Burton Speaks

Only during a recession could I get four people together to see a movie during the day on a Friday. I managed it, though, and we all saw the new incarnation of "Star Trek".

Fair warning, I might have a spoiler or two below.

I'm going to start this off by saying that there are surrounding details about this movie that irritate and bother me. First off, when someone says they're going to "reboot the franchise" that evokes nothing good in my mind. It comes off as an attempt to milk more money out of moviegoers and speaks for a lack of imagination on the part of the studios. Secondly, introducing "alternate timelines" for the sake of not having to deal with continuity and being able to retell the same story over and over again comes off as lazy. These attributes vastly decrease the quality of a movie for me.


That said, Star Trek was awesome.

Yes, I'm a bit of a Star Trek fan (to the point that I know trivia that surprises even me). I enjoyed just about every bit of this film. I thought the casting was as close to perfect as you can get, the plot was solid (even with the time travel aspects of the film), the acting was excellent, and even the camerawork - while I kept thinking "why did that frame the shot like that?!?" - was good nonetheless.

Attempting to describe the plot would give away most of the movie, so I won't do that. But we start the day Kirk is born and quickly jump through the next 25 years until we see them launch the maiden voyage of the Enterprise. They did a good job of giving all the main characters some backstory - often explaining more with a few lines than the characters were ever given in the original series.

The filmmakers also did a great job of pandering to the fan base by throwing in enough details from the history of the franchise for us to feel like they "got it", yet making it still make sense to a (mostly) uninitiated viewer. Probably the part that tickled me the most was when Kirk, Sulu, and some other guy wearing a red suit jump out of a spacecraft. I'm not going to spoil it by telling you who doesn't make it, but you probably won't be surprised.

Anyway, I enjoyed Star Trek. I'd like to see it again, if possible. It was that good.

Final word on Star Trek? See it as soon as possible.