J.J. Abrams' Star Trek and other things

09 May 2009

Gerard Wood

So we saw Abrams'  re-envisioned Star Trek at the IMAX a few days ago and, for once, our great expectations weren't misplaced. For sheer entertainment this is a superb movie - visually stunning, perfectly cast, moving and exciting from start to finish (well, it does lose some pace in the middle). For the most part the actors not only capture the essence of the iconic characters they've inherited, but they bring something new to the characterisation, notably Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), John Cho (Sulu) and Simon Pegg (Scotty). But without doubt, it is Karl Urban's Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy that is the stand out performance, Urban nailing DeForest Kelley's idiosyncratic creation with reverance and great humour. The plot doesn't bear thinking about too much (especially the necessary coincidences on which much of the plot hangs), but I will say that the introduction of an altered time-line is a really neat way of opening up a whole new universe of possibilities  for the Star Trek enterprise.