Woohoo!

It’s been a VERY long time since I witnessed applause at the end of a movie in a cinema. Despite my acknowledgement and agreement of the overall sentiment, I withheld any physical displays of admiration to honour the film’s overall virtues; style, ambition, class and recognition.

Hollywood has been recognised as a prostitute lately, wheeling out old school franchises faster than Burger King tie ins. JJ Abrams has admirably stuck to his guns with this film and done a remarkable job of appeasing true Star Trek fans, incidental movie goers and, based on the final scenes introducing a future to the franchise, Hollywood execs.

The film is free of cheese and is really cleverly thought out. The way they introduce the new cast is genius as they bend time to introduce an alternate Starfleet universe based on the intervention of Nemo, the baddie. Lacking the gravitas of supervillians of yore, Eric Bana doesn’t have the Khan-like menace and gets by with pretty awesome makeup and a few harsh words instead.

Whoever was responsible for casting hit the nail on the head for each and every reinvented crew member. Every moment had you questioning “would Shatner do that?” or “would Nimoy say that?” and chances are, yes, they would.

Overall, a sharp, witty rehash of a lovable series that could have been very risky, but instead has injected adrenaline into an otherwise ageing franchise.