Film: Star Trek (Review)

For those who're rushing to the theatres...

A truly wonderful cinematic experience providing sensory treats in the form of saturated magnificent CGI imagery and effects that are so stunning, you may almost be convinced that they actually traveled out to space for shoots. The Director took up this franchise project and continued it in a vision unlike its predecessors, so non-fans do not have to worry about prior profiling of this series. Totally in a league of its own and stands out alone as a fine science fiction drama that features a remarkably synergic symphony of cast performance, which is often neglected by large scale productions. Best experienced in the Digital format for enhanced visual and audio effects (one such good place is The Grand Cathay @ The Cathay Cineplex).

For those who've spare time to read on...

This is what happens when you arm a Director like J.J. Abrams (creator of hit television series "ALIAS" and "LOST") with huge budgets. This man doesn't go out to flaunt what the money can do for the audience, but what he can do for us with the money. This is the man's second film directorial project (with Mission Impossible: III being his first that he blew us away with), but he has so much experience with television and film making already on hand (mostly from producing and writing). Abrams hit the right spot with his choice of blooming youthful cast as Star Trek owned one of the best cast synergies I've ever seen in recent years. Usually it's about one or two main characters, while the rest only deemed to serve supporting roles. This is evidently not so for Star Trek. Every character did their best with what little screen time they were assigned, clearly not allowing main leads, Kirk and Spock, to take the limelight for the whole 127 minutes. We have the ever eager Sulu who's always trying to prove himself of being capable of things, the energetic and positive Chekov who provided several candid moments with his quirky Russian accent. Scott gave us a few laughs with his "expertise" in teleporting transportation along with his alien sidekick while "Bones" McCoy never ceased to speak in Doctor's language.

Star Trek travels all the way back to how it all began for Kirk and Spock prior their Starfleet days in U.S.S. Enterprise, as well as how the other characters crossed paths with one another to finally find their place onboard the spaceship. Kirk and Spock, being two extremely different individuals of different species, learnt how to cooperate hand in hand while overcoming each other's shortcomings and differences and stood against a greater common threat - Nero.

This film felt so much more alive and rapid-paced than its predecessors, it was almost like a adolescent modern edition of the series. Abrams placed a heavier focus on the script and characters instead of satisfying fans and follow closely to the original, which ended up being a good thing for all cinema-goers, both fans and non-fans alike. Anyone can step into the cinemas to watch it without prior knowledge of the series. The first opening chapter of the film did more than sufficient to reel in converts by showcasing spectacular space battles and pulling the strings of emotions. Cast appeared positive and casual, giving this film a light-hearted overtone amidst the intensive space action sequences, allowing the film to be jovial with a light touch of humour. It owned several impressive cinematic qualities, including those mentioned prior as well as technical ones. The visual effects were absolutely mesmerising and spectacular to behold, which is why I urge everyone to catch the Digital format. Michael Giacchino did good on the soundtrack for this film too.

The title of the film may not be attractive to some as not all get excited over the Star Trek franchise, but do render J.J. Abrams an opportunity to show what his team and himself can be capable of. It'll be nothing less than a promising reboot to the classic series that entertains on multiple levels of amplitude. You will need to discard any pre-stereotypical mindset pertaining to Star Trek and view this solely as a general science-fiction flick of awe.