Star Trek XI Review – Star Trek Finds Its Bearings Again

As was the case for many Star Trek fans, I took the opportunity to check out JJ Abrams latest film “Star Trek” on its opening night last Friday.  Although a few months ago I was cautiously optimistic about this fresh take on the Star Trek franchise, as the movie’s release date drew near, I found I was more and more eager to see this latest interpretation.  After watching Abrams’ “Star Trek”, I feel a sense of elation and satisfaction that those very elements that drew me to Star Trek in the first place have finally returned in full force.

Obviously, as a review piece, there are going to be a few spoilers coming up.  So if you haven’t seen the film yet, do yourself a favour and read this review after you’ve had a chance to watch it.  As was the case with my review of BSG’s series finale, this review is a long piece, in part because there is so much to point out, but also because it’s the first time in a long while there’s been something new and noteworthy in the Star Trek universe worth discussing at length.  Also, like my reviews of BSG, my focus is not on attempting to explain, rationalize or dissect the technological aspects of the work, but instead the character drama seen within it as that’s what is of particular interest to me.  So if you’re ready, click on the read more link to find out what I thought of JJ Abrams take on the Star Trek universe.

Abrams’ cast – Old friends, new faces

As I wrote in my previous piece, I think the real reason for Star Trek’s longevity is the characters – specifically those of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy – and how their interpersonal dynamics affected their perception and approach to the situation they underwent.  This is a big reason why I enjoyed Abrams’ film as it seems that he understood this as well, that it wasn’t the clichéd notion of Star Trek offering hope for the future.  Instead, it was about offering compelling characters, people who we could relate to or empathize with, featured within an engaging and yes, entertaining storyline.

Of course, a great deal of that success falls squarely on the shoulders of the cast of actors who’ve taken on the daunting task of playing these legendary roles.  As a fan of the original series, I was a little concerned about whether these young actors would get me to see Kirk, Spock, and McCoy being played by someone other than William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley.  However, it didn’t take very long into the film for me to not only appreciate that these actors had indeed succeeded in making these characters their own, but in some cases, they even offered a whole new level of dimensionality to these well-known characters.

The best example of this has to be Zoe Saldana’s portrayal of Communications Officer Uhura.  While Nichelle Nichols’ version of Uhura did represent a step forward in gender equality 40-odd years ago, the reality is that her character was still sidled with the sexist baggage of her era in not once being given the chance to show strength of character or a firm resolve, let alone the opportunity to command the Enterprise when she was the most senior officer on the bridge. Saldana’s Uhura thankfully is free of this outdated preconception, demonstrating innumerable times a strong assertiveness and driven aptitude.  At the same time, she has moments where we see the empathic, nurturing side that was a strong element established in the earlier series for the character.  With Saldana’s Uhura, we don’t need someone to explain to us why she’s part of the Enterprise crew; her self-assuredness and complete professionalism left little doubt that few could do the job as effectively as her.

This is the key reason why I enjoyed the surprise twist that had Uhura and Spock involved in a romantic relationship.  The Spock character has always been a conflicted one, at least until the start of the original series’ movie run.  Saldana’s Uhura exhibits that balance of inner strength, intelligence, and compassion one would expect Spock to be drawn toward, all the more so after the death of his mother and the destruction of his homeworld.  Also, unlike Shatner’s bizarre pairing of Uhura and Scotty in “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier”, the relationship between Spock and Uhura reflects the obvious affection these two characters demonstrated to each other in the original series run.  In many ways, Abrams’ pairing of Uhura and Spock is less a prequel storyline element as it is a natural extrapolation of the relationship between these two characters beyond the seventy-nine episode run.  As the first entry in his vision of the Star Trek universe, it should be interesting to see how Abrams uses this relationship between Uhura and Spock in the to-be expected sequels to come.

The other pleasant surprise in the cast undoubtedly has to be Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard McCoy.  I have to admit that I wasn’t too sure about Urban in the part of Dr. McCoy.  But from the very first moment that we meet him on that shuttle transport, there was no question that his being cast in that part was one of Abrams’ brilliant moves in creating this film.  In fact, later on in the film, Urban is given the chance to utter McCoy’s favourite annoyance, one where he reminds people that he’s a doctor, not a moon shuttle conductor or whatever it is he feels others expect him to have knowledge or experience in.  While Urban had already won me over with his portrayal of McCoy from the earlier scenes featuring this character, his naturalistic delivery of this line almost had me falling out of my chair in disbelief, that someone else has been able to deliver this renowned McCoy line better than DeForest Kelley ever did.  Hard to believe, I know, but oh so very true.

As this was an introductory film to this revised version of the Star Trek mythos, it’s understandable that some characters received less attention than others.  And yet, after seeing the performances of all the actors playing these famous parts, I can honestly say that I’m eager to see their next adventure and with it, the new insights they’ll shed on these beloved characters.

Nero – A villain for the everyman

Since the release of “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”, fans of Star Trek have always looked for the next major villain to match the lasting impression left by the character Khan.  And yet, the truth is that Khan resonates with the audience not simply because of who he is, but because of the impact he had on the protagonist of the story.  It’s why I believe Star Trek has since struggled to find another Khan-type villain because the assumption was such a character had to be superior in some way when sized up next to our hero, instead of focusing on the degree of impact this character would have on the story’s lead.

That’s probably why I enjoyed Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman’s approach in creating Nero.  In this character, we don’t have another villain with super-powers or an intellect superior to Kirk’s.  Instead, we have just an ordinary man who as a result of circumstance and timing was given the opportunity and means to seek restitution from those who failed him.  Nero even admits in the film that he’s just an everyday worker who lived the life of an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay; he’s not some evil genius and he never claims to be.  Even his ship turns out not to be some device created to carry out his maniacal plan; rather, it’s merely an extension of his livelihood as a miner if not a potent reminder of the life he lost.

As a villain, Nero doesn’t walk with loud steps and rightly so since he’s not supposed to be the mustache-twirling, conniving bad guy we’d expect to see in one of those old James Bond films.  Instead, Nero is meant to be a tragic character, one who the audience can empathize with given the loss of both his worlds – one in the form of the destruction of his home planet and the other being the subsequent death of his wife and unborn child.  But the real stroke of genius is not the use of an everyday man who commits acts of evil brought on by his overwhelming sense of loss, but who turns out to be both the source of his feelings of betrayal as well as the means for him to exact his revenge.

Leonard Nimoy’s Spock – The return of the real McCoy, er, Spock

As a fan of the original series, what really got me excited about Abrams’ film was the fact that Leonard Nimoy would once again play the part of Mr. Spock.  In the days leading up to the film’s release, though, I tried to focus less on his involvement in the film so I could truly savour those scenes featuring Nimoy in the role he brought to life more that 40 years ago.  Although the first moment when we saw Nimoy as Spock did cause me to catch my breath, what was really exceptional about his presence was the story that Orci and Kurtzman penned for Nimoy’s Spock.

As I mentioned in the previous section, Nero is an atypical villain for Star Trek, lacking both the superior intellect or the creation of some new super-weapon that we’ve come to expect in this genre.  The brilliant move this film makes is that those very attributes are noticeably absent in the story’s villain because it’s the protagonist – Nimoy’s Spock – who turns out to be the one who provides it.  Not only is it Spock’s failed plan to stop the supernova which pushes Nero over the edge and transports both characters into this alternate reality, but Spock’s ship becomes the means for Nero to act out on his rage.

In some ways, Nero suffers a similar fate to Khan, being trapped for 20 years with the knowledge that his world was long gone and left to wait for Spock’s eventual appearance so he can begin his plan to make Spock appreciate the depth of his suffering.  As much as the story is about how these characters came together to form this crew, it’s also a story about Nimoy’s Spock and how his own actions put into motion the events seen in this film.  In that light, the low key nature of Nero makes sense since he’s not meant to be another autonomous threat that simply reared its ugly head, but instead he represents the consequences of Spock’s failed plan to save Romulus, something that we see at the end will have a lasting impact on the future films in this new series.

But Abrams also seemed to appreciate that the inclusion of Nimoy’s Spock would be an emotional one for fans of the original cast since many of us never thought we see these characters again after their sign-off in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”.  When Nimoy’s Spock said his goodbye to Chris Pine’s Kirk on Delta Vega, I was disappointed that Nimoy’s part was now over.  And yet, I also knew that this film was meant to be a vehicle to give these young actors a chance to show us their ability to take ownership of these legendary roles and make them their own.  When Nimoy’s Spock returned not once, but in two separate scenes – one to tell us of his fate and the other to essentially pass the torch – Abrams demonstrated a keen understanding of this emotional factor surrounding Nimoy’s participation and consequently, gave us those moments that fulfilled our anticipation of seeing Nimoy’s Spock again while still making sure we focused our eyes forward on what’s to come.

The Destruction of Vulcan – Finally, someone broke the frakkin’ reset button

One aspect of the film’s conclusion I was relieved to see dealt with the destruction of Vulcan at the hand of Nero.  The relief I felt came from the realization that Abrams did not resort to that tired plot device used in the modern Trek incarnations – the reset button.  By this, I refer to the plot device where the events that were shown over the course of the story are conveniently repaired and everything returns back to the way it was before the story began.  When the USS Enterprise was being pulled into the black hole near the movie’s end, I was beginning to worry that Abrams might have caved into the pressure of making sure everything reverted back to ‘normal’ by the end of the story, that some Paramount studio executive had advised him that he could do whatever he wanted so long as the characters return back to the starting point unscathed.  Fortunately, this was not the case and I wouldn’t be surprised if in the director’s commentary, Abrams admits that this scene was included partially because it would give him the chance to turn around, look the audience in the face and say “Gotcha!”.

While some fans might be upset over Vulcan’s destruction, along with the death of Spock’s mother, the basic truth of character drama is that it can only be worthwhile if the events told have a lasting impact on the characters, that it causes a significant change in their reality or perception.  That’s probably why Nimoy agreed to reprise his role as Spock since his character isn’t freed from his part in bringing about the destruction of his homeworld or the death of his mother.  Instead, he goes on to help his people re-build and attempt to repopulate the Vulcan race.  It should be interesting to see how this endangered reality the Vulcan race now faces will affect young Spock’s outlook in the expected sequels ahead.

Bringing back the funny

Another aspect that I enjoyed in this film was the incorporation of humour throughout.  In Abrams’ film, the humour not only played well for laughs (I was surprised at how much my wife laughed during the humourous moments at various points in the film, even at the ones I would have considered to be inside jokes, considering that she’s not a fan of Star Trek), but its inclusion provided a naturalistic feel to the conversational dialogue amongst the characters.  The humour here is not incidental nor is it simply played for laughs; rather, it serves to reflect the sense of familiarity and comfort shared between the characters.  By employing this conversational device, we don’t need any absurd dialogue lines to inform us of any existing chemistry/history between them – we can see it for ourselves through these humourous exchanges.  The approach taken by Orci and Kurtzman to include humour in their script also provides us with a clear impression that they not only understand these characters, but also the reason behind their longevity.

The future is looking bright

Leaving the theatre after the premiere last Friday, I couldn’t help but be impressed by what Abrams had pulled off in creating a Star Trek film that maintained the key elements of the franchise while at the same time creating a whole new universe to play in.  Not since the death of Spock in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” have fans of the genre faced the prospect that there were no sacred cows, that anyone or anything could be placed on the dramatic chopping block.  This is something that as a storytelling vehicle Star Trek has suffered from a deficiency of over its last few incarnations, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” being the exception of course.  By removing this sense of uncertainty, Star Trek ended up becoming safe, reliable and naturally, this led to a rather formulaic approach to their stories.  In Abrams’ film, it was clear that he couldn’t endanger Earth since that theme has been a recurrent one both within Star Trek (“Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”), as well as in other science fiction works (“War of the Worlds”, “The Day The Earth Stood Still” and of course, “Independence Day”).  With the destruction of Vulcan, Abrams not only removes something equally significant from the Star Trek universe, he also puts us back on notice to not take anything for granted.  From that vantage point, the dramatic story potentials he can create are endless because we can no longer anticipate what’s around the corner.

Philosopher Henri Bergson wrote:

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.

There are without question Trek fans out there who think Star Trek doesn’t need to change, that it still works within its original construct formulated 40+ years ago.  But as Bergson’s quote aptly points out, change is not only inevitable, it is necessary for things to grow and evolve.  The original series was never constructed to be anything other than a product of the 60s, though as history has shown, had the series been released a decade later, it probably would’ve been far more successful.  While fans like myself have kept Star Trek going for over 40 years, none of us can deny the truth that for the last decade or so, the franchise has been creaking under its own weight and starting to show its age.  Granted, for some fans the original Star Trek series harbours nostalgic feelings of their youth, of the doe-eyed sense of adventure and curiosity that all of us remember from our childhood.  But the time has come for Star Trek to mature, to evolve into its next stage where it can still entertain, inspire, and provide us again with that thrill of adventure and the exploration of the human condition.

As a long time fan of the original Star Trek series, I never imagined that I would be able to share the thrill and anticipation that comes with the arrival of a new Star Trek movie with my daughter.  Indeed, after Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the others set sail to that second star to the right at the end of “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”, I accepted the reality that this would be the last time we would see these characters again.  But now thanks to Abrams, I can take my daughter to see “Star Trek” as it graces the silver screen once more and share with her this latest adventure, as well as enjoy a few laughs with some familiar old friends.

Some other posts you may enjoy:

1. Star Trek XI – The Anticipation Grows . . .
2. JJ Abrams’ Trek XI Flick – It’s Not Your Daddy’s “Wagon Train to The Stars”
3. Landing A Parsec Award Nomination – It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This
4. Battlestar Galactica – Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow
5. Majel Barrett Roddenberry – A Truly Classy Lady Has Moved On
6. BSG “Daybreak, Part 2” – My Final BSG Review, Part 2

posted on May 14th, 2009 | 2 Comments » | Tags: Alex Kurtzman, character plots, drama, Entertainment, James Kirk, JJ Abrams, Karl Urban, Leonard Nimoy, McCoy, Roberto Orci, sci-fi, science fiction, Spock, Star Trek, Star Trek XI, Uhura, Zoe Saldana |