Worth the Couple of Hours

Rating: 8/10 (19 May 2013)

My wife and I went to see this movie over the weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed it. As a long term Star Trek fan who owns all the TV series, all the movies, dozens of books etc. I will admit that it did take me a little while to accept the alternate timeline/universe, but once I did I was able to see this movie, and "Star Trek", in a more positive light. I really like the Kirk, Spock, and McCoy characters, and in particular like what they are doing with Kirk and Spock and the way they are building that relationship. The other characters are fine, although I will admit to not being as fond of Scotty. The story I thought was good, but still had some serious flaws. The movie didn't really seem to bog down anywhere, and was kept moving at a decent clip throughout, the action sequences and more dialogue related scenes in good balance. I love the duty uniforms too. The colours and material look good on the big screen. The few things that irked me were a) the "ooh aah" technology factor. I find it hard to believe that in the 21st century we can't step out of a department store without an alarm going off if the security tag on our purchase has not been deactivated, but somehow in the 23rd century Scotty can sneak a shuttle into a spacedock where they are building a "battleship" in secret with no alarms being raised, and then sneak on board the vessel itself. Go to the airport and try to get on a plane without the proper identification etc. these days. Surely they can do better in the 23rd century. b) After the nature of the initial attack on Starfleet, would the leaders of Starfleet really have met in such an unsecure location? Not likely. c) How did they get from Kronos back to Earth so quickly? d) Why did "young" Spock really need to find information about Khan from "old" Spock. As Khan had been frozen long before the split in the timeline, wouldn't there have been computer records explaining all about Khan and the Eugenics Wars that "young" Spock could have referenced? As a matter of fact, shouldn't "young" Spock have known anyway, considering his vast knowledge, especially about a conqueror as evil as Hitler? I think this may just have been a way of getting our old and beloved friend Leonard Nimoy into the movie. I'm sure that he gave his younger self good advice, but was it really unnecessary? e) It's not really feasible that the admiral in command of Starfleet could actually do what he did without being discovered. After all, could you imagine General Werner Freers (the NATO Chief of Staff) being able to do the same thing today? Again, you would think that as the centuries go by, security would be be getting better. I have a bit of a problem with this anyway. Military people swear to uphold the oath they take, and while some may deviate (and very few), it really doesn't seem possible that such a senior officer with such great responsibility would stray so much from the path. If you know any officers, you'll understand what I mean. This part of the story to me seemed to show little respect for the military and those who serve, and while Starfleet is principally about exploration, the capital starships, like the Enterprise, are run like naval vessels, and are very heavily armed. The writers should remember that. Admiral Marcus did have the best intentions to begin with. Any officer wants his personnel to be the best armed they can be, and wanting the Federation to have the best weapons is a only natural (remember what Vegetius said "If you want peace, prepare for war"), but unfreezing a mass murderer like Khan would have been like the West resurrecting Hitler and his disciples to win the Cold War.......not a good idea. This would have been better all around if they have made the traitor in their midst a politician.......that I'm sure we can all understand. f) What is it with the messy engine room? What is shown on screen doesn't even look like it would all fit in the ship when you look at it from the exterior. It looked too much like an engine room on a warship from today, not the 23rd century. Still, with all my gripes, I enjoyed the movie, and will be looking forward to the next one. Hopefully this movie, and the third in the trilogy, will make enough at the box-office that we will get another reboot in the years to come, maybe with the timeline that we all have come to love being continued. I think it's worth remembering that if Gene Roddenberry had been alive when "Star Trek" was released a few years ago, he would have insisted that the timeline be repaired.