Preview: Star Trek XI (2008)

Synopsis:

Exploring the impetus for young James Tiberius Kirk to become a deep space explorer, this film takes Star Trek fans back to the days before the Starship Enterprise set off on it first five-year mission.

• Poster: D-; D; D+; C+; C-; C; D-

Review:

This poster uses the old Star Trek series logo and spreads it across the entire poster. It's a teaser, we get that. But it's a legitimate teaser. Unlike those placeholder posters we get so often, this one is just too much to be believed.

Another new poster that tells very little about the plot of the film. Whereas the first poster used the lettering of the original series' title, the seonc uses the old school insignia

This third poster is a little more classic, but of the three pictured, Zachary Quinto looks too much like Sylar from Heroes with his facial expression, Zoe Saldana doesn't look terribly blad as Uhura and Chris Pine is glaring too forcefully to seem like Capt. James T. Kirk.

Why is it that the least-Trek-like poster is also one of the better ones? It gives away a crucial sequence of the film, but it's visually arresting as an image, though still nothing spectacular.

Using the same character images as the third poster, this fourth is a little less classic, but significantly more interesting with a color-drained scene from the film fitting well with the other images.

Poster five is one of the better ones, being far more classic, featuring more of the crew of the enterprise and having a few more distinct splashes of color and images.

How awful to look at. From a distance, this looks like a strange blob of black-and-white. Up close, you can see the enterprise there, but it has no symbolic connection to the film as far as I can tell.

• Trailer: B+; C+; C; B-

Review:

As a Trekker, I can't help but be excited by this preview. Seeing an origin story for the USS Enterprise and her crew is quite thrilling. It's a great teaser to be sure. I only hope the film turns out to be the much-needed restart of the Star Trek franchise we were hoping was going to arrive with the tenth movie and didn't.

It's amazing what a difference 10 months can make. As you can see from my review of the teaser back in January, I was quite excited by the trailer and the potential for an origin story. After seeing the first full length trailer for the film, my hopes have begun to diminish and the dread of J.J. Abrams, a man who has admitted he isn't a Trek fan, never watched the Original Series and wants the series to be more akin to the style of Star Wars than to the tried and true tradition of Star Trek, is beginning to grow. The trailer looks like a Trek-themed Michael Bay movie and we all know how awful a director Bay is. We can hope for better, but fans of the series may end up more disappointed than excited.

I was beginning to lose faith in this project, though this trailer doesn't re-establish some of that faith. The problem is it looks too much like an action film and not as much like a Star Trek film.

Oscar Prospects:

Star Trek hasn't yielded major, non-tech consideration ever. This one isn't likely to do so either. Makeup might be in consideration, but even the makeup-heavy Insurrection failed to pick up a nod there.

Release Date:

• May 21, 2009

Full Review Synopsis:

While entertaining as a space soap opera, the film dismantles much of what made Star Trek once great.

• Full Review: Star Trek

-Wesley Lovell (August 18, 2007) Original

-Wesley Lovell (January 26, 2008) New Trailer

-Wesley Lovell (February 16, 2008) New Release Date (changed from 12/25/08)

-Wesley Lovell (November 23, 2008) New Trailer

-Wesley Lovell (February 8, 2009) New Trailer

-Wesley Lovell (March 8, 2009) New Trailer

-Wesley Lovell (May 3 2009) New Poster; Buy the Poster Enabled

-Wesley Lovell (April 4, 2010) Added Review Link