Saturday, May 9, 2009

Star Trek: A


Bridge Crew, originally uploaded by Fortyseven.

Scott, Greg, Jay, Grant, and I saw the first Star Trek (IMDB.com) showing on Thursday at 7.

Wow! J. J. Abrams' new take on Star Trek is terrific. The biggest challenge had to have been casting, but they got it right. Chris Pine's Kirk is cocky with a little swagger, but also a little goofy. Zachary Quinto's Spock was just as perfect as Leonard Nimoy's.

McCoy was always my favorite original series character and Karl Urban's portrayal was terrific. Of all the portrayals, Urban's was the closest to nearly mimicking DeForrest Kelley's McCoy, but it still seemed natural and authentic.

Greg mentioned that the movie reminded him of Starship Troopers. I'll reluctantly admit that there are some similarities. Both movies have similar quick pacing and are about young crews leaving boot camp/academy on their first mission. However, Trek is its own movie and style and not quite as cartoonish.

Like any movie, there are some unexplained plot holes. How can two people just happen to separately crash land within walking distance of each other on a planet? Why is the Enterprise the only ship available? Why is everyone on Earth, Vulcan, and other planets completely helpless and Kirk & crew are the only heroes around? But who cares? The movie was fun.

The movie's overall tone and pace has changed the Trek franchise. The movie is so faced paced and flashy that I do want to go see again -- and I haven't wanted to re-watch a movie in years.

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