Candy Corn Studios

I went to see the new Trek movie this weekend. I must say that I was impressed.

After seeing the trailers, I expected the movie to be enjoyable, but not great. I was happily surprised that I enjoyed the movie immensely and was not at all struck by cheesiness or camp. (Some of my friends had been calling it very cheesy, in a good way.) I personally felt the actors did a great job of getting into character. One of my friends compared it to Serenity. I wouldn’t go quite that far, but it did have its moments. I don’t think it had the plot strength of Serenity, but it did have almost that level of dialogue and excitement.

In particular, the backstory at the front end of the movie was a great addition that I didn’t expect. There was just enough setup to the story that you could connect with the characters. This movie is clearly a character-driven story and not a plot-driven story, so don’t expect an earth-shattering plot. Go see it for the characters, not for an amazing story.

Regarding canon, I personally have no ill-will toward a director who messes with canon, provided he/she lets us know well ahead of time that they are doing it. Abrams very clearly stated that he was departing from canon, so anyone who doesn’t want to see a departure shouldn’t go see this movie. There were a few times during the movie that my brain had to do a little adjusting, but most of the time it was easy enough that it didn’t impact my enjoyment.

Overall, I heartily recommend you go see this movie if you haven’t already. Even if you have, it’s worth going back to see again!