The great dumbing down of Star Trek

Rating: 5/10 (17 May 2009)

This was a good action film, which started out at maximum velocity and somehow managed to keep this momentum nearly constant throughout. Unfortunately, it did this by compressing time in a jarring way, and quickly glossing over anything which didn't involve an explosion. For a science fiction film, it had very little science in it, and demanded an awful lot of suspension of disbelief for the tech it did include. While it was an entertaining watch with all the fights, chases, more fights, and death-defying craziness, I left feeling pretty hollow. What was once great science fiction has been reduced uncomfortably close to the level of movies like Armageddon. If you strip away the sexy effects and improbable action sequences, you're left with only nostalgia for characters which were painstakingly developed by greater storytellers. I can't help but feel disappointed, no matter how realistic and impressive the new Enterprise looked.