Rating of
2.5/4
"Star Trek" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 02/27/12
The classic 60s TV series gets a big budget re-boot and sees the original crew of the starship Enterprise come together for the first time. I was actually looking forward to this film as I grew up with Shatner and co and thought the time was right, especially considering the success of the BBCs recent re-boot of the British equivalent, Doctor Who. In fact a few years previously, Doctor Who went through a similar process starring Paul McGann, but this project was in retrospect a total misfire; although McGann made a perfectly adequate Doctor, the whole approach was wrong. Instead of trying to capture the essence of the show, it uneasily combined a load of hardcore fan-pleasing yet irrelevant continuity and dumbed down kiddie-pleasing action and special effects and it just didn't work. Star Trek makes EXACTLY the same mistakes. The first half is a constant stream of in jokes and references to the original series that just seems like an hour long fan-wank and the comedy is far too broad, giving it the feel of a Saturday morning cartoon or The Munsters in space. It 's not all bad news, however. The spectacular opening sequence "feels" like Star Trek and Abrams' breathless pacing and some flashy production design means that it's impossible to get bored. Zachary Quinto also makes a fine Spock and provides all of the best moments, Karl Urban makes a surprisingly good McCoy and If only the cast of characters were a little more consistent (Chekov and Simon Pegg's Scottie with his painfully unfunny sidekick being the low points) and the humour more restrained it could have been very, very good. There is definitely potential here, but the reboot needs a shift in pitch to begin to challenge First Contact for the Trek crown.
