Best! Summer! Blockbuster! Ever! (That Was Released This Week): ‘Star Trek’

If any documentary can count as a blockbuster it’s this candid look at Madonna’s 1990 Blonde Ambition tour that captures the artist at the height of her fame and her ability to create controversy.

Where to stream Madonna: Truth or Dare

The threat continues to spread in this sequel to Danny Boyle’s trendsetting zombie movie starring Robert Carlyle and Rose Byrne (who’s not as funny here as in Neighbors, but that’s to be expected). Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo put his own spin on the material, which stayed true to the spirit of the original (even if it ultimately proved too grim for some moviegoers).

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Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver star in a sweet, Gary Ross-scripted political fantasy that imagines what might happen if a nice, practical guy somehow became the most powerful person on the planet. It offered a different sort of summer escapism in the midst of a more idealistic era.

Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, and Rose Byrne (in a who-knew-she-was-this-funny performance) star in a raucous comedy about a couple living next door to a frat house that’s secretly a nuanced look at getting older and realizing your days of being young and unencumbered have come to an end. Summer was made for wild comedies, but the best find ways to offer laughs and substance.

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With his love for frenetic editing and emphasis on visuals over story, Top Gun director Tony Scott could be frustratingly inconsistent. But with the right stars (like Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman) and the right script (like this beauty of a submarine thriller punched-up by an uncredited Quentin Tarantino) he could create the sort of film that would thrill summer audiences then live forever on basic cable.

Star Trek wasn’t exactly lost in space as the ’00s entered the back half of the decade, but it wasn’t exactly speeding toward an exciting new destination, either. After an uninterrupted TV run kicked off with the 1987 premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Trek had faded quietly from the screens when Enterprise quietly shut down after four tepidly received seasons on UPN, two years after Star Trek: Nemesis bombed on the big screen. How low had interest dipped? In September 2008, the Las Vegas attraction Star Trek: The Experience served its last pint of Romulan Ale to Star Trek-enthused tourists, shutting down due to declining admissions, a worrisome indicator that interest in all things Trek had taken a dip.

Could any new project that could turn that around, pleasing old fans while also bringing in new ones? In a word, no. Any franchise with such a massive fandom, even in its lean years, can’t reinvent itself without alienating traditionalists. But 2009’s Star Trek came as close as any film could to having it both ways. It revived the world of the beloved 1960s series, recast it with actors — Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg and others — whose performances mixed reverence for the original cast with sharp new takes on iconic characters, and dropped them in a shiny new Enterprise for a fast-paced, blockbuster-sized adventure — but without sacrificing what had come before thanks to a clever alternate universe twist.

For better or worse, 21st century blockbusters have focused more on putting new spins on familiar properties — from Star Wars to Batman to Planet of the Apes — than creating new worlds. Whether or not this can be sustained remains an open question. (I hope our grandchildren get the fresh thought-provoking reboot of the Ice Age series their generation deserves.) But the best attempts have found ways to thread the needle between affection for what’s come before and the need to do something new. Directed by J.J. Abrams from a script by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, 2009’s Star Trek heads through the eye of that needle at warp speed, via an unexpectedly emotionally rich story that finds the young Kirk trying to prove himself while also learning about the complexities of command and what it takes to ask others to follow him into the great unknown. The series stumbled with its next outing, Star Trek Into Darkness, then recovered with its third, Star Trek Beyond. And though the film’s box office underperformance puts this corner of the Star Trek universe’s future into doubt, Abrams’ Star Trek proved its point 10 years ago: there was still work to be done along the Final Frontier and the right talent can always breathe new life into old old stories.

Where to stream Star Trek (2009)

In 1999 the Wachowskis pretty much reinvented the modern summer blockbuster with The Matrix, a film released in April. It now looks like they were even more ahead of their time with this take on the classic anime Speed Racer that blurs the lines between reality, fantasy and live action and animation, and the ridiculous and the sublime. Why did audiences reject a crazily enjoyable (and sometimes just crazed) film that featured John Goodman, insane action scenes, and a chimpanzee? The world may never know.

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Is this long-in-the-works adaptation of L. Ron Hubbard’s science fiction epic starring John Travolta as a giant alien name Terl prone to declaring humans “puny man-animals” as bad as you’ve heard? No. It’s worse. So, so much worse, from its awful makeup to its bizarre canted camera angles to its dreary lighting. (And that’s not even touching on the silly story.) It’s a film that almost has to be seen to confirm that, yes, it got made and released and a few people even went to go see it (though not enough to prevent Travolta’s dream project from becoming a punchline and slamming the brakes on his post-Pulp Fiction comeback).

Keith Phipps writes about movies and other aspects of pop culture. You can find his work in such publications as The Ringer, Slate, Vulture, and Polygon. Keith also co-hosts the podcasts The Next Picture Show and Random Movie Night and lives in Chicago with his wife and child. Follow him on Twitter at @kphipps3000.

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