Movie Geek: Star Trek's new Enterprise is worth boarding

Movie Geek | Dec 5, 2008 10:14 AM

Let’s not beat around the bush: we’ve seen exclusive footage from the long awaited Star Trek reboot, and this isn’t the Enterprise of old. Star Trek is back, but maybe not the way you expected. See the trailer here.

The new Trek is a ballsy, in-your-face modern action movie that supplants old school intellectualisms for bigger explosions, cerebral chatter for juicy special effects and the aging original cast for a younger and much sexier set of new recruits.

Star Trek (Trailer C) - Funny videos are here

Paramount have bet the house (and a huge budget) on the hopes of attracting an entire new audience to what has been essentially been a geeks-only clubhouse. From the footage we saw, it’s possible that your sister may even like this film. Scary, but true.

The new recruits; thin on experience and low on age, virtually melt the screen down with their modern sexiness – though it’s not quite the feared 90210 soap opera in space we had heard. There’s definately that ‘teens/young adults save the world’ vibe though – take from that what you will.

The new film starts from scratch; a fresh cast of new faces playing familiar Trek roles in an era, roughly set around the beginning of the Star Fleet command when Kirk and Spock were buddies, or for much of the film as the director informed us - bickering enemies. It’s a complete reboot of the aging series and that will either trouble or excite older fans from the get-go.

The Reboot and what it means to Star Trek

Remember these old guys?

Love it or hate it, but the modern reboot – that controversial process by which movie studios churn weather beaten celluloid memories (older, fading franchises) into shiny, freshly cast revisionist remakes - is likely here to stay. The success of Christopher Nolan's Batman and the new James Bond movies serve to highlight this growing trend.

Casino Royale for example (and its sequel Quantum of Solace), took an aging franchise on life support - injected a little artistic flair and stripped the character and tired plotting devices back to their core.

In other words, the reboot is as much about franchise resuscitation, as it is about verging away from a film’s broken, troubled past.

The new Trek revealed

The new Star Trek film, directed by JJ Abrams (Mission Impossible 3, Alias) is a perfect case in point for the support of a reboot. The franchise, which had already notched up 10 films in almost twenty years, was in dire need of a rescue plan.

The last film, Star Trek: Nemesis failed to meet success, bombed with $US67 million worldwide at the box office (a virtual pittance by earlier Trek successes) and remains a critical low point in the series. It was the final nail in the coffin for an aging Enterprise crew, and a reboot – no matter how potentially sacrilegious to the Trekkie code it may be, feels like the safest bet to relaunching the Star Trek brand to an audience of Facebooking Myspacers.

Some will sulk at the inclusion of hot young things zooming around space like the set of a High School Muscial production. Still, the scope of this reboot is huge. And you can see every dollar on screen; the CGI is particularly good - and the use of shooting more on location is to be commended.

This baby starts fresh off the bat. It's a little darker, more populous and very entertaining from what we've seen - so fanboy haters be dammed.

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Abrams introduces the first important scene to us: our first glimpse of Captain James T. Kirk as a young firebrand. After trying to score a rookie chick in a bar scene lifted straight out of the Cantina in Star Wars (including a motley selection of drinking aliens), this troublesome, cocky and undeniably handsome young star (played by Chris Pine) gets into a major tussle and has his ass handed to him on a platter.

The young Kirk drives a souped up Motorcycle, flashes confidence as only Tom Cruise could have done as a young Maverick in Top Gun, and gets given the whole ‘your father was a great leader/fighter’ story, even if that has been done to death a zillion times before in this genre. At times, we could have sworn Kirk was going to break out and scream; “I feel the need for speed”.

The cutting in the film appears to have a Michael Bay inspired slickness. Fortunately, JJ Abrams is a disciplined filmmaker and you’re given a little more time to breathe in this Trek universe than with other modern action films of genre. Thankfully, no Bourne-style shakeycam here - that would've killed it for us.

Cinematography is mostly A-grade; there are some very pretty long shots (particularly when we first see the Enterprise), pulsing action pans and sweeping landscape frames that gave us flashbacks of young Luke toiling around his home planet of Tatooine in Star Wars Episode IV.

The production design of the Enterprise ship is a loving homage to the original. If anything, it feels much bigger and grander. Giant gaping hallways, massive control rooms and huge operating decks all help to transform this film into a more realistically imagined version of a naval aircraft carrier floating on a peace mission in space.

A bunch of old names reappear as younger faces: Kirk, Spock, Scotty and Sulu. Leonard Nimoy even makes an appearance – but we won’t tell you how it comes about, unless you’ve already checked the film's IMDB page and then of course, it spoils the whole thing. His appearance helps to justify the connection between this film and the older sequels. Eric Bana looks good as the main villain, Nero – and makes use of what chewy lines he has. And yes, there is time travelling, skydiving and plenty of alien fist fights on show.

The new Trek will be released worldwide in May next year, when we see if JJ Abrams and crew can persuade wider audiences to believe that this Trek isn’t just for hardcore fans. The film has potential to go mainstream. Though it may not please everyone, especially Trekkies, it should be worth the wait to find out. Until then, live long and prosper.