Star Trek (2009)

With the original cast members either dead or elderly, and shows like Voyager and Enterprise not even worth mentioning as possible successors, the suits at Paramount contacted director/producer J.J. Abrams and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Not only were they asked to help re-launch the Star Trek franchise, but there was also the added pressure of taking a long-stale product and making it palatable to the general moviegoer (sorry Trekkies, but they already know they’ve got your money). The end result, while far from perfect, is an entertaining exercise in revisionist history.

I say “revisionist history,” because several things about the Star Trek universe have now been changed thanks to the film’s villain, a vengeful, time-traveling Romulan by the name of Nero (Eric Bana). While this may very well tick off die-hard fans, it’s frankly one of the most clever ways I’ve seen to restart a franchise without being handcuffed to everything which came before. And while changes are made, it’s nothing that too greatly upsets the overall canon started by Gene Roddenberry way back in the ‘60s.

After witnessing the destruction of his home planet, Nero and his massive mining vessel are pulled through a black hole. Ending up over 100 years in the past, he decides to exact his revenge by destroying all the planets belonging to the Federation. In the meantime, he and his crew wait for the arrival of the future Spock (Leonard Nimoy – whose ship was also pulled into the black hole).

Their first order of business after arriving in the past? Destroy an unlucky starship which happens to cross their path. It just so happens that this ship , the U.S.S. Kelvin, contains the mother and father of the unborn James Tiberius Kirk. As the ship is blasted apart, Kirk’s father assumes command and sacrifices himself to allow over 800 crew members to escape. The junior Kirk is born on an escape shuttle, just minutes before his father suffers a fiery and heroic death.

From there, we view snippets of the formative years of both Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto). Kirk is a rebellious youth who lives dangerously close to the edge; Spock is half-human and half-Vulcan, constantly struggling to find a balance between his logical and emotional sides.

Both wind up at Starfleet Academy, of course, and we get to meet characters like Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban) and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) along the way. Urban channels the spirit of DeForest Kelley in his portrayal of McCoy, even somewhat mimicking the good doctor’s speech patterns. Saldana, meanwhile, holds her own in the scenes with the boys, and the relationship between she and Spock is equal parts amusing and tender.

The elder Spock finally emerges from the black hole, and Nero then proceeds with his mad plans. This enables our heroes to finally get into space, with all of them winding up on the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood). It’s non-stop action from there, and you can count on favorites such as Sulu (John Cho), Chekhov (Anton Yelchin) and Montgomery Scott (Simon Pegg) to all wind up on board.

Quinto and Pine redefine their roles for a new generation, and they fortunately avoid the trap of trying to ape their successors. It’s hard not to draw some comparisons between Quinto and Nimoy, given Spock’s unique behavior, but it’s perfectly within the realm of acceptability. Pine, on the other hand, is nothing like Shatner’s version of Kirk, and that’s a very good thing. The bizarro speech pattern is gone, as is the air of complete invincibility. Pine’s interpretation has Kirk taking his licks in order to give them in return, and this makes his eventual triumphs seem all the more sweet.

While I’ve got no complaints with the cast, the film is ultimately stifled by the shaky direction by J.J. Abrams. And when I say shaky, I mean that literally. I lost count of how many times the camera veered wildly out of control in an unneeded effort to convey “action.” Why this continues to be an accepted technique in modern Hollywood films is beyond me. How can I be expected to enjoy an action scene if I can’t even tell what’s going on half the time? In my mind, it completely defeats the purpose of having a younger, more action-ready, cast. And Abrams doesn’t limit it to hand-to-hand fights, either. No, anytime something remotely exciting is going on, you can expect the same distracting nonsense.

The script makes sure to work in a few of the popular lines from the series, and it also does an adequate job of tipping the cap without becoming a slave to the past. It does lack scale, though, and even entire planets being destroyed seem like nothing more than a minor bump in the road for the crew of the Enterprise. The showdown with Nero and his crew is especially disappointing, and the talents of Eric Bana are wasted in a purely perfunctory role.

While the new series has promise, it can still stand a few improvements. Ditch the shaky camerawork, beef up the tension in the script, and give Kirk and crew a worthy adversary (something the series has always lacked). If they can accomplish these things in the sure-to-be-made sequel, maybe they’ll finally be able to boast of going where no man has gone before.