by Naoko Kensaku

Created on: May 03, 2009   Last Updated: May 04, 2009

If it is of any note to the moderators, I was part of a privileged few to have watched the movie one week before its release. I have not been embargoed to keep it a secret.

"It's like a lightning storm!"

"If what you're sending us is true... it's impossible!"

These are two of the opening lines that greet viewers when the new Star Trek movie begins. A retelling of the beginnings of Star Trek, the movie pulls in a solid performance from the cast with a great storyline that's not bogged down with technospeak. At the core of Star Trek, it has always been about exploration. Actor Harry Cho, who plays the young version of iconic Hikaru Sulu, likens Star Trek to being a cowboy in space.

And really, there's no other way to describe the new Star Trek movie.

The opening sequence of Star Trek 2009 shows a huge Romulan ship coming out of what seems to be a lightning storm. After an attempt to communicate with the ship, Nadara, the USS Kelvin is destroyed. During the destruction, George Kirk is captain of the Kelvin for 12 minutes, overseeing the escape of his crewmembers and ramming his ship into the Nadara to give them time to escape. The last words he tells his wife is that he loves her, and it ends with her crying to her newborn son, James "Jim" Tiberius Kirk as the USS Kelvin explodes.

This is then followed by a scene from the trailer, where the young Kirk has taken a relative's car out for a joyride. He's then apprehended by an officer, greeting him nonchalantly. The officer, who seems bemused, asks the boy what's his name, to which he proudly replies, "James Tiberius Kirk."

Far away, on another planet, a young boy stands in the bottom of an opened half-sphere. The computer asks him questions, and he replies in a cool, calm manner. After the session, a group of three young Vulcans beset him; they are trying to provoke an "emotional" reaction from him. The boy, a young Spock, calmly counts this is their 35th attempt. They gain no response from him, until they mention Spock's human mother. He attacks one boy brutally.

After the fight, we see him sitting on a bench, his lip cut. He looks unrepetant; a boy who has gotten into a fight and is about to reprimanded by his parents. His father approaches and sits next to him. He carries the air of a patient man who is not quite sure what to say. There is a sense that he loves this son very much, and it is reflected not so much by any emotion, but by the words he uses as he speaks to his son about being a Vulcan. He never reprimands

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>