I saw Star Trek last week at the Sydney premiere, and lo, it was very, very good. I exchanged a couple of incoherent words with John Cho (Sulu) and director J.J. Abrams afterwards, even! They were gracious, and also seemed genuinely excited that they were onto something, uh, actually good.
The film manages to stay pretty true to established Trek continuity, but also stakes out a mandate for Abrams and writers Orci and Kurtzman to follow their instincts and do whatever the hell they want. Basically, they both have their cake and eat it, managing to honour both the letter and spirit of Trek while being quite selective about what that might mean. It's a cross between a remake, a reimagining, a reboot and an unerringly canonical Trek movie. And through sheer chutzpah, it works.
And yes, Star Trek is all about chutzpah. It emphasises the brash, swaggering aspect of Trek over the elements of wonder and lyricism that are usually balanced alongside it; it's as if the film was made to answer one question: "What if we could take Shatner's Kirk seriously, and without irony?" This means emphasising some of the dodgiest aspects of the original series: a throbbing phallocentrism; essentialist ideas about "humanity"; a somewhat dubious politics of race and species; ridiculous green-skinned Orion women, etc. While technically unironic, this claptrap is still delivered with such verve and good humour that as with Trek generally, it hasn't dampened my overall enthusiasm. Basically, the unreconstructedness works much better than in Transformers. (And on the topic of humour, there was a lot of slapstick, and it wasn't terrible. It's the funniest Trek movie since, well, ST:IV. And possibly the best Trek since The Wrath of Khan.)
The new film uses the same "franchise surgery" strategy that Nicholas Meyer pursued in Khan. Spock's human half is unduly emphasised, which makes Zachary Quinto's casting make even more sense -- there's now a constant sense of suppressed rage to the character. I wonder how Quinto will refine his approach over successive films -- and yes, I think sequels are a no-brainer. And that refinement-of-the-future is my main worry, overall: will the franchise stay in hyperkinetic, spectacular overdrive mode, or will it also make room for the more stately and chin-stroking aspects of Trek? Time will tell. Also: little to no mindfuck. Generally, this is high-adrenaline, low-ideas Trek. Abrams' instinctive preference for Star Wars over Trek is consistently on display, but it's done with such panache, and the writing so loving, that I'm willing to forgive this. There is one huge opportunity for trauma and melancholy, slightly lost amongst this film's many explosions, that will hopefully be explored in the future, possibly much as Ron Moore's Galactica mined what the original so often repressed.
A grab-bag of observations: Classic catchphrases (and a fair few sound effects) from the original series are strewn everywhere, and somehow feel new. (Lots of "Dammit, Jim," communicator beeps, etc. Fans were greatly outnumbered at the premiere by glitterati, but the whole theatre seemed to cheer at the right moments.) Stuff that felt wrong in the publicity stills, like the bridge looking like a Christmas tree, work fine on screen. The idea that the Enterprise has lower decks that look like lower decks also works in context. Eric Bana's Romulan villain unfortunately had very little to do, as if he'd stepped off the set of the last movie, but the film's not really about him. Nimoy = slightly impish in his vintage years. The film also makes a retroactive co-option of slash, which is eyebrow-raising, but also undermining (in a heteronormative way) to the whole basis of Trek slash. Phaser pistols have a nice, mechanical action to them. The film's idea of Starfleet meritocracy completely stretches credulity, but you'll want to accept it. Certain aspects the TOS "Balance of Terror" continuity seem to be inexplicably circumvented, but fanwank should take care of that. A cinematographic emphasis on in-yer-face closeups made everything bold and fiery -- you could see Chris Pine's acne scars in their full glory! Alas, I found Pegg's performance as Scotty to be of variable quality. Kobayashi Maru! Kobayashi Maru! Kobayashi Maru! You also find out who originally programmed the Kobayashi Maru scenario! Given Abrams' enthusiasm for the endless Enterprise reveal in The Motion Picture, there was a puzzling lack of "Enterprise porn", despite its good looks -- it's all about the people. (And I'm not talking about depth of character, here. It's more about classic archetypes.)
Also, something you'd never guess would work in a Trek film, but somehow does: a soundtrack that features the Beastie Boys.
So despite some reservations, I was utterly charmed by this film. |
