Mini-Review: Star Trek

“Star Trek” is ostensibly the tenth and latest film in the Star Trek canon, but it’s light-years away from past flops like “Nemesis” and “Insurrection.” Instead, it bears a much stronger resemblance to “Batman Begins,” the 2005 reboot of the Batman franchise. Both are perfect summer popcorn films, combining slam-bang action and geeky sci-fi wizardry. Both require more than the usual suspension of disbelief. Most importantly, both breathe new life into franchises that everybody thought were stone-dead.

Like “Batman Begins,” “Star Trek” doesn’t mess around with the central mythology. These are still the voyages of the starship Enterprise, which is still boldly going where no man—pardon me, no one—has gone before. Captain Kirk (Chris Pine, who, thankfully, chooses not to impersonate Shatner) is still hot-headed and impetuous, Spock (Zachary Quinto) is still coldly logical, and Chekhov (Anton Yelchin) still can’t pronounce the letter “w.” Director J.J. Abrams leaves everything in its place—with the exception of one planet-sized destruction, which will no doubt get the most fervent Trekkies up in phasers.

The biggest changes come, not in terms of substance, but in style. The earlier Trek films were marked by their plodding pace; the action scenes seemed a reluctant concession to the post-Star Wars conventions of science fiction. Not so with the new “Star Trek.” It begins with an interstellar dogfight between a Federation starship, captained by Captain Kirk, senior, and a hulking Romulan cruiser under the command of tattooed space-punk Nero (Eric Bana). The scene truly deserves the description of “kick-ass,” complete with glowing green photon torpedoes, tzzzping phasers, and a rather unexpected impalement.

Cut ahead a few years. Kirk the younger is now attended Star Fleet Academy, where he immediately runs afoul of a certain Vulcan professor. He also meets up with his other future crewmembers—helmsman Sulu, communications officer Uhura, and dyspeptic doctor McCoy. This is all prelude, though, and we pass the time waiting for them to get off Planet Earth and onto the bridge of the Enterprise. This, after all, is “Star Trek,” not “Varsity Blues: Starfleet Academy Edition.” Kirk finally gets his chance at interstellar glory when Nero, last seen turning Kirk’s father into spare photons, reappears and starts menacing the galaxy.

As to what happens next…well, the plot is really beside the point. Like “Batman Begins” and its sequel, “The Dark Knight,” “Star Trek” forces you to ignore the voice in the back of your head that howls, “What? What???” at every new and absurd revelation. There is time travel, miniature black holes, planetary implosions, and a mysterious McGuffin called “red matter” that might just tear the entire galaxy apart. Kirk—whose jump from snot-nosed cadet to captain of the Enterprise boggles the mind—leads his crew on a zippy trip through space as they try to stop Nero from pulverizing the Earth. Kirk broods and sulks, as is required in any Star Trek movie, but he spends the greater part of his time trying to foil Nero’s schemes.

This is where Abrams and his film come through. Action sequence piles on action sequence, but we never get bored amidst all the photon-blasting and sword-fighting (yes, it seems that the people of the 21st century have rediscovered the utility of a good old broadsword). Every scene becomes an excuse for a chase scene or a firefight. Take, for instance, the scene in which Kirk and Scotty—yes, THAT Scotty, played with impeccable timing by Simon Pegg—beam aboard the Enterprise. In a lesser movie, that might be that. But Abrams turns it into a thrilling setpiece, as Kirk has to keep the ill-fated Scotty from getting chopped to pieces in the Enterprise’s water-coolant system. Certainly, it’s the most exciting scene involving water treatment you’ll ever see.

Amidst all the biff-boom-pow space opera, the callow cadets aboard the Enterprise slowly grow into hardened space veterans. Credit the actors for their uniformly strong performances. Chris Pine does a fine job depicting Kirk’s transformation from party boy to the captain Trekkies know and love. Quinto somehow makes the emotionless Spock the heart of the movie; he’s the most appealing character, by far. Yelchin and Pegg provide the comic relief, and Zoe Saldana brings the eye candy as Uhura—they still have miniskirts in the 21st century, after all. John Cho, as Sulu, does…whatever it is that Sulu does aboard the Enterprise.

The only weak link comes in Eric Bana’s Nero. It is difficult to tell what sort of villain he’s shooting for. At times, he seems to aim for a grand, majestic villainy, a la Ricardo Montalban in “The Wrath of Khan.” Other times, though, it looks as if he’s trying to be the first hipster villain in Star Trek history. He has tattoos, for the love of God! His muddled backstory, bogged down as it is in the marshes of time travel, doesn’t help things. Whenever Nero’s on screen, it gets harder and harder to suspend our disbelief, which in turn brings out the absurdity that the movie otherwise glosses over with great success. Forget Nero; I’d rather watch the crew of the Enterprise bonding over some training exercises.

“Star Trek” certainly isn’t perfect, but no one should expect perfection from a summer popcorn flick. It delivers the goods you want—action, adventure, with just a hint of heart thrown in. The movie’s more than skin-deep, after all, and it’s likely you’ll find yourself caring about Kirk, Spock, and the rest. J.J. Abrams wouldn’t have it any other way. After all, that’s all the better for the inevitable sequel already grinding its way down the Hollywood pipeline. But heck—I’ll watch it. If it’s half as good as the new “Trek,” that’ll be money well spent.