mini-review: Star Trek
Am I a true trekkie? Probably not, I don't even have the pajamas. :-) But I'll admit to being a long-time fan, from the original TV series through most of the spin-offs and movies. I had a blast at the new Star Trek film last night. It's very well done, intense, clever, campy, with plenty of insider references, but still a fun ride even for the uninitiated. The theater we went too had actually over-shot the number of screens they needed to schedule, so the room was not crowded at all, but that didn't diminish the fun of sharing the experience with others. I was with a group of a half-dozen guys and we all had a good time. Some were long-time fans, others had no frame of reference, and everyone enjoyed the show.
The actors did a great job of portraying the classic characters in their full personality, extrapolated back to their prequel younger selves. The writers deftly avoided any nit-picking quibbles about historical consistency with the other shows and movies by neatly packaging everything in an alternate reality, courtesy of meddling time-travelers. Some might see that as a cop-out, but I found it to be a relief, in that I didn't have to waste energy trying to figure out if everything made sense in context with everything else. The plot wasn't very deep, but it provided enough of a framework to get us from point A to point B with plenty of action along the way.
Definitely a thumbs-up for me.