Star Trek with product placement is not Star Trek, writes André Szczepanski.
It started off fairly well. In the opening sequence, we witnessed the introduction of the main antagonist, the birth of Star Trek’s poster boy and the beginning of a chain of events that would lead to the major plot line.
The character development began in next scene, in which a young James T. Kirk is seen stealing a sports car. I could see that he was a rebel, a kid that didn’t respect authority, and didn’t let anyone control his life.
It was all looking very hopeful – I was even thinking that it might turn out to be a decent film after all. That is, until I saw Kirk press a button on a mobile phone that said ‘Nokia’ in big, glaring letters. This betrayal, of sorts, really represents the rest of the movie as a whole.
The plotline basically consisted of “evil ship comes from future to destroy earth”. The science behind said plot is even worse – the ship uses a theoretical substance called “red matter” to create a quantum singularity (black hole) at the centre of the planet.
The plot never becomes anything more than that. Basic character interactions are added in for kicks – for example, Kirk and Spock hate each other at the start, and become friends by the end. The other major Star Trek characters see little serious character development, and are basically used for cheap laughs. Uhura’s romance with Spock seems so poorly planned that one can’t help thinking that the writers added it in as an afterthought.
Most of the emphasis seems to have been placed on the special effects and the environments. To give credit where credit is due, the special effects might appeal to a select band of people who like eye candy and loud sounds.
However, diehard Star Trek fans will find that most of the characteristic trademarks of the TV shows and previous films, such as the transporters, phasers, warp drive and their respective sounds, have changed so much that the film has lost that “Star Trek feel”.
Furthermore, Abrams decided that he would, to explain the various anomalies scattered throughout the film, provide an explanation in the form of an alternate reality. In my books, this amounts to an “and then he woke up” kind of scenario – a cop-out.
It seems that the director J.J. Abrams, had decided long ago that to attract new viewers, the new film had to differentiate itself from classic Star Trek. However, in doing this, he has created something that is so foreign that is it unlikely to attract Trekkies, and so devoid of substance that it is unlikely to draw new audiences.
Star Trek is now showing at all major cinemas.
Posted by André 
