At 5:55 pm on Saturday afternoon, Chris Pine did another of his mid-air, hands on transporter rescues and delivers Star Trek the way JJ Abrams has envisioned, while also showering pride on Gene Roddenberry’s memory. “Let's not do that again,” this generations James T deadpanned. Unfortunately, the movie began at 4:30. What a poor use of such valuable time.
So boldly going for 90 minutes meant that the Captain of the Enterprise was in search of himself. Out in the alpha quadrant for over 900 days, Kirk can’t help question the vastness of space in between intermittent episodes of diplomacy and
overseeing the domestic travails of 400 crewmen and women.As we've seen in previews, “My father joined Starfleet because he believed in it. I joined on a dare.”
In short, Jim Kirk is bored. Certainly a dose of reality is an interesting take when taking into the unlikely account of meeting a green girl every week. But we pay for Kirk’s dour disposition and his introspection over whether he wants to continue taking the con.
Spock also finds himself at a crossroads with his namesake's death and a resulting pull to be part of New Vulcan. Of course being at odds with himself isn't really a departure, and we are not made to suffer so in this regard.
Nonetheless, both decide to keep their angst to themselves and allay it until completing a nearby rescue mission. As expected, things quickly go awry, and our villian really does a number on the ole NCC. Krall (Idris Elba) sends enough of the crew to the vast reaches and leaves the core scattering to the surface. Kirk is certainly not amused. He
also doesn't seem to notice that the monotony has lifted.So instead of imploring Spock as in the previous iterations that “it will work” or “it will fit,” Kirk doesn’t deliver the pessimistic optimism that had the starship flying at the seat of its pants.
Spock, Bones and Scotty still try to bring up the rear, but without Kirk leading the way, their efforts fall flat.
The dramatic events that have the crew flung far suffers the same fate. It's also frustrating to have no sense of why Krall is acting out. He’s just a dick being a dick until his backstory is revealed at the end.
But alas, when Kirk rescues Sophia Boutella, who is a welcome heroine to our universe as Jaylah, Tiberius suddenly finds purpose. The on the job training in deep space is reengaged, and the Star Trek humor that JJ has crafted with respect to the original, goes into full reboot mode.
Finally able to settle into my seat, Kirk makes good use of his, and even Harve Bennett would tip his cap to the tactical outmaneuver employed to save the day. We also get to ponder the parallels between Kirk and the Krall for good science fiction measure and Spock looks back to go beyond.
Too bad the movie took so long to start.
