Friday, May 08, 2009

Spoiler-Free Impressions of Star Trek 11

I saw the new Star Trek movie last night. I've been all over the map as far as anticipation for this film is concerned. Eighteen months ago, when casting information was revealed, I expressed a concern that the movie would suck. I felt this way because it was my belief that the whole Star Trek concept had run out of steam and they should give it a long rest.

But then the teaser trailer came out, then full length trailers, and I actually started thinking that the movie could be great. Then the reviews started trickling in and they have been very positive -- Rotten Tomatoes gave it a whopping 96% freshness rating -- so I figured I'd go into the movie with expectations so high that there would be no possible way I could enjoy it.

Well, the movie rocked. It was well-paced, well-acted, and very funny, but not overly funny. It was great to see these familiar characters re-introduced and re-imagined.

People who are not fans of Star Trek will probably miss a lot of the inside jokes (especially those delivered by Karl Urban, who did a great job with the McCoy character) -- whereas some hardcore Trekkies might not like how certain things have been tweaked -- but I think the filmmakers struck a nice balance. The movie had a great "feel" to it.

I had a few problems with various elements of the plot, and one scene involving a series of tubes felt out of place. But any shortcomings were quickly forgiven due to the high quality of the overall production. You definitely should see this one on the big screen.

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