Over the weekend my lovely bride-to-be and I had the great pleasure of taking in the new Star Trek movie. As you know we weren't alone. Trek won the weekend with a whopping $79 million in receipts. Now don't worry...I'm not going to give away any major plot points...but I will tell you that this time a movie really has lived up to the hype. Both Jennifer and I were wowed by J. J. Abrams' effort to reboot the original Trek cast with a bunch of relative unknowns and little-knowns.
As a fan of the original series (to the exclusion of most of what came later) I was gratified by all the "inside" humor and nods and winks lent to the Shatner-Nimoy-Kelly years but the real story with this movie is, indeed, the story. Abrams deftly wove the traditional Trek lore with an "origins" story line that (without giving too much of the plot away) left itself plenty of room to change events and relationships that Trekkies have taken as gospel since the beginning.
The performances were spot-on. Make no mistake, these aren't actors doing impressions of the original cast. They're not caricatures either. But you'll see more than a few shadows of Shatner et al in the new movie. Casting was key here. A performance, no matter how great, that didn't fit in the characters invented in TOS would have been unacceptable to the faithful. But so would have the cinematic equivalent of "Jim Henson's Star-Trek babies." Abrams' cast walked that line perfectly.
The standout performance in my mind belongs to "Heroes'" Zachary Quinto. Not only does he look the part as young Spock...he captures the character and his struggle with his Vulcan-Human heritage precisely the way you would expect from such a being in his early 20's. Chris Pine's James T. Kirk grows into his Shatnerhood in fine fashion, with a bridge-taking flourish that belies his separation from the original Kirk earlier in the film. Simon Pegg of "Shaun of the Dead" fame charms as a brash, young Montgomery Scott, and Zoe Saldana's Uhura is, well, gorgeous in every sense of the word.
In all neither of us could remember a more pleasant experience in the theater in years. And whether you're a Star Trek purist or a neophyte I'll bet you'll agree.
Live long and prosper.
