Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Star Trek: What a Strange Thing for Me to Be Writing About

I saw the new Star Trek movie today. Doug really wanted to catch it in the theater, and although I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it, I didn't think I was going to hate it, either. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised.

Action films are not generally my style, and science fiction even less so. I did not watch Star Trek on television, nor did I watch any of the previous movies. Nonetheless, the storyline was intriguing and well-paced. There could have been an overload of scientific jargon, but that which was there was relevant and accessible to the audience. While I am quite sure there were allusions to the original series (as well as the rest of the franchise) that I missed, there was nothing that would cause a brand new viewer, in not catching a reference, to be lost in the story at hand.

As with most good movies, the development of the characters was important in drawing in viewers who did not already have a connection to the crew. I especially loved the cavalier attitude of Kirk and the sassiness of Uhura. I wanted to know more about these people; I wanted to see more of them and their history. In movies, like in good books, the hallmark of good writing is that you miss them when the experience is over--when the movie ends, or when you finish the book. How fortunate for those of us who are just now meeting these characters that there ARE so many other opportunities to reconnect with these characters in other vehicles.

One of the elements that often turns me away from a film is excessive violence. A movie like this by it's nature will have violence, but I felt that the action/fighting sequences fully forwarded the plot; I didn't find those scenes to be gratuitous at all, which can be a temptation for directors pandering to audiences who really just want to see things blown up and people bleeding. The action was believable, suspenseful, and drew us even more fully into the crisis these characters survived together.

When Doug left the theater, he was excited and quite literally already trying to figure out when he could go see it again. When I left the theater, I was ready to join him for his second journey on the U.S.S. Enterprise.

6 comments:

  1. I loved the new Star Trek movie. I never thought I would because I had never seen an episode of the Star Trek show, but I thought that the movie was great!!!

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  2. As a lifelong trek-fan (not a trekkie) I loved this movie. They pulled a bit of a Bobby Ewing to allow for sequels, but it was still good.

    I kept wondering how Kirk's face healed so much during the moments between his frequent pummelings. Some kind of futuristic-sci-fi-magic-meds or lasermajigs by Bones, to be sure, that we weren't privy to.

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  3. Wow! Great review. I also heard it was a great movie. Even from non-trekkies.

    Glad to hear the violence moved the story forward. There's nothing worse than bombs and deaths for no reason.

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  4. Weird, I thought that I had commented on this post earlier today, but my laptop was freezing all morning..so I guess not.

    Good review and I'm in total agreement. I was pleasantly surprised. All the characters that I grew up watching on the original series (repeats on Saturday/Sunday afternoons) were introduced and personalities began to take form.

    Little to no violence. Decent special effects. I'm anxiously awaiting the sequel.

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  5. I really liked the movie too and I had never seen any of the shows before!

    Glad you liked it!

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  6. I'm so glad you liked it. I think they did a good job being true to the characters but not necessarily the actors from the original show. In other words Chris Pine did Kirk without doing Shatner.

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