Star Trek Lives!

With few exceptions, when I go out of my way to review media, it's usually because the media I'm reviewing was so worthy that it becomes difficult to put a muzzle on myself and just say nothing. Well, I happen to like to communicate a lot, so maybe that's not a great example. However, when it comes to reviewing movies, I've seen so many, that I just wouldn't have time to comment on any of them unless they really move me.

Last night, I was catapulted.

For weeks now there's been the buzz about JJ Abrams latest directorial adventure, Star Trek. For most "old time" Trekkie fans, the thought of another Star Trek movie is usually met with disgust. The one thing that Trekkers like myself cherish is the strength for which the original series had had upon us, with any thing else added beyond that as just a watering down and/or further exploitation of a concept which drew so many of us in.

The Star Trek concept has always been fueled by a positive message. The promise that mankind has a peaceful and promising future. That we have shed our hostile ways, to the point that it has allowed Earth to come together and co-exist and even peacefully mingle among the other life forms.

Okay, my deep message is over.

When I went last night to see this film, I was excited, but I was pensive as well. This wasn't just any Star Trek movie, but a movie that took on the original series characters with different actors. Blasphemy? Read on.

The movie starts immediately with a jolt of electricity. Not literally. The action sequences throughout this film are too many to tell, plus I promise not to give any spoilers anyway, so there (my tongue is sticking out at you right now - how un-Starfleet like of me to do so!)

The movie primarily deals with how the characters of the original Star Trek series come together. But make no "Bones" (haha) about it. THIS IS NO SPACE SOAP OPERA.
THIS IS AN AMAZINGLY WELL-WRITTEN, AND EQUALLY WELL-ACTED, MIND-NUMBING ACTION-PACKED MOVIE. I want to tell you the honest truth and say that this was the best of the what, 11 movies, released to date? But if I said that, it would again be blasphemous.

How about if I just said this instead....I cannot wait for the next movie with the same actors to come out. Yes, folks this movie was that good. Good enough, that in writing about it now, some 12 hours later, I am getting goosebumps. Hollywood has done me proud in this 2 hour and 6 minute offering.

Zachary Quinto is a Godsend. Despite not having as deep a voice as Leonard Nimoy, he was a spitten image of the original Spock. So much so, that I was doing double-take throughout the whole movie, pinching myself, and trying to convince my stubborn old, snobby Star Trek Classic mind that this was not Spock. BUT IT IS!!!

Captain Kirk's character was incredibly well thought out. But again, I give major kudos to the character development for all in this story. Not only for the volume of tie-ins and references to the original series, but also in the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) ways that these characters come across the screen to us. My personal favorite was McCoy played by Karl Urban. OMG. He has got to be related somehow to DeForrest Kelley! He looks perfect as the young "Bones", but when you also add his mannerisms, and the likeness of his voice to that of McCoy, I was blown away.

Every character is extremely likeable here. Scotty had me laughing, as well as you may expect. Chekov and his accent were in play throughout the movie. Sulu shows who he is in a fencing fight. The movie is filled with laughs throughout, but it's also filled with everything else. For the first time ever at a Star Trek movie, I felt as if I had to keep up with the scenes due to it's explosively intense nature.

Now, you may be shaking your head at me right now. Questioning my "logic" and suggesting to yourself that I am naive and do not know the original series well enough. That I might even be going through "pon farr" or some other Vulcan ailment. As a staunch supporter of the original series, you might even consider everything that I am writing to be, well, I dare use the word yet again....blasphemous. No matter. No anti-matter, perhaps too. Despite how hard I had believed that "classics" should be left alone, this is the one time where I was proven wrong. I challenge you to just go and give this movie a chance. I think you will be enthralled by how well this movie plays to you, how these characters grow on you, and how you start having a tough time keeping serious and not smiling in awe as the movie warp drives you into a feeling that you got your money's worth at the theatre. In the end, this movie made me a believer in that sometimes a classic can be outdone.

And now for a selfish aside.... While I won't reveal any parts of the story, I do want to take this time to make the following announcement..... Uhura is a FOX!!!

When the movie ended, everyone in the theatre applauded, and that's saying something, because the people who attended yesterday's "pre" screening were probably fellow hardcore Trekkers. Fans, who like myself, went there with a quick-to-condemn attitude. Truth is, I haven't had as an enjoyable moment in the theatre as I did last night in quite awhile.

Even if you had lived in an underground bomb shelter for the last 43 years, never hearing of the words Star Trek, the movie holds up fantastically to non-Trekkers alike. All told, this was a great movie, and as juvenile as this may sound since it is a science-fiction, testosterone-laden flick, it is thus far the best movie of the year, and totally Oscar-worthy (OMG. I feel embarrassed for even saying that, but IT IS THAT GOOD).

Lastly, the Star Trek concept that worked in the 60's, worked last night. The mojo I got, leftover from the movie, carried through to me as I got into my car. Bravo to the whole cast and crew, and hopefully, we'll see you again in about 2-3 years.