The Right Fluff

Rating: 4/10 (7 May 2009)

The JJ Abrams reboot/relaunch of Star Trek, albeit entertaining, suffers from being more of a space opera than the bona fide science-fiction movie we were promised. The movie knocks off the first Star Wars sometimes so closely one wonders if the scribes ("writers" might be an overstatement) are really interested in relaunching Star Trek or simply remaking A New Hope. Not quite "Star Wreck", to be fair... but damn close.
As it is, the story follows a young prodigy - son of a legendary pilot - vegetating in the countryside and fulfilling his destiny by joining the Academy with a ragtag group of newcomers. This, only to wage a battle to destroy a planet-blasting secret weapon whose weak spot is the ever-convenient deactivated force field, while learning the basics of the Force (er, sorry, the basics of beaming one at warp speed!)... Hell, even the swordfights are here, so is the girl who (spoiler) ultimately hooks up with the *other* guy. (spoiler end)
I've only seen a couple of 80's Trek films and zero episode of the TV show so I don't qualify as a trekkie but as a regular joe I thought it was lacking, on top of being derivative. Actors are mostly OK (except Yelchin and Pegg who were just silly and annoying; props to Pine, Quinto, Cho, Saldana, Urban and Greenwood though), the score is fabulous and the artistic direction top-notch. But I thought Abrams did a very average and gimmicky job, the baddie is uninteresting and lacks any sense of menace, the humor is childish and the action limp (save for the fantastic opening sequence).
As for the humanistic and "adult" view of the space exploration inherent to the sci-fi genre, don't count on it: everything that was deemed "uncool" (ie: remotely clever) has been flushed out and the very last fight, on that aspect, left me scratching my head as (spoiler) I fail to see how "cool" - or humanistic, for that matter - it is to carpet bomb a wounded, black hole-stuck baddie who doesn't represent a threat anymore... (spoiler end)
To me, this is the Iron Man of 2009: a sure-fire box office hit whose upsides (the cast and the visual effects) cannot overcome its shallow plot and "all fluff, no stuff" attitude. Entertaining, but utterly forgettable.