a LOT bigger than Kelley, but other than that I totally buy him as McCoy, it's just a shame that his best scene is his first.

Bruce Greenwood (Pike) Great is all I can say really. With Captain Pike only appearing in one original episode (yes I know, 3 - the pilot, and both parts of The Menagerie) so Greenwood had much more freedom than many of his fellow cast members. Greenwood crafts a strong and courageous Captain, and was an unexpected gem in this movie.

John Cho (Sulu) I liked him. Not a lot of character development time, but hey, they movie wasn't about him. Handled the action well, and didn't fall into the trap (see Chekov) of becoming a parody.

Anton Yelchin (Chekov) Chekov is perhaps the only part of this movie I didn't like. Yelchin simply took the accent too far. Far too far. He's OK apart from this, but it really throws you off.

Simon Pegg (Scotty) Another one that worried the fans. And another one they needn't have worried about. Like Cho, Pegg really doesn't take much from the original actor, but his Scotty is funny (not too funny as some had worried) and believable. His Scottish accent is very different from Doohans, and though some may crucify me for saying, its better. Pegg has a Scottish wife, and he leaned a convincing accent. I liked this take on Scott, and look forward to seeing for of him in the next movie.

Zoe Saldana (Uhura) Buzz was pretty positive following Saldana's casting, but she was the one I was worried about. Not sure why. And yet again, unfounded. Uhura is a much bigger part of this story than she has been any previous Trek, (you have to have strong women in things now - no bad thing) but instead of seeming like the - we must get a woman some more lines in this film woman, she is very good, has possible the most emotional depth of any of the characters (with the possible exception, ironically enough, of Spock). A great performance, and like Cho and Pegg, quite a new take on the role.

Other Dudes and Dudettes
Eric Bana (Nero) Not a bad villain. Clearly meant to Spock's Khan, but more on that it the story/script section. Bana doesn't have a huge amount of screen time, but that he does have he uses well, the character could well have done with some more fleshing out, but that's not Bana's fault. He plays a villan who talks like a real person (particularly "Hello Christopher), and looked bad-ass. No Kahn, Borg Queen or General Chang - who for my money have been the best villains, but defiantly holding his ground with Christopher Lloyd's Commander Kruge.

Ben Cross (Sarek) Cross does a good job playing a man who could be Spock's father, but to me Sarek is Mark Lenard, and it's hard for me to see someone so different in the role. As mentioned in a previous posting, Nimoy and Lenard are the only two people who have every really played convincing Vulcans (along with the ambassador from Enterprise I guess), and I feel that now we can add Quinto to that list, but I'm not sure about Cross. Perhaps he will grow on me. Did really like the part when he told Spock he married Amanda because he loved her. It was really touching.

Winona Ryder (Amanda Greyson) Not bad at all. Not a lot of screen time, but a great scene with Spock when she tells him she will always be proud of him. Always liked Jane Wyatt in the old school cast, and I liked Ryder too. I've always wanted to know more about the woman who chose to marry a Vulcan, but I suppose now I never will.

Leonad Nimoy (Spock Prime) What can you say? The man IS Spock. Everything he did was right, the scene at the end between him and Quinto was really cool, just, I mean, FUCKING LEONARD NIMOY IN THE HOUSE!!

Other people
Generally the casting was good, Kirk's Parents, both good, Captain Robau was a badass as promised, Scotty's little alien friend was good, and not around too much to become annoying (take note Mr. Lucas).

Phew, cast done.

Production Design
Wasn't a huge fan of the new Enterprise when I first saw it. Love it now. No up and down in space adhered to as well. The Kelvin bridge may have been my favorite. Enterprise Bridge OK, but a little cold, I like a friendlier bridge. Costumes were great, Props good, and unlike many I like the big industrial Engineering. A huge ship would not just have a medium sized room with some lights, it would have metal shit going on everywhere. Only thing I would have liked to have seen there is a central intermix chamber. Engineering should have a hub, a centre, and we didn't really see one. Nero's ship was weird and cool, if very different from previous Romulan ships we have seen, and I liked it's totally non-Star Trek design. Too many ships in Star Trek have been becoming same-y recently. Spock Prime's Jellyfish also awesome, loved the way it moved. All the graphics were stunning too. Star Wars Episode III would be the closed comparison for kick ass space stuff (say what you like about the movie itself).

Story/Script
In some ways the Script is better than the story. The script is good. Excellent in fact. All the dialogue is very well done. The story is good don't get me wrong, but Nero could have done with some more fleshing out, a character moment or two perhaps, but then the movie was long, would be hard to fit them then. Having said that the movie is long, it is relentless and exciting and heart pounding all the way though. There is a touch of exposition and a slow down in the action around half way though, but its a welcomed break and allows for some character moments, and the introduction of Nimoy. Wasn't quite sure about how the mind meld montage/flash-forward was done, but got it's much needed points across. Also wasn't quite sure about the red matter stuff. All in all the characters for the most part are well developed and written (especially Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Pine) and the story was very exciting, and the time travel stuff not too confusing for newbies. Great idea creating an alternate timeline so from now on movies can deviate from canon - some are sure to hate this, but not me.

Other
The score is amazing. Not such original Star Trek music, which having heard about before hand thought I might miss, but Michael Giacchino's score is wonderful. Loved the main theme, very Star Trek, without being a rip off.
Canon wasn't always strictly stuck to, or at least it wasn't explained how it had changed, though most of it could probably be explained away as a consequence of Nero's arrival. Luckily I'm not too much of a canonista.

In the end
When I first heard about the recast I was worried. But eventually, thanks in no small part to New Voyages (Phase II) I warmed to the idea. I'm glad it wasn't done any sooner, (a la Harve Bennet's Academy 90210 terrible idea) but with Doohan and Kelley dead and the others really just being too old, it was an acceptable choice. Enough time had passed to say good bye to the original cast, and realise that now it would be impossible for them to return in any plausible way. Except of course Nimoy, as Spock works as a character as an old wise man, perhaps better than he does as a young man, he is a teacher essentially, in the classical sense of one, an elder. But Kirk is a different character, and as much as the Trekkie in me would have loved to see Shatner back, it pains me to say that it was probably a better movie for him not being in it.

I'm sure I've missed things out, and I could talk about for even longer, but I think I've written enough. My heard was racing almost non-stop, it was exciting and exhilarating. Funny and kick ass and cool, yes cool. Trekkies, used to being a small (in terms of the global population) group usually on the defensive, may have to get used to sharing their favorite escape with a lot of cool kids who wouldn't give the Original Series a second glance and - shock horror - aren't sure how the warp drive actually works, whether they like it or not.

Star Trek is back. It's a lean, mean killing machine. But it's still Star Trek, that was the most important thing, the biggest worry, so well done JJ!!