Good But Certainly Not Great

Rating: 6/10 (13 July 2012)

OK, so this is like the 10th million film or series to feature the Star Trek name since William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy defined the franchise in the original series back in the 60's. Well, even though I'm exaggerating that number, there really has been an overkill of Star Trek material since The Motion Picture in 1979. So what does this new somewhat prequel/somewhat reboot bring to the table that makes it worthy of the Star Trek name? I'm sorry to say, I'm not really sure.
There are some things to like about the film. The special effects for one. And the slick realistic Enterprise props, for two. After that, it's not so easy to find things you love or things you really hate about this film. The plot could get a little confusing if you saw this at the theater due to the time travel elements, but since I saw this at home on DVD I was able to rewind and do a double take when things got a little confusing. Once you make sense of everything the whole time travel element actually makes the film much more interesting. Still, as with other films featuring time travel, things do start to get a little bit "illogical", if I can quote Spock.
Speaking of Spock, Leonard Nimoy is the only original cast member to make an appearance on this film as Spock "from the future", and I must tell you, he is a welcome addition. I also liked Zachary Quinto's performance as "present day" Spock. Maybe having the "original" Spock on the set was an advantage that Zachary had over the other actors. While Chris Pine did nail some of Shatner's mannerisms as Kirk, I just didn't feel like he was convincing enough in the role, and that goes for rest of the leading cast members. It's not that I expected them to be carbon copies of the original cast members, but I did expect them to be believable in their roles; however, most of the performances were just mediocre, forgettable - and that's the biggest problem with this movie. I get that it's a modern film, so it's never going to have the feel of the original series with its cardboard-like props or even the first set of movies that revived the franchise three decades ago. But good acting transcends time and this cast just wasn't compelling. Even the villain, Romulan Captain Nero played by Eric Bana, was tired and boring. It's actors like Ricardo Montalbán who played the villain Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) that made that movie the hit that it was back then and classic that it is today. We'll have none of that this time, folks! Not even Nimoy's few scenes could save this film from mediocrity. And apparently we missed the whole part where Spock and Uhura had an affair on the original series and movies. Well they have one on this film, and truly, they could have left it out. Not that I'm opposed to them rewriting the book to make this film different, but if you're going to do it. Do it right. There is absolutely "zero" chemistry between Quinto and Zoe Saldana (as Uhura).
The film's other issues are the mediocre dialogue and the worn out plot elements that we've seen time and time again. Ex. - Is there ever going to be another modern action or sci-fi movie in which one of the main characters (in this case two of the main characters) aren't trying to avenge the death/murder of a loved one? Or did you really think this sci-fi (or alien) movie wasn't going to involve a plot to destroy the Earth by the villain? And did you actually think the main character (protagonist/hero) wouldn't save the day (and the Earth)? In a nutshell, the movie wasn't horrible, but after seeing it, I can guarantee you'll forget much of what you saw in the "not too distant future". And I don't have to be a time traveler to know that.