Star Trek

I cant recollect how many times I have heard/read the phrase “Beam Me Up Scotty”. And it ALWAYS irritated me that I didn’t know about it – though I definitely had a vague idea what it meant. Yes, I confess I have never watched any Star Trek – neither the movies nor the TV series. So you can understand my hesitation to watch, what is the ninth film of the series …

But wifey would have none of it, and so off we went to catch the customary Friday night movie.

Turns out, I needn’t have feared anything – because Star Trek is actually the first in the series chronologically – which shows how all the original crew of the USS Enterprise comes together for the first time ... Somewhat like Star Wars Episode 1 : The Phantom Menace. So if you are a Star-Trek-ignorant like me, do not worry – just enjoy the movie :)

Because barring a very bollywood-esque opening scene, it is a very enjoyable movie with some great visuals and racy storyline. The opening scene, however, might cause a lot of dismay – it did to me, so you have been warned now ! But nothing that lasts beyond 10 min, and the taut script soon pulls you along to more exciting things.

The movie, right from the beginning, seems to promise great things as it goes along, with James T. Kirk childhood day’s, his cadet days … it builds an expectation that something big is to come. And when it does come, it doesn’t disappoint. We are introduced to the various central Star Trek characters in the beginning, and we watch how they coalesce into a team. The dialogue, though a bit heavy on science from time to time – black holes, space-time continuum etc – its easy to filter out the jargon and understand what is going on. Visually it’s a delight to see stars exploding, black holes swallowing planets and all other cool stuff.

Acting-wise I didn’t recognize anyone in the movie – but everyone does their job very well. The only name I recognize from the end credits is Eric Bana (Incredible Hulk) but he is totally unrecognizable in the movie !! See if you can spot him.

So should you watch it ?
I say YES, definitely do catch it !!

Its the coolest sci-fi movie I have watched since The Transformers – and it is very enjoyable as a stand-alone movie, without any of the four-decade-history of Star Trek. Its got lots of action, drama and some cool big-bang visual effects. So go for it ..