Girlfriend/The first Obama era blockbuster

My favourite moment in the new Star Trek movie is near the end when Kirk and Spock are standing side-by-side in front of a screen image of the baddy they have just defeated. Spock, played by Zachary Quinto, who is now my new favourite young Hollywood star, is standing there and he has the look of an aggrieved girlfriend who, having called the offender on his misdeed, is prepared to let her boyfriend do the rest of the work and take pleasure from it.

Okay, well, that was a particularly perverse favourite moment. But the new Star Trek was full of them. It actually managed to answer so many of the complaints I feel I am perennially making against Hollywood blockbusters.

Firstly, there was talking and there was action but you never felt like it was happening in two different movies (I'm talking to you, George Lucas). One scene followed another, mostly made sense and what explaining had to be done was done with subtly and discretion. The story had flow.

Secondly, I could follow the action. Unlike, in, say, The Dark Knight, Star Trek seemed to have both a lighting budget and an editing budget. They actually let me see the fancy interplanetary metropolises for more than a few seconds. Yes, I could take them in. I've never understood why Hollywood filmmakers spend all that money making computer-generated worlds and then don't show them to us. I felt I had made a real visit to the Federation's universe.

Thirdly, it seemed to be about something: friendship. It wasn't heavy or thoughtful and didn't devote long monologues to the subject. It just showed how friendships can happen and how important they are. To ask for a movie with a little bit of meaning isn't to ask for a philosophical treatise. Just pick a piece of life you have something about which to say and shine a light on it.

Fourthly, the characters were likable and I don't think even someone who hadn't seen the 1960s version would disagree with that. Simon Pegg was a little too heavy handed as Scotty, but the rest of the cast walked right up to the fence that said "camp impersonation" and then took one step back. Which brings me to my fifth point: Star Trek proves that you can make a sci-fi film full of explosions and fist-fights and "red matter" gobbledygook and still have fun. There was genuine suspense without everybody being dirty and bitter and overwrought. It was a space adventure--not yet another retread of the apocalypse filmmakers think is necessary to get us excited.

And yet, I will likely see Terminator: Salvation and will likely see all these neurotic tendencies thrown upon the screen with desperation and grim sadism.