The first showings start tonight, at 7:00pm. I’m sure there are already people lined up as we speak. To say this day has been hotly anticipated by every single Star Trek fan since the awful Nemisis debuted to $18.5 million back in 2002 is an understatement of epic proportions. This weekend we’ll get to see just how well J.J. Abrams’ new vision of Gene Roddenberry’s classic holds up under the scrutiny of die-hard trekkies and casual film-goers everywhere.

The movie is currently sitting at a glowing 95% on RottenTomatoes and looks like it could be the first big hit of the summer (I discount Wolverine mostly because everyone went to see it for Hugh Jackman and shiny claws). Is it better than Kahn? I’ll leave those comparisons up to you. Dan and I got the chance to see the movie last Thursday (don’t kill us, we’re just doing our jobs) and both had a really great time with it. Having seen it once since then, I can also guarantee that it holds up as well if not even better after a second viewing.

The purpose of this article was originally going to be to compare and contrast our viewpoints on the film. I was going into the screening pretty sure I was going to love the movie, and Dan was hell-bent on hating every big-budget minute of it. In the end we’re only a single letter grade apart, but given the already high amount of praise for the film thus far, that’s pretty much the range of reactions in a nutshell anyway. Without further ado, check out our two reviews below:

Star Trek

Review By: Dan Deevy
DanDeevy@TheCinemaSource.com

Movie Grade: B

OK before I begin this review let me just say that I still think The Next Generation cast had at least one more movie in them. If it hadn’t been for that hack imitating a director, Stuart Baird, Star Trek: Nemesis would have been an amazing success and would have led to one final adventure for Captain Picard and crew. But since that didn’t happen I was excited to see a brilliant movie blending the crews of Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager; kind of a best of the best all stars movie. But then that didn’t happen either. Pretty much the last thing I wanted to see was a whole new cast coming in pretending to be our beloved original seven. And of course, that’s what did finally end up happening.

Exhale an enormous sigh of relief fellow purists… it wasn’t that bad; in fact, a lot of it recaptured the charm and magic of the original series which I was thrilled about. However, the movie is far from perfect.

I went in to the film praying that the time travel nature of the story would make up for the fact that nothing looked right. The bridge looked like something out of Lost in Space or Galaxy Quest – nothing like the bridge we all know and love. The Enterprise itself had been drastically redesigned along with the crews’ uniforms and the overall look and feel of life in the 23rd century. Well, it turns out that all of that has happened because a bitter angry Romulan called Nero (Eric Bana) has gone back in time and changed history. The entire timeline from moments before Kirk’s birth to what the film presents as present day is totally different from what we all know as the true history of Star Trek. This was a brilliant move on the part of the creative team behind the film because now, they can do anything they want… change anything they want and it’s acceptable.

For me the plot of the film is almost irrelevant beyond the above points so I’m not going to go into any specifics about it. Suffice it to say when you sit down to watch this film, the plot will drag you in and you’ll be totally on board for the ride. The important things to talk about here are how wonderfully well these young actors stepped into the shoes of these legendary parts.

It was impossible for me to envision anyone else being Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy. The four supporting characters Scotty, Sulu, Uhura and Chekov were a little easier to imagine in different hands as their characters were never fully explored and realized. But the top three had such chemistry between them it seemed impossible to replicate. It was that whole lighting in a bottle phenomenon. While that statement is true, newcomers Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban came so much closer to it than I ever imagined they could – I was blown away! Karl Urban in particular embodies McCoy in such an honest and true way that I really believed I was watching DeForest Kelley when he was younger playing Dr. McCoy. Zachary Quinto nails several true Spock moments that solidify the character and Chris Pine plays the sexiest Captain the galaxy has ever seen! He definitely wasn’t channeling Shatner but was still 100% Captain James T. Kirk.

The special effects and action sequences are where I have the most problems with this movie. Star Trek space battle scenes are very different from Star Wars space battles; at least they were until this movie. Starfleet ships use phasers, which are solid beams of light firing from a few main locations typically on the saucer section. Rebel and Imperial ships in Star Wars use blasters which are short bursts of energy from cannon type armaments on the ships. Unfortunately J.J. decided that crazy frenetic cannon style blasters looked cooler and so all of the battle sequences have a very distinct Star Wars episodes I, II & III feel which was really disappointing. You never get that build up and tension leading into a battle or during the fighting of it that you get from all other Star Trek movies. Here you are thrown into these massive battles and it takes a while to figure out what the hell is happening. Normally the dialogue in a Trek movie will be, “Lock weapons on this and fire. Then lock different weapons on this and fire. Bring us around to attack from a different angle… and fire!” But here all we get is, “FIRE EVERYTHING!” and then craziness ensues.

I feel like if they could have stayed a bit more true to the franchise in a technical effects sense this movie could have been a total home run, but as it stands it will always be the least Star Trek of any Star Trek film. Some will say that’s a good thing – but those people are stupid.

Don’t get me wrong it was incredible to be sitting in a movie theater watching new Star Trek again for the first time in years! I had a silly grin of pure joy on my face for a lot of it and had a few spontaneous uncontrollable bursts of mini clapping to myself which only happens when I’m so pleased that I just don’t know what to do with myself. So it was a great experience. I just wanna know when these people are gonna wise up and consult me BEFORE a movie is made because with my alterations they’d have near perfect, flawless Star Trek film. I may not be an expert on much, but when it comes to Star Trek I really can’t be beat. And I guess now that J.J. Abrams is involved that’s a cool thing? Right?

And now for the more open-minded, non-diehard, teenager review…

Star Trek

Review By: Ryan Hamelin
RyanHamelin@TheCinemaSource.com

Movie Grade: A

The last film that managed to exceed my abnormally high level of fan-boy expectation was The Dark Knight. That should give you some context when I can say, unequivocally, that J.J. Abrams Star Trek left all of my preconceptions in the dust. The movie is a phenomenally solid sci-fi epic that boasts an incredible cast, beautiful visuals, and one of the best scripts of any film to come out this year. I mean it, this film is the kind of event that Trek fans have been waiting for since Star Trek the Motion Picture, and it’s a movie which manages to be entirely respectful to its source material while simultaneously opening its arms to the entirety of the movie going public (Watchmen screenwriters take note).

What works? Just about everything. From the pitch-perfect opening sequence, easily the most emotionally charged opener of any of the films, to the final bars of the classic theme with Leonard Nimoy delivering the “Space, the final frontier” motto, this film maintains a level of quality in every facet of its production that continues to astound me hours after leaving the theater. The sets are wonderful, even the updated bridge took a grand total of three minutes before it became familiar and homely, and the U.S.S. Enterprise has never felt more real. The space battles have been kicked up through the roof, and though they’ve acquired a more visceral Star Wars aesthetic, I think it’s truly a good thing, because they are spectacular on a big screen.

Enough can’t be said about the cast of this film. Everybody nailed every line, every nuance, while managing to never look like they were imitating anybody. Karl Urban, in particular, is quite literally channeling DeForest Kelley the majority of the film and the interaction between him and Chris Pine’s Kirk along with Zachary Quinto’s Spock really shines through from the original series. I spent the majority of the movie grinning from ear to ear as each classic line flew out of the mouths of characters I knew and had grown to love throughout my childhood. The familiarity was so tangible and real that I’m amazed something didn’t happen to disturb the near endless stream of terrific moments by the halfway mark of this film.

What didn’t work? Well, I know Dan’s going to have quite a few more criticisms than I do, but given he went in prepared to hate the film and came out enjoying it, that shows you just how solid a piece of entertainment this project is. On occasion the action seems to lull a little bit, but that’s really only in comparison to the rapid-fire pace of the rest of the film. The writers also get really close to dangerous territory when it comes to one relationship in particular, but they never go too far, and having read interviews with Gene Roddenberry bemoaning the fact that he never had the time to develop this particular relationship in the series, I’m happy they did their best to explore the possibilities there without falling into cliché or gut-wrenchingly bad melodrama. As long as Chris Pine is in the scene to offer a quip that brings the focus back where it belongs, the tangents never seem forced or too disconnected.

Now it’s time to address what I gather is a really big question for all of the non-Trek fans out there. Will you like it without knowing anything about the series? I think the answer is a definite yes. There’s guns, space battles, drama, intrigue, humor, explosions, and heart… all painted on the canvas of one of the most well loved sci-fi universes ever created. It’s also a time-travel story, so it goes back and introduces all of the original crew as well as the major themes of the show and all the different technological gadgets that they have at their disposal. It really is quite accessible, and the lines that will draw appreciation of a deeper sort from fans will still produce the same laughs and smiles from people looking for a good story and who can appreciate characters that have all the weight and candor of real people.

Is it perfect? No. Do they pull it off? Hell yes. They also manage to create a film that both Trekkies and the uninitiated will love for years to come. This film will make Star Trek cool, it’s true, but not through destroying anything that was great about it before, just by opening it up and telling a story that will emotionally affect a greater number of people. This is the movie that will validate all those years of fans saying, “No really, you should check it out, it’s really cool” and replace that with “Yeah, I’m a real fan, not one of you bandwagoners.” I think that alone is worth the price of admission. Hats off to Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman for doing the seemingly impossible and rebooting the greatest sci-fi franchise of all time in spectacular fashion. I figure they’ve got at least two more fantastic movies left in them, and then we’ll see what happens. Will these be the continuing voyages of a new generation of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy? Who knows? All we can say for sure is that as the U.S.S. Enterprise warps off on its next voyage into the unknown, the future of this franchise looks bright indeed.

So, there you have it. Now you know everything you’d ever really want to know prior to seeing the film, and just for fun, here are the newest TV Spots to help you on your way out the door. Drop us a line when you get back from the film and tell us what you think below. Live Long and… well… you know.

TV Spot #12

TV Spot #13

TV Spot #14