Live Long and Prosper

STAR TREK
Distributor: Paramount

Release Date: May 8, 2009

Director: J.J. Abrams

Science fiction can be heart-felt and touching too. I was totally sold on "I'll read your frequency", "Live long and prosper"and the groovy Vulcan Salute. The no-expression-photo-shop-face-geeky-haircut Spark is lovable. Blondy balances well cute and obnoxious. Even Space Mafia are full of space venom. And when you throw in fantastic explosions and spectacular space jargon... The two hours passes like 20 minutes, but then you go home and go straight to bed. That is a good movie.

It's still a mystery to me how writers make the audience care about certain character. Spark is perfect example. He is cold, has weird hair-cut and pointed ears. Half human, half Vulcan -- a simple man with dimensions. Conflicted between logic and emotions, he is forced to make choices, face the consequence of his action...

So is it the human emotion that makes audience cares? Not necessarily. When Bond gets sentimental and human, it doesn't make him dimensional or more entertaining, it just makes him complicated. Is it the dilemmas and decisions that human beings constantly face? Probably. When it offers us a chance to ponder in the dark what humans, and us are made of.

May all writers find the secret recipes of good characters. Live long and prosper.