Star Trek Blu-ray Review

Does the Blu-ray boldly go where no man has gone before?

The creative team, through some crafty writing, also manages pays respect to both the original crew and prior Trek films, without forcing themselves into a corner with pre-existing canon.

And I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying that Leonard Nimoy has a pretty significant and clever cameo, one that paid huge dividends by luring skeptical Trek fans aboard Abrams’ somewhat controversial reboot.

Yet, the film is filled to the brim with pointless scenes, and features a completely arbitrary villain that reaches the outer limits of believability.

Nero, played by Aussie thesp Eric Bana, has a backstory so riddled with holes that it resembles one of the many spaceships his character blows up throughout the course of the film (and he blows up a lot).

It is only compounded by the fact that there is absolutely no sense of urgency during the film’s running time, and Orci and Kurtzman balk at giving their stable of characters any kind of emotional weight (Spock being the only exclusion). Even when Nero’s character does something as destructive as blow up an entire planet, all you’re left with is a lingering feeling of indifference.

The young crew of the Enterprise also rises through the ranks so rapidly that it begins to feel contrived; by the end of the film, with nary an officer over the age of 35, the bridge resembles Star Trek: 90210.

And lastly, a lot of the film’s comic relief hinges on Orci and Kurtzman inserting established catchphrases into the script, which becomes a detriment halfway through the film. Both writers shamelessly wink at the audience, and it grows tiresome near the film’s third act.

What makes it all so frustrating is that the film is capable of being so much better than it actually is. The initial outline of a great story is here, it just needs a guiding hand to clean it up. The cast is great, but the character development is not.

For all the good things Abrams and his creative team do, they do about twice as many lazy things – which is especially aggravating considering the competency of the production.

You can’t help but think Star Trek is one film where the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

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One Response to “Star Trek Blu-ray Review”

1. Verizon Dare says:

   July 22, 2010 at 10:29 pm

   i believe it was a bit rushed, and disregarded some options that not many people discuss about. Everyone knows that almost all new smartphones have web, so why show that basic function at its bear minimum. Scroll up scroll down zoom in zoom out. Actually? which new phone doesnt try this? How bout speak about how the textual content rearranges itsself. Also the texting, very poor review. Why didnt you point out you need to use the mic and textual content together with your voice? Disregarded ALOT of other more vital options

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