Star Trek (Abrams, 2009)

While sci-fi and action movies are not at all my cup o' tea, I did not particularly hate Star Trek (J.J. Abrams, 2009) as I thought I might. I had expected the film to make very little sense to me as someone who has never watched any Star Trek of any kind. I was proven wrong on this count. The film does very well to cover the whole story and characters, so as not to leave the 'non-trekkies' out, while still I'm sure being entertaining to long time Trek fans.

I believe Star Trek ultimately accomplishes what it set out to do: entertain. It is a fun ride for sure. I did not find myself checking the clock, or wondering how much longer the film would be. I am definitely glad I watched it on Blu-ray on a 50" HDTV with good sound.

I must say though, there were a few ho-hum moments for me. Some of the explosions and hand to hand combat just went on far too long, and or did not relate to the story. The scene early on when James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is a child (Jimmy Bennett) is just ridiculous. I understand the purpose, it makes Kirk look like a badass who is really good at driving things. This was pretty unnecessary in my opinion.

Kirk was a huge problem for me throughout the film. I did not feel any emotion about him, ever, except that he is a jerk. I am pretty sure that Abrams meant the audience to feel some "Go Kirk!" emotions, but I most definitely did not. The two Spocks (Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nemoy) on the other hand did pull some heart strings, and I really was rooting for the Vulcans to get out safely.

The one thing that really bothered me with Star Trek is probably something that goes unnoticed by many viewers. It is the CG lens flair/artifacts. There is a weird streaking across the screen, usually blue tones, through a great portion of the film. It seems as if it is an aim at creating a lens flair effect, but the streaking acts nothing close to the way light reacts on a lenses surface. It is obnoxious and is distracting. It does not really obscure the frame so much as just take the viewer out of the story.

With its problems, I still enjoyed Star Trek more than I thought I would.