Last night I saw the latest Star Trek and I’d heartily recommend it.
This new film is a fresh origin story for the original Star Trek series. Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Uhuru, Chekov, even Captain Pike are all there, enough to keep fans going but not enough to put off anybody not in the know.
I’ve been a fan of JJ Abrams ever since I got into Alias (by the way, what is it with him and Big Red Balls Of Goo™) and I enjoyed Lost until I lost track of it midway through season 2. I haven’t seen Cloverfield but hadn’t heard good things about it so I wasn’t sure how this latest film would work out.
I’m not easily impressed by big movies and I’ve seen my fair share of stinkers (Superman Returns anyone?) but this one won me over. I’m not really familiar with any of the cast, and maybe that helped.
The cast is very strong, sticking to the important parts of the original crewmembers. As a scotsman I have to say that Simon Pegg‘s Scottish accent didn’t grate as I was worried it might, and his scenes got good laughs in his local multiplex
The film even manages to make Kirk look cool. He may have been one of the most action orientated captains of the Star Trek universe but I was never that impressed by him.
The script is generally very strong and there is great scope for follow ons. The film has a very clever conceit to get around fitting in with past Star Trek canon while still having all that rich background to draw on.
Shield Rating: 8/10