To Boldly Go?

So today, I went to see the new Star Trek film. I figured it was worth seeing - to see whether it was the deathknell for the franchise, (like I always felt Enterprise was), or whether it would be a new lease of life for it.

I must say, without saying too much, that I was impressed with what I saw. While it didn't exactly open up the universe for them to boldly go into; to rework; to remould; to start again and do over with a better set of effects - it did manage to be faithful, and that's all I wanted from it. Faithfulness.

Zachary Quinto...I was in awe. He was Leonard Nimoy. He channelled Nimoy - all he needed to do was to go "Bilbo, Bilbo Baggins...!" and I would have been happy. And speaking of chanelling, Karl Urban was definitely DeForrest Kelley. "I am a doctor, not a physicist!" directly echoes the classic line of "Damnit, Jim - I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!", which has always tickled my funnybone.

On the other hand, Zoe Saldana and Chris Pine were trying too hard, and came across as actors, not as characters. Chris Pine wasn't the cocky Kirk he was meant to be; and Zoe Saldana was nowhere near as sexy and alluring as Nichelle Nichols was in the role as Uhura. A bit harsh? No. I think not. They were both spouting out line after line, and it had nothing of the character in it - Scotty came across as the brash but loveable engineer; Spock was the Vulcan with the conflict of interests; and Bones was the doctor whose life had gone down the tubes, so he didn't give a damn (unless it was his job or his friends - the things he had left - on the line).

So, what about Eric Bana? Bah. He was a villian, and he was a villian of the old school. He needed nothing major (I know Romulans aren't exactly make-up heavy, but still), just himself and a good bit of acting. He didn't need to be scary, he just needed to be evil - and while he wasn't ''evil'', he was more on the deranged with a purpose side of things. I can't explain it, but, he was a decent foe. Nothing special though...

Overall?

Overall, I'd give Star Trek a 7/10 - it's given the franchise a new lease of life - but, I do so hope they don't play along with the same horrid plot twist as this one in order to make other movies. Please, if you make anymore - just keep the faith!