Star Trek (2009)

Star Trek (J.J. Abrams, 2009)

First of all, I must say that I am not a fan or an enthousiast of the Franchise. I may have seen one of the films when I was 12 or so and I don't remember which one it was. It was the one where they go through the center of the universe to find God... Well, the whole Trek fanatism never really got me. But when I see a good movie I don't care if it Star Trek or There Will be Blood; I will cry it out loud!

The re-boot of the franchise is clearly adressing itself to the new generation that never watched Star Trek and that couldn't understand the previous films. We have the whole genesis, the origin of Jim Kirk, Spock and the whole crew of the Enterprise. It's fresh funny and packed with amazing action sequences. If you don't get involve in the movie it's because you really don't want to see the film at all. The leads are protrayed by non-stars actors and it's a good thing 'cause you completely imerge yourself in the story. A good catharsis one can say... but here I write it without a negative comment, because, for some people the Science-fiction themes are harder to follow. Especially in a legendary and uncompromised franchise like Star Trek.

J.J. Abrams is a director who knows what he's doing and the years on Lost haven't been lost at all (sorry for that one). He has all the talent a director needs; to take a complex story that could have been another action flick full of sappy stereotypes and bring it to a level the series never probably achieved since its debuts. The visuals are simply candy for the eye, while never denaturating their origin. For example, the shape of the Enterprise is the same as it ever was, but it never felt outdated or lavish vintage 1970's. The same thing occurs when you look at the costumes, they don't feel retro-futurists at all, they have lines that reminds the original ones with simple and subtle modifs "au goût du jour".

Star Trek has been reborn and/or revived with passion and success. The re-boot of a franchise is always a hard thing and could be disastrous (Superman). It's always a challenge to measure how much of new stuff and original stuff and how you handle the so-called stuff. Moreover, the most important issue is who will handle it, J.J. Abrams handled it like a master, now we'll have to see for the future how he will handle the sequels.