McTrek

Star Trek (2009)

Oh dear.

I will start by saying that I am not a massive trek fan, I have seen all the films and watched a fair amount of the TV shows when I was younger but that is as far as it goes. Having said that it is very hard to watch this reboot without reference to the previous cannon. Where I would say trek was at it's strongest was the original cast films, specifically 2-4 and 6 (so mostly the ones Nicholas Meyer had a hand in but not exclusively). For me those films really encapsulate the tone and style of trek, some depth of theme, good drama and some nice character work.

After watching the reboot I really think this film has brought out the worst in Hollywood. The whole premise is that an alternate reality is created so events and characters can be different but really that seems completely counter to the idea of making a new series with existing characters if they are not going to be the same characters we already know. What we end up with is a really bland “action adventure” in space which is just cashing in on the trek name. The plot has no thematic depth to it like any of the best trek films and actually has very little going for it.

Karl Urban's performance seems especially strange with McCoy's accent appearing and disappearing very erratically. The main big space battle is just a CGI spamfest with no tension or ability to work out what is going on. About the only part I liked was the idea of Kirk's father being a captain for only a few minutes to save lots of other people which is covered in the opening sequence.

If this was just a standard sci fi film I could see giving it at 3/5, it is fairly average and middle of the road but the problem is that it is attempting to be part of an existing franchise and in my opinion totally fails there so I have to give it a 2/5.