Star Trek

The following is a long form review that I originally wrote in 2013

I did like Star Trek. I did not, however, appear to like it as much as the rest of the whole damn planet.

I appreciate the decent helping of Australian actors in the mix (like personal favourite Chris Hemsworth, above). I can get behind the colourful and impressive special effects spectacle. Most of all I dig the reboot angle they pulled. The whole time travel/tangent universe thing is the perfect breeding of remaining true to the original, while still not constricting themselves to the old canon. Fantastic idea.

But I didnt love it. Im a big fan of origin stories, but I personally feel that Star Trek never really breached past that point. The first half wa...

A franchise re-energised-big time!

It's not an understatement to say that the news of a new Star Trek movie was met in equal measure by suspicion and pretty low expectations. Step forward J.J. Abrams to direct it, and many wondered while the guy behind TV series "Lost" and "Mission Impossible III" would want to dabble on hallowed sci-fi turf?. Things were further eyebrow raising when Abrams openly admitted to not having been a fan of the original show so cherished by a legion of Trekkies. Then news came of the film being a prequel, based around the Starfleet Academy and the coming together of what we know as the U.S.S. Enterprise crew. "Ooh that will be a tough one to carry off" said many, "Kirk & Spock as young spunkers - surely not" ...

I quite enjoyed this. It is a simple, end-to-end action adventure set in space. It doesn't attempt to moralise or philosophise, it is just an interstellar shoot 'em up. Chris Pine is pretty wooden, Zachary Quinto does a passable "Mr. Spock" and Anton Yeltsin seems to be having a good time trying to get the onboard computer to recognise his particularly thick "Chekhov" accent. Sadly Eric Bana completely lacks menace as "Nero" and Simon Pegg's "Scotty" is just plain irritating but the special effects are stunning. If you're just looking for a bit of brain fodder with phasers, then this is your film...