Director J.J. Abrams
This year's Star Trek is something that Trekkies the world over will love 's for the rest of us, I don't know if it will be this year's best film.
The thing that struck me immediately as I left the cinema, is that I lost count (only having 10 fingers) of how many dubious plot holes there were. Of course if you were a Trekky, these would probably make sense, but if you hadn't religiously chronicled the facts of the original series in your mind, you might find yourself at a loss for what is happening.
"Star Trek XI" tells the story of young Captain James T. Kirk (Jimmy Bennett) and young Spock (Zachary Quinto). Kirk is discovered by an old friend of his fathers in a bar getting beaten to a pulp by some Starfleet officers. He is invited to join Starfleet and pay homage to his father's great reputation and encouraged to rise up the ranks to where he belongs.
In the mean time, Spock is growing up and struggling to fit in with his Vulcan culture because he is half human on account of his mother Amanda Grayson (Winona Ryder), who is from Earth. Vulcan culture values the suppression of emotions and he works hard to show that he is strong, rational and calculating.
Spock and Kirk meet and are in immediate conflict, but have to learn to fight together to battle with the evil Nero (Eric Bana), who has come back from the future to punish Spock for something he did many years later.
The film of course is flawless in terms of visuals, as all Hollywood films are, but lacks basic characterization and plot building leaving it hideously mediocre in this regard.
I would have liked to have seen more of the bad guy, Nero, as he is the catalyst for the relationship-building between Spock and Kirk. What happens though is the audience is left to assume that he is just pure evil given that he isn't very beautiful and kills someone using a spear.
Highlights of the film were the throwback to the original when the doctor says "Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor not a physicist!" and when Spock is asked "Are you out of your Vulcan mind?!"
Good for two hours of light entertainment, but don't try to make too much sense of it.
Now showing in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
