STAR TREK

Version: Theatrical

Let me give you a little history. I like Star Trek. I know all about the rankings, ship classes, planet jargon, races, all that stuff. Blame my mom, she liked William Shatner. But I, unlike her, like more than just the original series. So to me, a new Star Trek movie was like winning the lottery. The only people I recognized from the cast were Sulu and Scotty, both of whom I really didn't expect much from. But to be honest, they were pretty good. All of the cast was good. The really caught the spirit of the tv show. The mix of humor and seriousness was perfect.

Let me start off with what I didn't like. Throughout the movie, there are these camera flares, kind of like when the sun gets in your eyes. Don't get me wrong, they make the film look really futuristic, but there are some scenes where they don't make sense (like in Starfleet Academy). I also was a little disappointed that there weren't more of the older music cues. A lot of the music felt like it came from Wrath of Khan, but I wanted to hear something from the tv show (they saved this for the credits). The soundtrack was very good, regardless (Beastie Boys FTW!). I also would have liked to see some Klingons. What's Star Trek without Klingons?! ;)

Now the so-so stuff. Let me just say it was WEIRD to pair Spock and Uhura. I am not used to seeing Spock with a girlfriend. That's not to say it didn't work, just that it was weird. From the commercials, I thought they were going to pair her with Kirk. That's another thing. Those damn commercials trick you. If I hadn't seen Spock in one of them, I wouldn't have realized it was for a Star Trek movie. The other weird thing was what they did with Vulcan. What a way to change the Federation by destroying one of its founding members. Let me just say this: I approve of the killing of Wynona Ryder. I hate her.

Okay, now that I'm done complaining, let me touch on what was good. I really like how this one is a sequel and a reboot at the same time. I was going into this believing it was a reboot, so having it linked with the original matter was a great bonus. I took my mom with me, and she was hesitant too. But she approves, so that's good. I already mentioned the humor, and that's something I believe Star Trek needs. Scotty and Chekov were great. I loved how Chekhov had trouble putting in his authorization code, and Scotty's little friend was awesome.

The alien diversity was a nice touch. That one at the beginning helping with maternity was freaky, though. She had weird eyes. It seemed though at times that they just threw a random alien in every scene. Need to work on that. Using Romulans as baddies seems like a cop-out, but it works here.

Now, for all you out there complaining about how Spock just rewrote history and created a paradox and whatnot, until you time travel yourself keep it civil. We can't know what would happen if someone fiddled with the past, so it's possible for him to retain all his memories if the writer wants him to! Plus, I don't feel this throws out all the past media. To reference another famous time travel movie, it's just 1985A!

Go see this. If you like Star Trek, you will be happy about its references. If you don't like Star Trek, you'll like how much of a great action movie this is.