Hey folks, Harry here - The Gastonian here contacted me days ago to let me know his intentions of flying to Sydney with his "golden ticket" and asking if I'd like a review. Well since there was no way on Earth I'd be seeing the movie before him, I said - "Absolutely" and look - he wrote about the Official Premiere experience and his thoughts on the film... a world away from Austin where we saw it! Here ya go...
Hey Harry, I just got back from the world premiere of Star Trek in Sydney, Australia. I'm exhausted. And I still have a 14 hour flight to catch in about 6 hours. Now even though you are aware of the circumstances of my coming to be here, allow me to reiterate for your readers. When I first read that Paramount Pictures Australia was allocating 200 tickets out of 1600 to be sold to the general public, I was understandably excited. I didn't actually think I would actually get a ticket but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. Low and behold, when I went through the checkout steps on the Sydney opera house website, I had secured a ticket. Stalls section, seat F-22, right in the front. From that point on I found myself having to plan a three day trip to Sydney from Seattle just to attend this event. Crazy, right? Geekerrific? That's what all my friends told me. And I'd have to agree but oh well, whats done is done. I won't apologize for being a lifelong Star Trek nerd. Fast forward to 7pm AEST last night. After arriving to walk the red carpet and mingling with some seriously rich folks that I had absolutely nothing in common with over cocktails we are all ushered into the venue awaiting an introduction from our hosts. After about a half an hour of waiting for everyone to take their seats and some very overly enthusiastic chatter from a very large Australian woman sitting next to me whose stalkeresque love for JJ Abrams was funny if not disturbing...the lights finally dimmed and the President of Paramount Pictures Australia came out to introduce JJ Abrams. Now I've gotta say, seeing JJ along with Chris Pine, John Cho, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban and Eric Bana take the stage to introduce the film was almost as big a pleasure as watching the film itself. Abrams prefaced his speech by saying he was drunk, whats funny is that I think he actually was. All in all these are funny down to earth guys who are clearly proud of their work and genuinely honored to be part of a franchise that has existed for over forty years. These guys are on the level, I wish I had had the opportunity to have drinks with them after the film. As for the film itself (I won't bore you with a recap of the plot, I'm sure everyone knows it by now)...did I love it, yes. But probably not for the reasons you might think. See I went into this expecting surprises and explanations. I read Star Trek Countdown, the graphic novel prequel to the film so I had a fairly logical understanding of what was to come next. However, I was never terribly interested in how Kirk, Spock and McCoy all came to become BFF's. I had a vague understanding of their back story in the previously established timeline and that was good enough for me. But still, I didn't much care how they ended up coming together in this new altered timeline. I was more interested in who altered the time timeline and what their motivations were. I was also stoked to see what the extent of Spock Prime's involvement was in the plot. In this respect I was fairly underwhelmed. Spock Prime and Nero don't get a great deal of screen time. Spock Prime's placement in the film is a little convenient and his relationship with Nero isn't fully explored in depth. I suppose that's what the graphic novel was for. And the same goes for Nero's motivations. They're explained but not explored in depth. But that wasn't what the film was about. It was about the relationships between Spock, McCoy, Kirk, Uhura, etc... Its about who they were, who they are, and what they mean to each other. So I guess I went into the film having already missed the point. Because I ended up caring about what I didn't really care to see in the first place. I was genuinely involved from beginning to end. The dynamic between Kirk, Spock, McCoy and company was captured in spades. And that is what JJ Abrams does so well. He creates extremely complex and interesting characters set against an often fantastical backdrop. What's even more impressive is that he didn't create these characters. He took characters that had already been well established within Trek cannon and gave them a fresh perspective. As for the acting - Kudos all around. But the standout for me was Zachary Quinto. This came as a surprise since I truly loathe his character Sylar on Heroes. I always thought he looked the part but I wasn't sure he could pull off walking the fine line between logic and emotion that Nimoy did so well. But he did, and I salute him. Other random observations: Anton Yelchin's Chekov was hilarious. Eric Bana's Nero seemed genuinely pissed during the entire film (which I found particularly refreshing given that the last Star Trek villain was a pouty little bitch) Winona Ryder's Amanda Grayson was surprisingly moving given that she had such a small role. Simon Pegg, also hilarious. The Narada...badass and the inside looks like a serious hazard to be walking around on. Planet destruction...I'd like to see more of this. And the opening scene with the attack on the USS Kelvin was breathtaking. So there you have it. I don't know what else to say. If you are going to this movie expecting to see a lot of plot surprises, you may be somewhat disappointed. If you are going to re-establish your relationship with the characters you grew up on or meet them for the first time then you will be pleasantly surprised. In my opinion this installment ranks just under Wrath of Khan. It's not Superman Returns. It isn't a pseudo sequel...its a sequel but its also an excellent new beginning. And if they treat future installments with as much care as they did this one, then I think it's fair to speculate that the Trek universe is just getting started. If you use this call me The Gastonian. Everyone does...well one other guy I know does.
