I should start by
saying their might be spoilers in this review but that is under the assumption
that something happens in this movie that isn't totally predictable and hasn't
already been done before.
The movies starts
with a joke. Not an action moment of much, but a low quality CGI moment between
Kirk and a new race. But I knew what I was getting into when I decided to go
see this movie. Which is low quality action. From there we have a touching moment between Kirk and Bones and
a nice moment with Spock and the films acknowledging the passing of Leanord
Nemoy.
Of course, this is
supposed to setup the emotional story arc of the film. Instead it turns into a
typical CGI filled action flick that rotates and rotates more from one scene
to the next. Watching this movie is like riding a roller coaster for hours! Of course
they have to cut to the Jason Born inspired
shaky camera extreme close-up fight scenes as everything rotates into
the same movie tropes we have become to expect from the latest iteration of
this franchise. And by that I mean doing everything that has been done before
just with bigger special effects.
And of course… Big
surprise since it's been a few movies since they last blew up the enterprise,
it is time to do it again.
The bad guy is the
same bad guy we have seen before bent on destroying worlds or people. And….
Well you get the point. Nothing new to see here either.
The movie does have
a few redeeming qualities, like Karl Urban's portrail of Dr. McCoy. The only one
of the crew that seems to have any actual acting talent. Well, him and Sofia Boutella as
Jaylah. I'm slowly becoming a fan of hers, after Kingsman and this. But Urban's
and Boutella's performances aren't enough to makeup up for a copy and paste
script co-written by Simon Pegg. He clearly was heavily influenced by the check
and what the previous Abrams produced movies have done and that's copy previous Star Trek movies. It worked before so might as well keep doing it right?
The movie jumps from
one unbelievable action scene to the next and expects us to buy into a 100 year
old spaceship that crash landed on a planet and was never meant to fly in an
atmosphere can suddenly fly again. Yes, just like an airplane built in 1916 can keep up with a
modern jetliner.
The movie does
eventually end with… big surprise… a fight scene between Kirk and the bad guy
and Kirk winning…. There's your spoiler. Or was the enterprise blowing up the
spoiler? Oh and the emotional arc setup at the beginning with Kirk and Spock…
it doesn't really pay off.
Justin Lin's
directing works for the Fast and Furious franchise because it doesn't try to be
something it's not. Star Trek used to be something more than it currently is.
Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek this is not.
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