Boldly Go

Before Saturday, I have never seen anything related to Star Trek. Never seen an entire episode of any of the show's many iterations and not one minute of any of the movies. It's not that I'm opposed to the concept, I have just never really cared. Sure, Trekkies seem a bit out there, but who I am to critique someone else's nerdiness?

So, with this firmly in mind, I ventured into the world of the USS Enterprise, to boldly go where I have never gone before. And I'd do it again. Star Trek is the most entertaining blockbuster I have seen in years. While it doesn't quite have the dramatic weight of The Dark Knight or Robert Downey Jr.'s star power in Iron Man, Trek strikes a perfect balance between popcorn entertainment and legitimate emotion that is rarely seen in summer movie fare (see Wolverine for more details).

Director JJ Abrams (Lost, MI:3) is the perfect man for the job, letting his penchant for character driven action to move the plot while also delivering some amazing action scenes. I think the only criticism I have of Abrams as a big screen director is his weakness at filming close quarter combat scenes. It's not the shaky cam, quick cut nonsense of the Bourne movies, but Abrams brings the camera in too close, making it difficult to see the entire fight. This is only an issue briefly in Star Trek, but it is worth mentioning. In general, though, Abrams creates a believable and compelling world, one that I hope he continues with. The person I feel the worst for here is George Lucas. Star Trek blows away all of the Star Wars prequels, mainly because Abrams is able to seperate good special effects from the plot. If you are going to reboot (not an entirely accurate word) a classic sci fi series, Lucas would have done well to ask Abrams his opinion.

As for the movie, there's not a lot I can say without giving away spoilers. It is an origin story, but not necessarily in the way you'd think. The movie opens with Kirk being born at the same moment his father is killed by a massive Romulan ship. As the young Kirk (Chris Pine) gets older, his wild tendencies and off the charts aptitude tests catch the eye of Captain Pike (the always outstanding Bruce Greenwood) who offers him a place in Starfleet Academy. Simultaneously, a young Spock (Zach Quinto) decides to leave Vulcan to join Star Fleet, where he quickly becomes the (ahem) star of the fleet. Much of the action revolves around Spock and Kirk's dichotomous personalities and the question of how to go about combating the Romulan threat.

The film rests on Pike and Quinto pulling off their roles, and they do so brilliantly. When I first saw the trailer for Star Trek, it looked like Trek 90210. Thankfully, the young actors throughout the cast are very good, especially Simon Pegg as Scotty (hopefully this will be the franchise that finally launches him into mainstream stardom). Eric Bana is appopriately cruel and scary as the Romulan Nero, and Karl Urban is surprisingly funny and good as McCoy. Really, the cast is the strongest point in a film that has a lot of them.

The most interesting and important cast member, though, is a blast from the past. Leanord Nimoy makes an extended appearance as Spock, and it is his appearance that makes the whole thing work. The big twist is both clever and a simple way to allow this new Trek continuity to exist without destroying decades of storylines. Nimoy is the film's emotional center and is given the most poignant scenes. It is a great nod to his past work, but also provides for an outstanding climax that cements this Trek as one of the best sci fi movies in recent memory.

Short version? It's awesome, and you have to see it. I know less than nothing about Star Trek, but I felt completely at home with this new version. It is perfectly cast, the effects are jaw dropping (even for jaded movie cynics) and Abrams gives the film a real pathos that most summer movies lack. I can't wait to see where this franchise goes, and hope that Abrams is at the center of it. Since he just made the best fantasy epic since Lord of the Rings, I think he's earned it. I'm gushing now, so I think I'll stop. It's just fantastic when a summer movie is both bad ass and doesn't insult your intelligence. This Trek really does go where no one has gone before.

Snikt!

Let's be clear: Wolverine should be in an R-rated movie. There should be blood, flying limbs, and expletives. He shouldn't have feelings. Alas, that's not what we got with X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That, however, is not necessarily an indictment of this X-Men prequel, which is actually pretty good at what it does, though certainly not the best (har har).

The movie opens confusingly, with a young Logan realizing he, in fact, has bone claws that he can use to gouge people with. There's some thing about a guy not being his father, or whatever, but it is never really mentioned again. What it does serve to do is establish that Wolvie and Sabertooth (played by Liv Schrieber) are brothers. It then moves into a particularly cool montage of the mutant siblings fighting in every American war since 1860 up to Vietnam. After some gruesome displays by Victor (Sabertooth), they are sentenced to be executed by firing squad. And when that doesn't work (you know, the mutant healing factor thing), they are put on a mutant special forces team, led by Colonel Stryker who is sadly not played by Bryan Cox.

If this sounds like a lot of plot, it is. There's a bunch more, but it is all crammed into the first 20 minutes. The rest is your basic revenge story. Once Logan is unwilling to participate in the questionable morals Stryker demands, he leaves the team and becomes a logger in the Canadian Rockies where he, obviously, falls in love. And, just as obviously, Victor ends up killing her, thrusting Logan back into the action.

The best part of the movie is when the adamantium is grafted into Logan's skeleton. It is really only here that he displays the raw, animalistic side of Wolverine. The rest is basically a mish mash of the X-Men movies, complete with detaining mutants and attempting to rob them of their powers. It's been done before, and better. My big issue with the movie was that it didn't feel any different than X-Men 2. Sure, the other X-Men are (mostly) absent, but the tone and style is almost identical.

This may have to do with Hugh Jackman. I like Jackman. Loved The Prestige, he was outstanding in The Fountain. I'm down with Hugh. I just don't think he's the right actor for Wolverine. First, he is not savage or aggressive enough. The man is a Tony Award winning actor who can ballroom dance for God's sake. There are brief moments in the movie when that side comes out, but those are few and far between. The second is, let's face it, Jackman is a Greek god. The man is ripped eight ways to Sunday. They find excuses to have him take his shirt off. That ain't Wolverine. Wolverine is short, scrappy, and stocky. He's supposed to be like an actual wolverine. I can't really think of a big name actor who could play this role, but Jackman just isn't quite right. Really, if this wasn't "Wolverine", I might have enjoyed it even more. Jackman makes Logan his own, which is what you are supposed to do as an actor, but it just doesn't evoke the comic book version of the character.

Two other big problems: Gambit and the special effects. Gambit has always been my favorite X-Man. Cool Cajun accent, awesome powers, wanted to bang Rogue in the tv show. In this, good Lord. The actor is so forgettable I don't even care about going to IMDB to find out his name. He doesn't even have an accent. It's just bad. Worse, though, are some of the special effects. The qaulity varies widely from looking absolutely amazing to not fit for a Sci Fi movie of the week. It is amazing that a blockbuster movie could have such shoddy effects. In a movie like this, that kind of thing really hurts.

If all of this makes it seem like I hated the movie, I'm probably just a bad writer. I really enjoyed it. I would put it second in the X-Men franchise behind X2. It certainly won't win any awards, and there are some serious issues, but overall it's a fun night at the movies. The helicopter chase scene is the best piece of action cinema I have seen since Dark Knight. If Marvel had been willing to break with the X-Men franchise and really do this thing right, I think there was enough here to be amazing. But when you have to make $250 million, it doesn't pay to make Wolvie into a whirlwind of blood and guts. However, If you like comic book movies, it's a must see Bub.