Hi-tech, low-tech

Rating: 10/10 (15 May 2013)

The latest Star Trek is a wonderful combination of high tech and low tech. This time around, people don't coldly zap each other with guns. They have brutal fist fights atop flying vehicles (a la the opening scene in Skyfall). The movie begins with a wonderful low tech meets high tech sequence where Starship Enterprise is hidden in the sea on a planet that's about see a major volcano eruption that will wipe out its population. Spock goes into the erupting volcano to stop it with a cold fusion device which is set to consume him as well. But then, Captain Kirk gives the order to fly the Enterprise to the volcano and rescue Spock, even if it means exposing the starship to the people of the planet, who still live in the stone ages. That's against the rules and Kirk gets punished for it back on earth -- he's relieved of his command. But's that's just the first ten minutes of this terrific movie, where the pace never lets up. There's lots of sci-fi, but the human interest is equally high. The friendship between Kirk and Spock is played up to an extent that it begins to seem like a romance ! In this, the film is like an Indian movie. All that's missing is the songs.