I had the absolute privilege of previewing thirty minutes of one of 2009’s most anticipated movies,
Star Trek. I am pleased to write the film is set to be an epic science fiction adventure that is more in the vein of
Star Wars than the original
Star Trek series. Expect some strongly worded posts and rioting from trekkie purists.
The
Star Trek series revolutionised science fiction by providing an optimistic, hopeful view of the future in the early '60s. Almost half a century later after countless film and television series the franchise was in a decrepit state. As seems to be too common an occurrence, after a great idea has been milked dry, Hollywood resorts to a “reimagining” for further profit. Starting from scratch, the new
Star Trek film goes back to before the original series to tell the story of how the crew of the USS Enterprise came together.
Director J.J. Abrams (
Lost, Fringe, Alias) is at the helm for this outing and from the few scenes I was able to preview it promises to be an incredibly entertaining film. The key issue was recasting the iconic characters of Kirk and Spock, as personally the success of the film depended on this decision. I am glad to report that
Zachary Quinto (Sylar from
Heroes) as Spock and
Chris Pine (
Smokin’ Aces) as Kirk are perfectly suited for the roles.
I was most impressed by Pine’s performance as Kirk as I was concerned he would simply resort to a
William Shatner impression, stunted dialogue and all. Instead, it comes across as a homage by subtly mimicking some of Shatner’s idiosyncrasies but still creating a new character. Along for the ride are
Eric Bana as an evil Romulan with nefarious motives and
Simon Pegg as Scotty.
The action scenes previewed looked spectacular with a clever mix of CGI and skydiving stunt work that was highly frenetic and entertaining. This may reveal the only point of contention, as it does seem like a much more action-oriented film than standard
Star Trek fare.
It is too early to tell if the film will do justice to the series but the clips set up a thrilling ride with a great cast and some welcomed winks and nods to fans of the series. Although initially sceptical, after the screening my enthusiasm levels have gone through the roof. Maybe a “reimagining” was what the series needed after all.
We will all find out when it opens in Australia on the 7th of May, 2009.
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Preview by Sebastian CordobaYou can view the Star Trek movie trailer here on TheVine.