Star Trek (2009)

I know I'm a bit late to this. I actually saw it twice when it first came out, but with German dubbing, so I wanted to wait until I caught it in English to talk about it. And a good thing, too. I have never seen the show, so most of my knowledge of Star Trek comes out of Wrath of Khan and Galaxy Quest viewings. This means various references went over my head but whatever, it's a pretty cool movie either way.

Star Trek is the origin story of James Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto), who both end up working on the Starship Enterprise for their first mission. The day he was born, Kirk's father died piloting the USS Kelvin during an attack from highly-advanced Romulans led by Captain Nero (Eric Bana). He grows up to be extremely cocky and irreverent, but also intelligent and likable. Spock grows up dealing with his dual heritage- his Vulcan side is all "Don't show your feelings! Just study all the time!" and his human side is like "Dude, go punch everybody in the face". It's tough. He becomes first officer on the Enterprise while Kirk sneaks in with the aid of his best friend Dr Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban). Also along for the ride are inexperienced pilot Hikaru Sulu (John Cho), Russian prodigy Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin), and Uhura (Zoe Saldana), the lady. Just kidding, she does communications stuff or something cute like that.

When a gigantic, hostile Romulan ship asks the Enterprise's Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) to come aboard and negotiate, Kirk realizes it's the same situation as the USS Kelvin, and warns against it. Despite breaking regulations to be aboard, Pike makes him first officer after promoting Spock to captain, unsure of his chances of getting away alive from the Romulans. Turns out those guys are totally destroying planets (not like Dark Phoenix, more in a Death Star way), so it's up to Kirk, Sulu, and some other guy to stop them from blowing up Vulcan while Spock goes to rescue his parents and Pike boards their ship. Many exciting things happen, as well as some sad things. Kirk thinks they should go rescue Pike right away because he is probably being tortured for Starfleet secrets, but Spock thinks they should go back and regroup with more ships, which would take much longer. They get in a fight, Kirk goes to Hoth, gets help from a highly unlikely source, meets tech wizard Scotty (Simon Pegg), and soon enough it's time to take charge and fight the bad guys! Yeah!

I found this movie so fun. It's not mind blowing or groundbreaking, but it's really just such a good time. I didn't have to think too much, but I didn't have to "shut my brain off" either. Everyone is really likable, the dialogue is sharp and fun, and of course the effects are spectacular. I can't remember any boring moments. Chris Pine is super attractive and has a great swagger, while Zachary Quinto makes good use of his "pretentiously inquisitive" look. Anton Yelchin remains absolutely adorable no matter what his accent is, and I really liked John Cho as Sulu but unfortunately he's really only in one big scene. Naturally, Simon Pegg rocks the Scotty thing, and Leonard Nimoy fights the North Pole version of the Cloverfield monster.

Then there's Uhura, who starts off pretty awesome with her obvious intelligence and disdain for Kirk's flirty womanizing. I was excited to see what interesting and helpful things she'd be doing on this mission, and how she'd fit in with the otherwise almost completely-male cast. But then she just sort of... fades away. She shows up once or twice to ask Spock if he needs any sexual favors or to wear a headset, and that's pretty much it. And all of this is done in a mini-skirt and go go boots. Really? Everybody else gets to wear pants and long-sleeved shirts, I even saw some background female crew members in pants, while she has to run around in such a dated and (I'd imagine) uncomfortable outfit? I understand it's like a reference to the 60's outfits of the show or whatever, but jesus this is supposed to be an "update". It is not progressive to just have a black woman in your "mixed-ethnicity" crew. She should also not be the sexualized, girlfriend character (or at least be more than that). Sigh.

Aside from issues like that which maybe didn't bother the bulk of Star Trek viewers (though I know I'm not alone), it's a really rad movie. I've heard complaints of Captain Nero's lameness, and I guess that's pretty true, but it didn't affect me too much when watching the film, since the focus is more on the Enterprise and the relationships and trials of the main characters. Plus the Romulan Ship was awesome with a very interesting design. The movie's got spaceships, time travel, a green lady in her undies, a car crash, explosions, a sword fight, and an aged Winona Ryder, for some reason. Lots of fun, a great theater experience, and I have hopes that it will only improve with the next installment. Now that these main characters have been introduced, I'm ready to see more stories with the secondary cast members, and perhaps some new people who aren't so pale. Or (gasp!) a female script writer.

4/5