Star Trek

Long anticipated! Unfortunately we had to miss Opening Day due to an illness and then Mother's Day weekend.... we finally got to the show on Monday. We went to the first matinee, me in my Borg t-shirt, like any good self-respecting dork. Unfortunately there is no Borg Collective in this film but that didn't take anything away from a very, very good movie.

This is the prequel to the tv series and to all of the Star Trek movies - all of our favorites show up and they're very young. Just starting off in the StarFleet and just meeting one another. That entire aspect was really fun and entertaining. We see how relationships were formed, how Kirk's team was created that formed the U.S.S. Enterprise crew.

Chris Pine is the newcomer who plays James T. Kirk. He does a fabulous job. Great balancing act between good acting with a little side order of Ham - an essential ingredient that William Shatner provided in large doses for the role. (Our son, Josh, had a roommate who managed a restaurant in LA and a couple of years ago he hired Chris. Talk about journeying where No Man Has Gone Before - that's a warp speed leap in one's career in a very short time! Go Chris!)

The script is very well crafted - it provides a really satisfying experience to fans. Enough of each character is there, enough of the original story is there, enough of the beloved lines are there, to be true to the franchise. But they also give us some new information, fill in a few gaps, add a little - that's the fresh spin on things that, along with the fresh new faces, promise a whole new generation of Trekkies to come.

Young Spock is played by Zachary Quinto - who does an excellent job but I kept finding myself thinking he's just not 'right'. I think that's only because I dearly wanted to see the young Leonard Nimoy once again. "An unrealistic and illogical expectation, Captain."

All of our favorites are here - Sulu, Bones, Chekov, Uhura - all played spectacularly. All felt 'right'. My favorite of all, tho, was Scotty - which added that extra zing of life and humor that really balances out the whole film. Simon Pegg (a favorite actor since 'Sean of the Dead' days) did a superb job.

Without giving anything away (I hope).... Leonard Nimoy is in this movie and Thank God for that. It would have been sacrilegious to have a Star Trek remake without him. It also goes to show you who the true star of Star Trek has been, and will always be, all of these years. It never was Shatner.... Nimoy was always the crowd drawer and Spock the most "fascinating" individual. An original Aspergian to be sure.

One drawback and one notable change -

During the fight scenes and action scenes the direction resorts to Shaky Cam - a method of filming that we both just hate. My opinion of Shaky Cam is that it's a weaker method of filming. If your scenes and your backgrounds and your actors do not have enough going for them, then just shake the camera alot (or make the scenes very dark) so the audience is left to imagine most of the scene. The theory here is that their imagination will be many times better than what you've got to show them, so just let their minds fill in the gaps. I dislike that, and it causes me to feel physically ill when I watch a movie that shakes quite a bit. This one brought up that motion sickness feeling several times. At one point I looked away from the scene. For that reason I won't be watching the movie multiple times.

The notable change - we are treated to the famous line "... to boldly go where no man has gone before" however it's now changed to "... to boldly go where no one has gone before". Fascinating.

I've heard this movie compared to 'Ironman', and as a confirmed Ironman fan I take exception to the comparison. It may do as well at the box office but that's where the similarities end. I paid to see Ironman in the theater several times - something I never do - and would gladly watch it many more times with full enjoyment. That was a fun, well done, fresh movie. Star Trek is well done in it's own right but not like Ironman.

The effects, backgrounds, CG, all of the pretty stuff was really beautiful. The inside of the U.S.S. Enterprise was all pretty and clean and shiny and new. What we see of it was fun, but there's not much shown of the inner workings.

We give this one a '4.5' which rounds up to a '5'. The one drawback is that Shaky Cam thing. If not for it I'd go with an enthusiastic '5'.

Pueblo Tinseltown was bursting at the seams. The helpful and friendly concession stand worker, Eden, did a real good job. Popcorn was fresh!