‘Star Trek’ Review

Release Date: 5/8/09

I first want to start off by saying I have never seen a Star Trek movie or TV show ever in my life.  Being a Star Wars fan the only things I know about Star Trek are from seeing other movies or television shows make fun of it.  I never had a desire to venture into the Star Trek world.  Then JJ Abrams announces he’s going to make a new Star Trek film, the teaser trailer comes out and I’m not impressed.  The real trailer comes out and I must say I got interested.  Then while sitting in my seat watching this film I was totally fascinated.  Star Trek, directed by JJ Abrams (The creator of Lost, Fringe, and Cloverfield) and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (The writing team behind the Transformers script) is a sci-fi stunning success that will totally revitalize a franchise and create a whole new Trakkie fan base that I must say I am now a part of.

Star Trek opens with an amazing space battle between the U.S.S. Kelvin, temporarily commanded by George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth), and the Romulan vessel Narada.  Nero (Eric Bana), the Narada’s commander has specific objectives, one of which is destroying planets.  After his devastating attack on the Kelvin, Nero remains in hiding for 25 years.    Meanwhile, in Iowa, James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) grows up to be a brilliant but undisciplined young man. He is recruited into the Starfleet by Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), who sees potential in the young man. When Pike’s crew is called to an emergency duty aboard the newly completed flagship of the fleet, the U.S.S. Enterprise, Kirk is on board, as are First Officer Spock (Zachary Quinto), Doctor Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban), Communications Officer Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Navigators Sulu (John Cho) and Chekov (Anton Yelchin). The Enterprise’s chief engineer, Scotty (Simon Pegg), will join later. It’s the job of the Enterprise to stop the Narada, despite being massively overmatched.

This is the true kickoff to the summer as it very much reminds me of Iron Man from last year.  We get a surprise action film that starts the summer blockbusters off with a bang and is also receiving great reviews.  Wolverine needs to take some notes especially on the script, this is how you make an origin story work, as Star Trek reminds me of Batman Begins, where we go back before anything has happened to explain characters lives in detail.  This is how you develop characters, which are necessary in all movies, even the action variety.  If you are also a fan of action you will be very pleased as it entertains you with fast paced scene after fast paced scene keeping you on the edge of your seat with fantastic visuals.  The special effects and cinematography make it pleasing to look at as well.

The casting was a big concern going in, newcomers Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto were the leads but could they perform as William Shatner and Leonard Nemoy did in the past.  Chris Pine does an absolutely brilliant job as he brings James T. Kirk’s cockiness and charisma to the screen without imitating Shatner in any way.  Quinto was less impressive but also captures the geekiness of the half human half Vulcan Spock.  I definitely liked Kirk’s character the most as he was the absolute man in this movie.  Then there are some great small parts.  Simon Pegg as Scotty was hilarious and brought a lot of great comic relief to the story.  Actually the whole movie had me laughing out loud which was a big surprise.  Any film that can mix action, comedy, and drama into the story is one that I will enjoy.  Eric Bana was a good bad guy but I thought he was going to be a great bad guy in the film, he is kind of creepy but I was expecting more from him.  Then there is the cameo of a lifetime that had all the Trekkie’s going nuts in the theater.  It could of turned out to be a disaster but I think it actually works here with story; you’ll have to see it for yourself to know what I’m talking about.

So if you are looking for the next Iron Man or Batman Begins to see in the theater and are scared because the title of the film is Star Trek and only nerds like Star Trek, then take it from me. This film has it all and you are guaranteed to come out of the theater completely satisfied.  If you are a fan of Sci-fi this is one of the best I’ve seen in years, if you are an action junky then this is the best of the year so far, but more importantly if you are a fan of movies then you might just come out of the theater as a newborn Trekkie, such as I did.

Star Trek is Vulcan AWESOME!

STAMP IT! IT’S MADE!

IMDB: 8.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
Moviewiseguys: 9/10