Star Trek

JJ Abrams' Star Trek is a reboot of the long running Movie/TV Series. When you do a reboot, you have to look at it with fresh eyes. Forget the original, make sure it satisfies on every level regardless of the established rules. This was not going to be Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek (actually, that died years ago anyway). It was JJ Abrams' Star Trek. Of course, that doesn't mean it lacks the feel of the what we know.

Actually, it fits into the canon as much as Enterprise, the Animated Series or other shows where it fits in if you decide to make a wedge. There is a scene where the crew of the Enterprise discusses alternate timelines and tangent universes to give us plenty of ways to fit this in with the rest. But I'm going to digress. That's fan talk right now, and I am being an impartial reviewer.

So, an Alien from the future has a deadly weapon that can create black holes inside of planets. He goes back in time to destroy the planet Vulcan because he blames Spock for the destruction of his homeworld. It's up to a qualified but sort of rag-tag gang of fresh faced officers to save the universe. So, in other words, it's what you think when you hear the word "Sci Fi".

It's a movie full of amazing adventures, great feats of heroism and bravery, beautiful new worlds and exotic locations (and exotic women), and it even manages to appeal to our best nature. In short, it's pretty much everything you want out of a summer action film.

Still, the story falls short. The villain is actually a very weak character. Unstable mentally, unnecessarily (and hilariously) violent, and is nothing more than somebody who seems to have been greatly misinformed. Perhaps if he had waited to read the newspaper the next day, he would have realized he was mistaken, and the movie would have never happened.

At times, I wondered what the writers were trying to say. A sci fi movie without some sort of statement about society? A grand epic, but nothing more than a vehicle for effects? The movie had enough action, sex, and humor to satisfy everyone else. Can we have just one thing to take home with us?

*** out of ****