BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
I’m not a Star Trek person. I never got into the show growing up and completely missed the boat on all that is Space… the final frontier. I think the problem I had was Shatner’s over acting. Between that and the nerdy stigma I just wasn’t on board. Besides, I was a wrestling nerd so I didn’t have much room for any more obsession. I never watched the shows. I never watched the movies. I never gave a shit. I was perfectly fine being out of the loop on this world. I wasn’t a hater, but it just wasn’t something I wanted any part of. A few years ago I was open minded and took in the 2009 relaunch of the franchise. Low and behold, I loved that movie! It was action packed, it explained the origins of the characters I’ve heard about my whole life, and it was a clear and understandable movie. I didn’t have to worry about a million species, politics, or anything like that. For a complete “noob”, it was a great introduction to what Star Trek is about. I dug the performances and it was just a good time. So when this sequel came out, I was pretty stoked to check it out. I was invested in the characters, I knew what was going on at this point in the world of the franchise, and for the first time in my life I actually anticipated something Star Trek related. All in all, the movie was pretty damn good. I don’t think it was as good or as magical as the first one, but it moved the story forward, told a good chapter, introduced pivotal characters, and really started showing the connection and bond of the crew. I’m a nerd, but in an artsy pretentious way. I appreciated the relationship narrative of the characters almost as much as I did the awesome action. Chris Pine is a bad ass as Kirk and Zachary Quinto is proving himself to be one of the most underappreciated actors out there today as he made the Spock character a whole new level of an emotive conundrum. Benedict Cumberbatch was outstanding as Khan. His story and development is pretty cool. I wasn’t hip to the original stories so it did catch my off guard. The rest of the crew, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, and now Alice Eve all did a swell job. I liked the little side stories of everyone and would love to see more about each of them in the future. This movie is set a year after the first one and almost serves as a sequel origin movie. It’s not so much about the crew coming together for the first time, but really cementing their identity and connection. You know going forward that shit is now for real. They aren’t a new young crew anymore and should be ready to take on some big bad ass challenges. I’m looking forward to that. JJ Abrams really set this franchise up to be engaging and to give us plenty of future movies. As long as they keep the same cast and sensibility, then I’m all about it. I’m still not going to go back and watch any of the old shows or movies, but I’m in moving forward! A
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