Just Watch It

Rating: 9/10 (8 May 2009)

This was the easiest 9 out of 10 I've ever given. Star Trek is the Star Trek movie we've been waiting for, despite it's negation of almost all previous Trek (not a spoiler, by the way). Part of the reason I don't give it a 10 is because of that weird negation which leaves us with Enterprise as the only Trek relevant to this new series (I hope we get some sequels out of this!). The new timeline leaves us with the same characters who are somehow different. Everything is familiar but different enough that we don't know what to expect. So this movie feels very much like a reboot as well as a continuation, and a sequel as well as a prequel in a way only Star Trek can. You will feel uneasy about this a few times in the movie, when you realize that there is no reset button, and no way to cheat death. The Kobiashi Maru figures into the story, and you'll see why when you watch. By the way, without spoiling too much, Spock, Vulcan or not, copes with loss remarkably well.
Venturing into the unknown, coping with loss, and a fair amount of logic vs. humanity make this a more mature movie than perhaps the producers want you to think it is (the commercials seem to advertise it as purely an action flick). But watching it reminded me of the best parts of Star Trek II and VI, my favorite Trek films. In fact, as much action as there is here, it never seems to drag too long or seem incomprehensible as it does in most action movies. The focus is on the story and the characters.
And the characterizations are solid, if a bit different from what we expect. Sulu doesn't have his cocky optimism and machismo despite being respectably kick-ass. Cho seems to be channeling his masochist character from House rather than the reborn Harold from the end of Harold and Kumar. Uhura, still the most compassionate character, is withdrawn and a bit cold compared to Nichelle's warm and playful Uhura who sings and shakes her booty when off duty. Bones is spot-on, and Zachary Quinto, who already seems to have the name of a Vulcan, is also superb. Chris Pine has clearly done his homework here and channels Kirk far better than Jim Carrey ever did on In Living Color. There is one scene towards the very end of the movie, as he walks onto the bridge where Pine seems to have copied cell-for-cell a signature Shatner mannerism. I'll have to watch it again to be more specific.
One last note. Not terribly pertinent but something I have to get out. The Vulcan school where we see young Spock seemed just a bit too robotic and alien for a Vulcan institution. This is a culture of logic, yes, but also a culture of jeweled breastplates and Hebrew hand signals. Eh.