Movie Review: Star Trek

Lacking a real alternative to the evening, I, along with five friends, ventured out to see the new Star Trek movie last night. I have never seen a Star Trek movie, nor have I ever sat down and watched a full episode of any of the series, so I had no expectations going in.

That's not true. I did have expectations. I thought it probably would be some big budget movie that I couldn't get into because I had never gotten into any of the other movies or television series. On the other hand, I had heard that the movie was getting pretty good reviews, so I allowed myself to be dragged along to score some brownie points with the friends.

As the movie opens, we see the doomed crew of the USS Kelvin, including James father George Kirk sending his pregnant wife in an escape ship while he sacrifices himself to make sure his family escaped safely. Then we are introduced to James T. Krik, the wisecracking youngster who doesn't take crap from anyone and plays by his own rules. I'm glad to say Chris Pine's portryal of Kirk was in line with Shatner, but not as over-the-top as the man who created Kirk.

While Kirk's storyline was entertaining, the real drama came out of Spock's storyline. I'm not going to dive too much into the plot, but Spock's storyline drives the film.

At first Kirk and Spock are on opposing sides, carrying a certain amount of disdain for each other. Over time, a respect grows and by the end of the movie, a friendship is budding.

The movie runs over two hours, but a constant stream of action and special effects means the movie doesn't drag much. The movie has its share of plot holes and unbelievable coincidences (like Kirk being marooned on the very planet he needs to be), but they can be forgiven in the name of entertainment.

Sure, I'm not a fan of the television series, so I don't know how far they diverged from the series. I could understand if true fanboys are upset because they took liberties with the original.

In the end, the acting was decent, the action was well-paced and I didn't have to be a diehard; these things allowed me to be pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the film.