What a Reboot!

Rating: 9/10 (14 July 2013)

I really liked this movie, it is well done, and I like the story. One thing that I don't understand is why they created the comic "Countdown" and did not figure out a way to communicate to watchers of this movie that it was important to see Countdown? For instance, without Countdown, why is Nero so upset at Spock Prime? Spock didn't blow up Romulus,and he tried to help. Countdown explains that. And even though it is from the future, it just makes no sense that a Romulan mining ship is so monstrously big and immensely powerful. Now, moving on, let me continue with what I didn't like in list form: If you are going to attempt to pay homages to the original material, you really should get it right, or don't do it at all! Spock Prime and Kirk are abandoned on an ice planet called Delta Vega, so close to Vulcan that you can see Vulcan's destruction with the naked eye, a fact that on its own defies reality. The first time we hear of Delta Vega is in the original series, and there is simply NO WAY that it is close to Vulcan! My next complaint is in the battle at the end. I didn't mind the first time I watched this movie, but now that I have watched the sequel, it is becoming obvious that Abrams has no idea how to stage a starship space battle. It's just a quick, mindless, "fire everything we got!" with no strategy, no pacing, and no evidence that Kirk is a budding military tactician of historical renown. Next, when the three jumpers are diving for the drill platform, we lose one because of his reckless maneuver. We are to believe that this wild Australian adrenalin junkie is more interested in the thrill than saving billions of lives in a military, special-ops setting? No, I don't think so. It was OK to have him fail, we would have gladly bought that, but to have him fail trying a stupid stunt, as if the jump alone wasn't thrill enough? It already is super risky, need not add that silliness. The Star Wars-esq "one larger monster after another killing each other so it can be the one to chase the human" on Delta Vega is childish, and doesn't work in Star Wars, don't bring it here in my house! lol Using Beasty Boys music and trashing an antique car(hundreds of years old) seems too much, and out of place. It seems highly unlikely that a starship captain would jettison an officer in a pod on an ice planet, so you had that contrived plot thing going on resulting in too many coincidences, ie, meeting Spock Prime and Scotty. Then to make Scotty the one who "invented" warp speed transport, nope, I don't buy it. It would more likely be Spock who would do such a thing. (In fact, didn't Spock Prime simply pull up the equation without Scotty's assistance? (Why do we need Scotty then?) But I guess Abrams is expanding the capabilities of the crew, like he did with the others. The whole scene was silly when Scotty beamed aboard the Enterprise in coolant. I liked that the mistake was made, but it was just handled so silly-I guess the coolant aboard a starship in the future is simply harmless drinking water? Really? and at a reasonable temperature for humans to swim in? And there is a button to open up a door to release the trapped person just ahead of the blender? And it stays open and doesn't completely flood engineering? Good heavens! I don't like that the engine room is a brewery, not futuristic looking. I don't like how Sulu couldn't figure out how to start the ship, it felt like a contrivance. I don't like the notion that we are now in an alternate time line. Aren't there plenty of adventures that this crew can have in our time line? Are we going to replay past adventures? (wink,wink) Does this give them license to not follow accepted Trek lure? Laziness? Now to things I liked: I really loved everything to do with Vulcan and Spock's time there. I really like Pike. I liked the start of the movie with the starship dealing with Nero. The visuals of the ships, the firing of weapons, the equipment and space sound effects were so good as to bring tears to my eyes. This movie has the finest space ship visuals of any movie ever made! I love the look of the new ship. I like the music and think that Abrams projects, like this and "Lost" and others show a brilliant use of music to convey somber mood. I like the characters, and their expanded capabilities, with the exception of the aforementioned Scotty and that transport formula thing. I like the casting. I like the writing, for the most part. I like the pacing, and how the movie does a very nice job of taking itself seriously, but not too seriously, compared to the first Star Trek movie, "The Motion Picture", which, I think, is guilty of taking itself too seriously, though, I do love that movie. lol I think that finally having a proper budget has resulted in the making of a Trek movie that shows its potential, looks expensive, is more exciting, and has wider appeal. Bravo!