Star Trek: The New Badass Frontier
This ain’t your daddy’s Star Trek, kids.
I grew up in the 70′s and 80′s watching cheesy Star Trek reruns with my dad. Captain Kirk and the crew in bad make-up stomping around on hollow, sound-stage planets and enduring camera shaking blasts to the plastic Starship Enterprise. I mean, we are talking top of the line, expensive, stinky-ass cheese.
As a kid it was somewhat interesting. It was usually the best thing playing on our non-cable TV on those long, boring no-friends-sleeping-over weekends. We moved to Houston when I was 10 which meant cable and neighborhood kids. I quickly realized how terrible the show was and never watched another episode again. Nor have I ever seen a movie. I did watch a little bit of New Generation, but that was from a crush I had on Wil Wheaton. It quickly passed and so did my interest in the show. I’ve not seen anything Star Trek related since.
Until now.
I first heard about in Entertainment Weekly. They announced Zachary Quinto being cast as Spock. SYLER AS SPOCK. I just thought- Fuckin’ genius! (For you non-Heroes watchers, Syler is the uber bad guy who murders heroes and absorbs their powers.) Quinto has this incredible ability to keep a smooth, eerie calm to his voice no matter what the situation is. It’s deep and soothing while bone-chilling all at once. Add in his dark hair and thick, black eyebrows and it’s apparent he was put on this earth to play the new generation Spock.
Then I heard that this was a JJ Abrahms baby and I was hooked. After seeing Cloverfield I knew this new foray into the final frontier would be a spectacular ride. And I wasn’t disappointed.
This is an origins story. We see how Kirk and the crew came together. They aren’t the experienced men and women we’ve known forever. These are hot-headed, cocksure kids with genius IQ’s and lethal combat training.
Chris Pine’s Kirk is rebellious and fearless. And funny. And hot. Seriously so. Where Shatner’s Kirk had those crazy pauses and over-the-top grimaces of “thoughtful” looks, he’s got smart-ass quips, quick punches and is simply a smoooooth motherfucker.
Spock is smart and logical and methodical and all things a good Vulcan boy should be. But what Quinto brings to the character besides youth is a more human and emotional element. Spock is half human and Quintos performance really brings that forth. Even in the scenes where he’s running through logic, he’s more human and less robotic than Nemoy’s Spock. He’s more… real. There are nuances in his face that said it all.
The entire movie is more real. That’s what, to me, this franchise has always lacked. Plausibility. Not just the plot lines or the special effects, but in the performances, too. It’s modernized and youthful and fast-paced and simply fantastic.
And for the rest of the cast- Simon Pegg was perfection. Karl Urban was dead on as McCoy. Zoe Saldana was gorgeous and sultry and brilliant. And John Cho was a great Sulu. Who knew Herold could be an action star? And Eric Bana is almost unrecognizable but so fierce.
Seriously awesome. I’m a big fan of bad-ass, special-effect overload, out of this world movies and this one is toying with knocking Transformers out of the top spot. And for those who don’t know how much I love that movie- I’ve seen it probably close to 100 times. I actually squealed when I saw the new trailer last week.
And yes, I’ll be seeing this one again.
-Ali
I saw it last weekend and was so impressed that I actually raised both hands in the traditional Vulcan gesture. Luckily I was surrounded by like a kajillion fanboys so no one laughed at my ethusiasm.
Great reivew, sista!
Awesome! I was just saying the other day how I was never interested in seeing the other Star Trek movies, but this was one that I REALLY want to see… and now I know that I won’t be disappointed. I’m looking forward to it more now than before. Thanks for the fabulous review.
)
See-I’m a little different. I thought the tv show was boring as a kid but liked the fact that it really broke new ground in certain areas especially with the whole racially mixed crew. As I got a little older, I started to like the different story lines and the crazy shit they went through.
The movies on the other hand—AWESOME! I have been a fan of the movies way more than the tv show. Especially the one with the whales which is my favorite. It still remains one of my favs even with this new one which i just fucking adore.
I loved that I could sit there and catch all the references in the new ones. Those of us who are even a little into the old stuff were chucking and guessing the names of folks just based on their lines and personality before we heard their names I also like learning some new stuff like a certain romance that was going on in their hot and heavy young days. Heh.
Yes–this movies was way awesome but for me, it was made even more so because I knew so much about the old show and movies. That doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it, though, It just made it so much more sweeter.
z
I love your movie reviews. Hello, Dark Knight! Any wacky characters in your theater? This review almost makes me want to see the movie.
I was never interested in Star Trek as a kid, but if my brother was watching it then I would watch it. But I have to say, after watching the new Star Trek movie over the weekend with Josh, I’m a new “treky.” I was so happy that I watched it with Josh, who is a big fan of Star Trek, because it gave me a new appreciation for it. I was impressed. Now, as I’m working at the Library, I’m getting all of the Star Trek movies to watch LOL. Yeah, I know some of them will be ubber boring and cheesy, but this movie got me into something. I think I’m becoming a geek, now. Like I wasn’t already….but ya know.