I have to get something off my chest before I begin. I haven’t felt this energised after seeing a movie since that fateful night in Sydney at the premiere of Transformers. The reason I mention this is because my night was made all the more special by seeing the latest trailer for Transformers 2 on the big screen; however this wasn’t the first time I had seen the trailer. I knew the trailer was attached to this re-imagining of Star Trek, but I was in no way prepared for the fI have to get something off my chest before I begin. I haven’t felt this energised after seeing a movie since that fateful night in Sydney at the premiere of Transformers. The reason I mention this is because my night was made all the more special by seeing the latest trailer for Transformers 2 on the big screen; however this wasn’t the first time I had seen the trailer. I knew the trailer was attached to this re-imagining of Star Trek, but I was in no way prepared for the feast I was about to devour.

The finesse in which the film presented the chaos and tragedy of the opening act was a master-stroke of story-telling. Not a second was fluff, not a moment wasted nor a shot gratuitous. After seeing this opening and being presented with the Star Trek logo, I had been given a considerable amount of film to deposit into my brain and this level of awesome was maintained throughout the proceeding hour and change. The value, power and brilliance of this opening act was of such magnitude, that I was literally speechless until the credits rolled at the end. Within that first act I was dragged with open eyes into an experience that had an impact infinitely greater than Wolverine – all within the space of about ten minutes. I was hooked; I bit down on the lured bait and was resigned to letting a brilliant piece of cinema story-telling whisk me into its being.

I could sense throughout that the film was entirely respectful towards its legacy (my limited knowledge of Star Trek was confined to the culturally iconic things) to a degree I cannot measure, yet it was still surprisingly capable of being endearing, exciting and enormously engaging. The precision and power of traversing that tight-rope, maintaining the delicate balance of re-introducing the audience to such culturally significant and rich characters whilst offering a genuine homage, is probably this movie’s greatest achievement. I knew only the little things about Kirk and Spock, yet left the cinema feeling in many ways something of familiarity and equal parts like a boy witnessing an adventure for the first time.

When film-makers in Hollywig decide to embark on such a treacherous journey their path is paved with so many obstacles and challenges, it is easy to see why success is not the rule, more so the exception. One of the potential killer obstacles facing J.J. Abrams was showing us these characters we knew in a way that, as I said before, was both familiar yet alien. The superbly handled introduction of Kirk was matched, if not beaten, by the way in which we meet Spock. I must say that Chris Pine (Kirk) seemed to have the exact amount of charismatic charm that was needed to fill the boots of William Shatner. The dude from Heroes, Zachary Quinto, was great as Spock, and I felt the heart-break of both of their stories was brilliantly handled to connect their lives with an emotional potency. The supporting cast were great, and due to the incredible amount of credits built up from the beginning, the film was able to make you laugh. And to me, personally, that may very well be the ‘x’ factor that this film needed to propel it at warp speed to a level of enjoyment rarely match. Forgive me for saying warp speed, I just had to. I really cared about the fate of them all.

There was really only one thing that bugged me about the movie, and it is such a minor thing when weighed up against everything that was so awesome about the movie. I think that whoever did the special effects needs to get over the lens flare button. Honestly, the amount of lens flares in the movie makes me wonder if the guys were on drugs. But do not let that detract from how much this movie absolutely blew my mind.

I am now at a bit of a loss on what else to say, other than go and see this movie. If for no other reason than to see Leonard Nimoy’s grace, class and presence on the screen, you have to see this film. This movie has set the bar for Transformers 2. That bar is so fucking high now, its the first time I have begun to doubt even that movie having the impact I crave, and received, from this movie. I loved the adventure, the excitement, the characters, the emotion, the music and the fact that not one frame of the film was wasted. Everything was critically important to the story, and done in a way that should make the rest of Hollywig blush with embarrassment. Live long and prosper indeed ‘new’ Star Trek, you awesome movie you.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 11:36 pm and is filed under movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.