After five television series, ten movies, countless books, comics and video games, a stage version and even an Ice Capades style show is there anything left, story wise, to do with Captain Kirk, Spock, Bones and the rest of the crew of the USS Enterprise? Director J.J. Abrams, the brains behind hit TV shows like Felicity, Lost and Fringe, thinks so and has re-launched the big screen franchise, which has lain fallow since 2002’s Nemesis. Simply called Star Trek, he takes audiences where no man (or director) has gone before, back to the very beginning of the story before Kirk bore an uncanny resemblance to T.J. Hooker.
In this prequel to the original series James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine) is a young punk; a thrill seeking juvenile delinquent son of a dead hero recruited to join Starfleet Academy by an associate of his father’s. On another planet is Spock (Zachary Quinto), a half human, half Vulcan outcast who becomes the first of his race to be accepted into the Starfleet Academy. Soon their paths will cross as they are assigned to the maiden voyage of the most advanced starship ever created, the U.S.S. Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood). On their first dangerous mission they will become the original intergalactic odd couple as they find a way to stop the vengeful Romulan villain Nero (Eric Bana with Mike Tyson-esque tattoos on his face) from destroying all of mankind.
With Star Trek J.J. Abrams has made the first great popcorn movie of the year. Notice I didn’t say sci-fi movie. Star Trek is a lot of things but despite all the talk of warp speed, black holes and time travel, it can’t be classified as science fiction. This is a character based space serial more concerned with the burgeoning relationship between Spock and Kirk than with photon thrusters. That may bother the purists and the Roddenberries but shouldn’t trouble anyone simply looking for a good time at the movies.
Abrams gets right into the thick of things, front loading the movie with two wild action scenes in the first ten minutes. It’s edge of the seat stuff that neatly gives Captain James T a back story and sets the tone for the rest of the film. It’s big. It’s loud. It’s bombastic. It’s also the best Trek since The Wrath of Khan.
Abrams succeeds because he isn’t precious with the source material. All the prerequisite catchphrases—“Live long and prosper”—are there, coupled with some sly homages to the show’s history—Trekkers will note the fruition of Kirk’s flirtation with the green Orion woman from the TV show—but he’s more interested in creating an overall entertainment experience than displaying reverence for Roddenbery’s creation. The subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) social commentary of the series has gone the way of the spent lithium crystals from season two, episode four, replaced by flat out action that engages the eye but not the brain. In terms of CGI Abrams has set phasers to stunning. It’s state of the art and will make your eyeballs dance.
Star Trek is an origin story that works. It has heart, ferocious CGI and is dead cool. It’s the best movie geek-out since Iron Man. In the words of Scotty (Simon Pegg), “I like this ship. It’s exciting.”
Who says kid actors can’t have normal childhoods? During a phone interview with Ryan Lee, the 15-year-old Super 8 star, he briefly interrupts our chat to act like a youngster. “I just saw a stray dog and I’m trying to catch him right now. What was your question again?”
I had just asked the Austin, Texas native about working with director J.J. Abrams, the megamind behind TV and movie hits like Lost and Star Trek.
“He’s just one of those guys who can really make you feel comfortable during a scene,” said Ryan. “He’s really good at what he does. He’s really hands on, down to earth and just an amazing director all round.”
Like all of Abrams’s projects the plot of Super 8 has been kept under wraps. Ryan plays one of six kids who witness a mysterious train wreck. “Then everything starts to go crazy,” he says, picking up the story. “Once we get away things start to go weird in the town, like people going missing, dogs going missing, home appliances going missing. Nothing can really be explained.”
Other than that he’s been sworn to secrecy. “Once I got the call back I had to sign confidentiality papers,” he says. “I had to bring them home to my family and they had to sign them, too. It was really secretive.”
So secretive he didn’t know what he was auditioning for when he first went out for the part.
“My agent sent me on the audition and I had no idea it was for J.J. or for Super 8,” he says. The audition was about a girl and a boy fighting about math homework. It had nothing to do with Super 8. Then at the first audition with him this girl next to me said, ‘J.J.’s waiting.” I said, ‘J.J. who?’ Her mouth dropped. I had no idea he was going to be working on this.”
Working with Abrams he says, was a breeze. “He never yells and with a group of six kids…” Ryan said. “Not yelling? How do you even do that?”
There’s a great buzz around Super 8 right now, even Ryan feels it—“I want to see the movie so bad, just like everybody else,” he says—but right now in the days before the movie opens it’s back to being a kid and catching that dog.
Film trailers are the single most important tool in the movie marketing business. Over the years the creation of movie trailers has been honed to a fine art and the right assortment of music, images and star power can be a powerful promotional tool. Cloverfield, a new monster movie from Lost producer JJ Abrams turned convention on its head recently with a teaser trailer that didn’t feature big stars or music, just one striking image.
There’s a party. Outside you hear a loud thump. Lights flicker and everyone rushes outside just I time for the head of The Statue of Liberty, torn from its body, to skid to a halt in from to them. Fade to black. No music, no title, nothing except a mind-bender of an image that knocked you back in your seat.
Not since The Blair Witch Project has a trailer stirred up so much anticipation. The only question that remains is: Can the movie top the trailer? Happily the answer is yes, but with reservations.
Cloverfield—the name is the US government code for the “incident” in which a mysterious creature destroyed NYC—is a curious mix of the production value of America’s Funniest Home Videos, (but without the crotch shots) and Godzilla. A movie shot entirely through the lens of a home video camera, complete with bad shot composition and shaky hand held cinematography.
If frenetic camera work is not your cup of tea then Cloverfield will not be for you. The occasionally nausea inducing visuals make the former jiggly-camera record holder, The Blair Witch Project look like it was shot by Ansel Adams on a steadi-cam. Having said that, for those willing to go along for the ride the intensity and immediacy of the images will leave you breathless.
As something—I’m not telling you what, not knowing in advance is part of the fun of the movie—lays waste to the Big Apple many of the scenes echo the well-known news footage of 9/11. Massive white clouds of dust billow out of buildings while sheets of paper eerily float to the ground, expelled from the skeletons of giant skyscrapers. These familiar images coupled with the immediacy of the home video footage give the film a realistic and horrifying feel.
Cloverfield takes elements from horror films as diverse as The Blair Witch Project, The Host and Godzilla and, in an economical 75 minutes, binds them together to create something new, fresh and really powerful.
