The perfect Star Trek. Amen. The prequel. And who could have believed that it would work? And be exactly right. Well – maybe just a bit more than necessary of young Iowan Kirk getting into fist fights with people. He spent a lot of the movie with cuts and bruises on his face.
It is pitch-perfect Trek. The young Kirk and Spock and Bones (and where he got his name) – and Uhura, Sulu, Checkov, Scottie. Plus Captain Pike before his accident, a look at the parents of James T. and our Vulcan, meeting Nero, a very credible villain with a very ugly ship. And lots of falling off the edge of things and climbing out – must be a metaphor in there somewhere.
An entire page is owed to the casting – and to the work stations on the bridge. Plus the look at Star Fleet, set as always in San Francisco. The time shift brings changes, that will likely be carried into the next movies. The only that that does not pass muster, at least with me, is the new transporter. I much prefer the old one. But watching young Chekov manage this new one is a treat.
The folk who made this movie, most of them not around til late in the series and movies, have a sure touch, a real love for that special world – and a great way with Star Trek humor. Spock’s love scenes are quite something, too. Considering he’s a Vulcan.
I am ready to see it again, at Imax this time. I loved it in the neighborhood-yness of the Esquire – but those special effects will be incredible on the Imax screen. The wrap-up: a thoroughly and deeply satisfying return to the version of reality I’ve long preferred to the current one we’re wandering around in.