Movie Buzz : Star Trek – Spock On !
I came to the movie from the perspective of someone who has never watched a (full) single episode of Star Trek in my entire life and a strong dislike for the show itself. I associated Star Trek with words like “boring”,”dull”, “predictable” (which I’ll come to that later) and “weird”. I am not a big fan of Sci-Fi films but I gotta say that JJ Abrams has it “Spock on” for me this time. (Sorry, just had to be cheesy there. Haha!) **slight spoilers**
I thought the movie was quite well done in the sense that it chose to appeal to the wider mass audience instead of just Trekkies alone. For someone without knowledge on the whole Star Fleet and Star Trek characters, I found it quite easy to follow and the script was nicely put together by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.Parts of it was witty enough to make me laugh and the characters were likeable because of their optimism and hi-energy. A good mix of CGI and SFX, especially the use of “dead air” in some of the scenes, it really captured my full attention and gave me a fright when the audio blasted off ! I liked the movie so much so that I might just watch the next one that hits the big screen.
I mentioned earlier that Star Trek has always been too “predictable” for me, this time round it is not anywhere better. The story is great but you can almost predict Kirk’s next decision or the future Spock being on board. And Spock, like all the nerds in movies, gets the hot girl while Kirk continues his father’s career/dream. Not forgetting the blossoming friendship between the two leads. Come on, it’s just like everyone dies in the movie except James Bond,walking away with the hot babe(s).
With Spock dominating almost 90% of the movie, I thought the casting was reasonably good. Can you imagine Chris Pine being Spock ? (and here’s my very badly photoshop-ed version of him being Spock incase you have a poor imagination) What a waste of drool-worthy looks right? Sheesh, wassup with the weird hairdos in Star Trek anyway ? 
Can someone please explain to me ! Anton Yelchin as Chekov was a good pick, he kinda lifted the mood and makes you wanna go “awww, what a cutie pie” with his funny accent. Chris Pine as Kirk is definitely loveable ,charasmatic, charming and immature enough to believe that he’s Han Solo reborn (as some of the Star Wars/movie goers mentioned). Simon Pegg as Scotty added comic relief for being the most realistic “human” in the show. Oh, Dr. McCoy (Bones) the character is quite funny too.
However,with a low attention span, I find the movie quite slow paced and the combat scenes (not the black holes and space battles) were really disappointing. I liked the opening sequence, great backstory with an emotional touch (like Kirk’s mom having to go through labor herself while the heroic dad decides to end his own life to save the rest of his crew) This movie is bound to gain a new generation of Star Trek fans !
Overall, I would say it’s a good movie but not my favourite pick in the box office. Watch it if you have time – else, I’m sure there are better movies out there ! (unless you are a Star Trek fan of course !)
Tags: Alex Kurtzman, Anton Yelchin, Bones, Chekov, chris pine, jj abrams, kirk, McCoy, Roberto Orci, scotty, Simon Pegg, spock, star trek, star trek movie, starfleet, trekkie, trekmovie, Zachary Quinto 
