A few years ago, I decided that I was doing myself a disservice as a self-identified geek¹: of Star Trek, I’d only seen Voyager and a few of the movies. Of course I had to remedy that fact. 😄

Over the course of a summer, I watched it all². 10 movies. 3 seasons of The Original Series; 7 seasons each of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager³; and finally the 4 seasons of Enterprise. Yet, I still don’t consider myself a Trekkie (or a Trekker).

I guess my entire point is that I do have at least a bit of a leg to stand on when talking about the new Star Trek movies. That being said, feel free to ignore me. 😄 Everyone has their own opinion and I’ve certainly seen the entire spectrum when it comes to this movie…

Overall, I really liked it.

On the negative side, the pacing was pretty bad at times, with long slow stretches that just didn’t feel like they needed to be there⁴. There were a few scenes that just seemed so strange, particularly Alice Eve’s underwear scene⁵. Still, the action scenes were nicely “actiony” and the scenery looked amazing, both the shine of the ship and the destruction of the later acts.

As many people the internet over have said, there were more than a few ‘huh’ moments that really fought against my suspension of disbelief. Without getting too spoilery: Isn’t saving the natives in the first place a violation of the Prime Directive? Other than looking cool, why didn’t they just wait in space? Later on, why did they go to Kronos in the first place? And why did it only take them about 30 seconds to get back? And for that matter, where was the rest of Starfleet when they did get back? Does the doctor make a habit of randomly injecting things? And why his blood specifically, not his crew’s? … Yeah. I’m done. It’s a good thing I don’t really think of myself as a Trekkie or a lot of that would drive me even more up the wall. 😄

You know what my biggest nit to pick with the movie was though? J.J. Abrams’ marketing. Everyone who knew Trek knew exactly who Cumberbatch was playing no matter how hard they tried to deny it… The only people who wouldn’t know wouldn’t care. Sigh.

Like I said though, for a summer action flick, it was a rather enjoyable movie. Barring the aforementioned marketing, there were a few neat twists. There were more than a handful of callbacks to The Wrath of Khan, which was nice at first, although it a bit old by the end⁶. The action was nice and the characters are actually starting to finally feel like a crew now. Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, and Simon Pegg all carried over strong performances from the first film. I can’t really get into Chris Pine as Kirk, but then again I never really liked the original Kirk either. But really? Benedict Cumberbatch carried the show. Sherlock just jumped up rather a few places up my TV queue⁷.

Despite my earlier grumbling, I really did enjoy the movie. It’s not quite up to the level of Iron Man 3 and I still think The Croods was more fun, but I have no problem putting it into the #3 spot. If you have the time, I’d say it’s worth seeing.

A few years ago, I decided that I was doing myself a disservice as a self-identified geek¹: of Star Trek, I’d only seen Voyager and a few of the movies. Of course I had to remedy that fact. 😄

Over the course of a summer, I watched it all². 10 movies. 3 seasons of The Original Series; 7 seasons each of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager³; and finally the 4 seasons of Enterprise. Yet, I still don’t consider myself a Trekkie (or a Trekker).

I guess my entire point is that I do have at least a bit of a leg to stand on when talking about the new Star Trek movies. That being said, feel free to ignore me. 😄 Everyone has their own opinion and I’ve certainly seen the entire spectrum when it comes to this movie…

Overall, I really liked it.

On the negative side, the pacing was pretty bad at times, with long slow stretches that just didn’t feel like they needed to be there⁴. There were a few scenes that just seemed so strange, particularly Alice Eve’s underwear scene⁵. Still, the action scenes were nicely “actiony” and the scenery looked amazing, both the shine of the ship and the destruction of the later acts.

As many people the internet over have said, there were more than a few ‘huh’ moments that really fought against my suspension of disbelief. Without getting too spoilery: Isn’t saving the natives in the first place a violation of the Prime Directive? Other than looking cool, why didn’t they just wait in space? Later on, why did they go to Kronos in the first place? And why did it only take them about 30 seconds to get back? And for that matter, where was the rest of Starfleet when they did get back? Does the doctor make a habit of randomly injecting things? And why his blood specifically, not his crew’s? … Yeah. I’m done. It’s a good thing I don’t really think of myself as a Trekkie or a lot of that would drive me even more up the wall. 😄

You know what my biggest nit to pick with the movie was though? J.J. Abrams’ marketing. Everyone who knew Trek knew exactly who Cumberbatch was playing no matter how hard they tried to deny it… The only people who wouldn’t know wouldn’t care. Sigh.

Like I said though, for a summer action flick, it was a rather enjoyable movie. Barring the aforementioned marketing, there were a few neat twists. There were more than a handful of callbacks to The Wrath of Khan, which was nice at first, although it a bit old by the end⁶. The action was nice and the characters are actually starting to finally feel like a crew now. Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, and Simon Pegg all carried over strong performances from the first film. I can’t really get into Chris Pine as Kirk, but then again I never really liked the original Kirk either. But really? Benedict Cumberbatch carried the show. Sherlock just jumped up rather a few places up my TV queue⁷.

Despite my earlier grumbling, I really did enjoy the movie. It’s not quite up to the level of Iron Man 3 and I still think The Croods was more fun, but I have no problem putting it into the #3 spot. If you have the time, I’d say it’s worth seeing.