(The following review contains spoilers:)
Oh boy, another remake. Fans were obviously justified to be a little worried when it was revealed that Star Trek would be remade for a modern audience. The usual shopping list of remake fears were discussed amongst fans online: MTV-style quick cutting, blaring rock music, B-grade teen actors. Hard core Trek fans were upset that this would just be another by the numbers remake. Thankfully, they didn't have to worry.
From the opening credits, there is no awkward supposition of previous events; the Trek builds backstory, presses for character interaction and starts exactly from scratch, which may or may not annoy die-hard fans as it follows no particular timeline but its own.
Director JJ Abrams has delivered a rejuvenated a sense of adventure and fresh energy to a series that was on critical life-support. Just as Casino Royale saved Bond from the cheesy squalor of an aging spy, Abrams took hold the reigns of a creaky battleship and brought humour and life back to the Enterprise.
This new Trek is a balls-to-the wall action/character piece - more Top Gun than the Next Generation, more Mission Impossible than Battlestar Galactica and more in your face and gun-ho than any film featuring fast and furious muscle cars will have you believe in the coming weeks.
Things are markedly different in this Trek world. For instance, there's an early chase scene cut to the pulsing thrombosis of the Beastie Boys Sabotage, which in the context of its "earth vintage" sound, works perfectly to mark the arrival of a young James T Kirk- a subtle nod to the youthful rebelliousness of the Beastie Boys buoyant lyrics.
There are also plenty of nods to the older series, including a time travelling sub-plot involving the original Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and a fetching musical rendition of the original series theme during the closing credits.
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