Movie Review: Star Trek

Last night May 7th 2009 at 7:30pm PST I went to and early screening for the film Star Trek. Even though technically last weekend started the summer movie season, for me, it didn't officially start until I saw this movie.

Star Trek in this version of it as directed by J.J. Abrams, is perhaps one of the best science fiction film that I have or will ever see. Now, I went into seeing this movie with limited knowledge of the television show Star Trek in any of its incarnations, more or less "Average Joe Movie Goer" who happens to enjoy movies of the science fiction genre, but not more than any other type of film.

Without any particular bias for the world that the creator of the original series Gene Roddenberry, I feel qualified to be able to critique and review this movie. Why? Because as large as the legions of fans for the series are, they're still going to be infinitely out numbered by the general movie going populous. And if the general movie going populous is anything like me, they're going to walk away very happy with what they have seen.

In order to avoid spoilers for those who have not yet seen the film, and I highly recommend that you do, I'm going to discuss mostly elements of the film not directly related to the plot itself.

The thing that first and foremost stood out to me in this movie, that made me fall in love with it more than anything else was the characters. Yes, as a general fan of popular culture I've heard the names Kirk, Spock, and all of the rest of the crew of the Enterprise before, and I know some basic details about each of them, but it was the unique mix of personalities that were brilliantly portrayed by each of the actors in the film that really impressed me. Kirk's swagger and devil may care attitude, Spock's cold and unrelenting logic, McCoy's disdain for space and occasionally all those around him, just to name a few. All of these elements to the characters made the movie elevate to a level it would have failed to reach if the performance by each of the actors playing these iconic characters had failed to live up to what they are.

Visually, the film was stunning beyond belief. All of the sweeping landscapes of futuristic Earth, other planets like Vulcan, and of course space itself, really show that you are in another place. It's familiar, but still noticeably different, and it's a good thing. The opening space battle that makes up first ten to fifteen minutes of the movie sets the bar quite high for the rest of the film in terms of scope and depth, and that bar is met and raised throughout the rest of the film.

In the end, I walked out more of a fan of the film than I was expecting to be. So much so that I even want to go out and watch the television show now. I was never really compelled enough to go do so until after seeing this movie.

I highly recommend Star Trek to everyone, especially those who are fans of science fiction. But if you fall into that category, chances are, you've seen it already and would go see it again. This time, bring a friend or family member who you think may not necessarily like it, and see if you can change their mind.