First time watching a Star Trek film

Last evening I went to see the new Star Trek film, I’ve never seen a Star Trek film before and I’ve never seen the TV show either. Something about the series never appealed to me, even as a child when science fiction was especially interesting and appealing. Star Wars dominated my childhood, and left no room for competitors. Only one “Star” series for me, thank you very much.

So I’m not really sure what tempted me to go see this movie. Maybe it’s because I hadn’t been to the cinema in what felt like ages, or maybe it was a subconscious lust for big explosions and special effects. Maybe there was some appeal in it being a remake, or reboot, of the franchise. That leading me to believe I could finally find some appeal in this Star Trek business.

So how did it stack up?

To be honest I’m having a bit of a tough time deciding. I really didn’t dislike the film, but at the same time I didn’t like it either. My first Star Trek experience left me completely indifferent. The story in my opinion was good enough. I think there was enough there to satisfy all of the Comic Book Guy-esque nerds in the audience, but at the same time it was simplified enough to work on the people that knew nothing about Star Trek.

The casting is in my opinion where things begin to unravel, everyone is so young clearly the director and producers were making a strong effort to try and appeal to a younger audience. In that effort they filled the film with a lot of silly humor that really seemed to fall flat and seemed out of place in the film. I can say that at times it felt like Saved By The Bell meeting Star Trek. Chris Pine, who plays Captain Kirk, reminded me more of Zack Morris than anything else. This is especially in the scene were he tries to get into bed with a green Blanka looking alien. The only one that really saves himself is Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock. He was fantastic in his role and the only character that really pulled you into the story and dilemma.

The action sequences are the likely to be the films saving grace in most audiences, heck it’s one of the reasons I went. Unfortunately I felt a lot of them could have been done better, which is a shame because we’ve really come to fantastic point in what can be achieved with special effects. In most of the action sequences things get too jittery and blurry on the screen. It’s something that worked well for JJ Abrams, the director, in Cloverfield but really bothered me in this film. Something also needs to be said about the dimensions of objects in space. It felt like the U.S.S Enterprise’s dimensions grew and shrank as the director and effects guys felt was convenient, a bit of a miss in my opinion.

Lens Flare would have been a great title

I can’t close out this post without commenting on all of the freaking lens flares in this film. There was a time in Hollywood when a take would be marked as bad if there was a flare in the camera lens. Things certainly have changed. This film is filled with lens flares in nearly all sets & locations, and from start to finish. Since this movie will be undoubtedly compared to the Star Wars prequels we can say that the lens flare is to JJ Abrams what the screen wipe is to George Lucas, or in simpler terms … over used.

My verdict?

Wait for the DVD release.