Star Trek (2009)

I guess I should start with a warning that I watched this movie without immense amounts of Star Trek knowledge. In fact, a large amount of my Star Trek knowledge comes from an episode of Futurama. I think I've seen a part of an episode or two but never a movie. And somehow in my life I became familiar with phrases like "I'm giving her all she's got, Captain." and "Dammit, man! I'm a doctor, not a physicist!" Add to that the facts that director J. J. Abrams said this was made so anyone could watch it regardless of Star Trek background, and writer Roberto Orci has mentioned Star Wars influence and I couldn't help but be curious.

Ironically in a feature on the DVD, they discuss that they felt Star Trek was always like classical music while Star Wars was rock and roll and they wanted to bring some of that rock and roll to this film. Abrams specifically cites that he felt the Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back pace was what modern audiences needed.

So that makes it very interesting that the movie has such a stunted start. While it provides background on some of our main characters, most of it is also relayed later through dialogue that does just fine letting us know what we need to know. So instead of editing that early stuff out, it jarringly skips to a few minutes of one character's life here and another's there. Before you know it, it feels like five false starts and we're already nearly fifty minutes in before the film really gets going. The pacing gets better but the injections of comedy soon fade away and we're thrown into summer blockbuster-style action and it's just not quite as fun.

There are some great filmmaking techniques at play here though. Abrams actually followed the camera around tapping on it and shaking it to get a more organic shudder to action sequences. It's one of those things that you don't give much thought to but really helps make a sequence. ILM did the CGI work on this film and they actually had to find a way to replicate that shaking for consistency. They ended up putting a motion sensor on their desks and tapping it like Abrams did and voila... seamless style.

Abrams also hired kids to walk and run through certain sets to make them seem bigger than there were. It's a pretty brilliant shortcut to saving materials. In another sequence the characters are supposed to be quickly falling down towards a planet's surface so instead of hanging them upside down on wires, the production team built a platform and shot down at the actors standing on mirrors. The mirrors reflect the sky, it really looks like they're falling on film, and no one had to have all their blood rush to their head.

It's this kind of innovation and creativity that makes me curious as to what Abrams and his team have up their sleeve next. This effort was cooled by a story that could have used some more editing and more of a challenge for the characters. It was fun to watch and the acting was fine, but it wasn't anything fantastic.

Rating: 3/5
Recommended for: if you're bored and you like space but you're not a scientist