J.J. Abrams’s first foray into the Star Trek universe – while masterful in its scope and spectacle – started a round of criticism that continues into the latest Trek entries (Discovery, Picard, etc). So, let’s look back before our Red Shirt Rejects roundtable review and ask this simple question: Is this movie still good?
Editor’s note: I’m calling this simply a review and not a re-review or any other technical thing we’ve done in the past because as a site, while many of our staff saw this movie together, we never produced an actual review for it.
The Cold Open
If you were watching/listening to myself and fellow hosts Kyle Nelson and Trevor Law on our September 9th, 2021 podcast episode (Star Trek Nemesis), we started to make an argument for this movie having the best cold-open of any Trek movie. I believed that back in 2009 and I still concur with that for a few reasons, but the strongest reason is that it’s a self-contained narrative. You have immediate stakes as they are alone and will not receive assistance, staring down a massive ship that’s immediately hostile. You even have a subplot with Kirk’s father (Chris Hemsworth in a pre-Thor role) and mother (Jennifer Morrison) attempting to survive, only to make hard choices that end tragically. And visually it’s a treat to watch, that takes me to my next point…
J.J.’s Eye
It’s easy to pick on Abrams for his lens flare addiction in movies and it’s all over the place here; the bridge is brighter than New York during Christmas time. However, there are a few key shots where it works super well, like the cold-open as the USS Kelvin comes on screen and as the audience members, we’re trying to assess the situation through that bright, grainy lens. It helps build on the danger of the situation in a way that doesn’t feel tacky. And there’s a number of great shots that exemplify the best of Abrams, like the reveal of the completed Enterprise.
My favorite shot is definitely this one in the Vulcan debris field, just after we learn that they may be headed into a trap. It’s not a crazy chase sequence and feels earned based on Kirk’s deductions in the scene earlier. You’re entirely sure what to expect after our previous on-screen appearance of Nero, so smashing into this sequence and narrowing avoiding a collision, is a great pay-off for the past buildup. That’s another great thing about this movie…
Solid Script Flow
So the reason that scene in the debris field feels earned goes back to Kirk’s work on the bridge, pulling different pieces of information – like Uhura (Zoe Saldana) decoding a message about Nero’s ship, to referencing his own background which is informed by the previous scenes of training at the academy paired with Spock/Kirk’s different paths growing up. There are a few moments in the overall script we can nitpick for being underdeveloped, like Nero’s overall motivation and whereabouts (yes, I realize this is explained in subsequent media…but that doesn’t count). However aside from those gripes, this movie moves at a great pace, all built soundly, one scene after another.
Spock vs Kirk
For most of TOS (the original series, for non-Trekkies) and TOS movies, we’ve generally seen Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Kirk (Chris Pine) on the same side. There are definitely episodes where they have been opposed or not on the same page, but for the most part, their friendship has stood the test of various villains and factions the galaxy over. So this movie decides to ask a very poignant question: what if that relationship is never forged or occurs at a different time? What happens? Do their character traits keep them apart? The beauty in this film showing Kirk and Spock’s upbringing side by side is that it allows the audience to gather their own clues to answer that question. When Kirk and Spock spar regarding the Kobayashi Maru test, we get more insight into their characters, and this pays off later in the bridge scenes.
For one, even if you had never met Spock, you can infer that he’s an extremely logical person, so even he can’t refute Kirk’s argument about the trap and sides with him. It informs his decisions to clash with Kirk twice, and later why he gathers his resolve to help Kirk in the final battle. Consequently for Kirk, these moments represent opportunities for him to grow and later understand how to interact with Spock in a more tangible, meaningful way. For this relationship to blossom so strongly amid an action-packed background speaks to how well fleshed out these two were. It also doesn’t hurt that Pine and Quinto are bringing their A-game to help build that chemistry quickly.
Character Introductions
With the exception of maybe Scotty (Simon Pegg) and elder Spock’s (Leonard Nimoy) introductions (I’ll explain more in a moment), this film does a great job getting our crew together in ways that feel natural. Kirk running into Uhura and other cadets at a bar and failing at wooing her with his trademark charm (which doubles as an update on how Kirk is fairing with adulthood). Their continued adventures at the academy together as thorns in each other’s side. Kirk meeting McCoy (Karl Urban) when he joins the academy as a doctor and communicates that he’s at the end of his rope (leaving Earth due to his divorce while hilariously giving us his thoughts on the dangers of space). Later on, we get Sulu (John Cho) helming the Enterprise due to another helmsman getting sick and since all of the cadets are getting thrown in the fire, it provides reasonable explanations why our favorite crew members are getting these early opportunities. Chekov (the late Anton Yelchin) gets the short end with a fan service intro, but later has moments to show his expertise by saving Kirk and Sulu with his teleporter prowess.
As I said, the two intros that bug me the most are Scotty and elder Spock, though I admit given the time constraints, Scotty makes the most sense. At least they paired him with Kirk so that he’s running around with one of the key plot elements and it lets them forge a bond. Unfortunately with Elder Spock, he’s sort of a cheat sheet to the audience. Now, knowing that his actions are responsible for getting them into this mess, it’s fitting to have him eventually engage with the two. However, think about this from a non-Trekkie perspective: he nearly undermines the momentum for Spock and Kirk’s desperately needed resolution between each other. Kirk learns that he needs Spock, not through processing his own emotional and tactical shortcomings, but because of exposition delivered by Elder Spock. It works in this film, but unfortunately, it foreshadows a problem that will become apparent in the sequel.
Performance-wise, there’s really not a scene-stealer among the bunch, some definitely get more screen-time than others due to the plot, but they all do a solid job with their moments. The most impactful first scenes are likely McCoy and Scotty simply due to how well they nail familiar mannerisms and develop their own speech patterns. It’s also likely that Abrams’ experience with ensembles during this work on Lost paid off here so he could maximize impact with the other crew members in a small number of scenes.
Enterprising Giacchino
We can argue back and forth on when did Michael Giacchino come into his own in scoring movies, and you could argue he broke out with The Incredibles a few years earlier, and he definitely got nods from the movie score nerds like myself. There’s no doubt his music was a household staple in 2009, with the release of this movie and Disney/Pixar’s Up in the same year.
This soundtrack is simply masterful, it paces so well with everything happening on screen, and while some fans may not appreciate how it differed from the past movie scores, Giacchino was mindful to keep a thread from the past, which you can hear distinctly with his end-credits theme:
Again for the non-Trekkies, the music you hear is built off the original TOS opening score. Once you’ve heard this, you can catch other callbacks to the original theme throughout the entire score and even the main Enterprise theme is built off the beloved TOS opening theme. So again, while it definitely sounds different than the previous films, it’s very much in line with the tradition.
Conclusion
Going back to my initial question, yes this movie undoubtedly holds up well. It’s rather obvious to me now that issues here will spell problems for future entries and the fanbase is justified for not reacting favorably to every change that happened. Those concerns don’t invalidate the success of this film, how well it rebooted a wayward franchise, while being a solid summer hit to boot.
Score: 8.5 out of 10
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