Review of Star Trek (2009) by Stefan G — 05 Jun 2015

In every possible way, I'd like to let the word be known that this was one of the most overrated films of the past decade. It tried to breathe new life into the Star Trek TV series by recasting the original characters into a new continuity, but it failed miserably, and the end result so far from everything Star Trek was about that it wound up being a mindless sci-fi blockbuster.

In this regard, the main problem was that the film's director, J.J. Abrams, wasn't even a fan of Star Trek to begin with. Under Abram's direction, the philosophy, nuances and intelligence of the original Star Trek series took a backseat to mounds and mounds of admittedly eye-catching, yet meaningless special effects.

The story itself is fairly strong, but it would have been far better if they had made a film that wasn't even called Star Trek, and even then, it's ruined be a narrative composed principally of nonsensical sci-fi, demonstrations of the awfulness of this film's Captain Kirk, and of course vengeance.

For me, the characters were the worst part. I found the film's reinterpretation of the Star Trek universe to be very shallow. I may not have liked the original Captain Kirk, but this film's Kirk makes the old Kirk look a lot more respectable.

Even worse is that they try so hard to recapture the original performances, but you know that they just won't do it. Either that or Kirk's attitude is so fundamentally unlikable that he drags the whole film down.

The film has good visuals, but it all seems extremely hollow. The visuals and the special effects serve as a very fragile mask for a terrible form. If that wasn't bad enough, the film bows out with the Star Trek theme, which should have been at the beginning of the film.

That's the same exact thing they did in John Carter, and that movie was even worse. Certainly this film had ambition, but I think it needed a different director, and a different direction. What many fans loved about the original Star Trek may not be found in a film trying to appeal a newer audience.

For me, trying to appeal to a mainstream audience was the biggest problem, because it means you see most of everything that made Star Trek great melt before your eyes in a sea of black holes and supernovas.