DVD: Star Trek
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The Story
In J.J. Abram’s reboot of the original “Star Trek” series, Kirk (Chris Pine) is born on the day his father is killed in an attack by a massive Romulan mining ship from the distant future. He eventually joins Starfleet Academy, where he meets Dr. Bones McCoy (Karl Urban), communications expert Uhura (Zoe Saldana), and the half human/half Vulcan Mr. Spock (Zachariy Quinto).
The cadets join Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) on the maiden mission of the Starship Enterprise in response to a distress call from the Vulcan home world. Upon arriving, they find the planet under attack by the same Romulan Captain Nero (Eric Bana) that killed Kirk’s father years earlier and now seeks revenge on both current Spock and his future self—as well as the whole Vulcan race.
Before they can defeat Nero, though, Spock and Kirk will have to work out which of them is in charge. They find help from some surprising sources.
Content Issues
The rating comes mostly from action violence, which includes some blood and onscreen deaths, as well as an enormous off-screen body count. Also, Kirk is building his rep as a womanizer; we see him in bed shirtless with a green lady and see a couple of women in their underwear. God’s name is used for swearing, along with a few milder profanities.
Worldview Talking Points
If you are even a nominal fan of the “Star Trek” franchise, you’re as likely to enjoy this well-reviewed reboot at least as much as your teen son or daughter. Director J.J. Abrams and his team succeed in making an excellent actioner that manages to satisfyingly reference all things “Trek” while also building in a lot of new fun.
“Star Trek” creator Gene Rodenberry’s overtly humanistic, evolutionary worldview perspectives get very little mention here. Instead, Abrams focuses what little moral perspective there is on the character choices of Kirk, Spock, and the villain Nero.
We hope a few of the questions below might transport you into a helpful conversation with your son or daughter.
- What did you think about “Star Trek”? Do you hope they’ll make sequels? Who is your favorite character?
- How would you describe the personality strengths and weaknesses of Kirk and Spock?
- What kind of a life do you think Kirk would have had if he’d refused to let go of his bitterness about his dad’s death—and had not joined Starfleet?
- Do you think you have a good idea of who you are—of what your unique strengths and weaknesses are? As a Christian, do you have an idea about what your spiritual gift or gifts might be?
- What would you say were Nero’s unique personality strengths and weaknesses?
- How do you think his life would have been different if he had been able to let go of his anger and need for revenge?
- Do you think there’s an advantage to finding a cause that’s bigger than you to devote all your unique talents and abilities to serving?
- What are some causes that would be worth that?
- Do you think we sometimes get in the way of ourselves? Does our sin and selfishness keep us from being everything God means for us to be?
- What would you say is the “cause of Christ”? [Parent: Think about reading Matthew 10:35-37 to help talk about this point.]
- If there was a Starfleet-style organization you could join for the cause of Christ, would you want to do it? Is there an organization like that? Is that kind of what the church is supposed to be? Why or why not?
Jeff Brantly on May 21, 2009 said...
We saw the movie on opening day (without the kids). I grew up watching reruns of the original series and have watched the newer movies and most of the spin-off series as well.
Abrams’ rebooting of the story line wasn’t bad. Your review has covered things very well, but there is one more aspect that needs to be mentioned: self sacrifice.
This is not a Christian movie. None of the series or movies related to Star Trek is overtly Christian. At the same time…there is a theme of self sacrifice that many Christians would find familiar. The act of laying down one’s life to save the lives of others is a recurrent theme in the recent “Star Trek” movie as well as past movies and, in particular, several episodes of the series “Enterprise”.
Intentional or not, the creators and writers have embraced Christian ideals.