Director: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto & Eric Bana
An excellent sci-fi action movie that reinvigorates the Star Trek franchise for new audiences whilst managing to be respectful and appealing to established Star Trek fans.
After the lackluster performance of the pervious Star Trek film Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002 and the disappointing performance cancellation of the previous Star Trek television series Enterprise in 2005, it seemed that the Star Trek franchise was struggling to remain interesting or relevant to viewers after an unbroken run of 18 years of Star Trek television series. After several years of developing new scripts and ideas for the franchise, J.J. Abrams (creator of TV series Alias, Lost and Fringe, director of the film Mission Impossible III and producer of films such as Cloverfield) has brought Star Trek back, and back to cinemas, by revisiting the early days of the original Star Trek crew and reintroducing the characters and universe to new and old audiences alike.
Whilst investigating an anomaly described as a “lightning storm in space”, the U.S.S. Kelvin comes under attack from an enemy ship emerging from the anomaly. The ship, coming from the future, destroys the U.S.S. Kelvin but not before its captain, one George Kirk, manages to save 800 crew members including his wife and new-born son Jim. Flashing forward we see Jim Kirk (Pine) grow up to be a rebel whilst Spock (Quinto), a half human/half Vulcan struggles with feelings of rebellion on his home planet where emotion is strictly controlled in favor of logic. With both joining Starfleet, an intergalactic space force dedicated to exploring space and other worlds, they are both forced to work together when Spock’s planet is threatened by the same ship that destroyed the U.S.S. Kelvin 25 years before, killing Kirk’s father. Using a clever time-traveling hook, Star Trek acknowledges the history established in the previous Star Trek series and films but has the actions of its villain Nero (Bana) alters history creating a new series of events and a new status for classic Star Trek characters like Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy, Scotty and more. Still taking place in the character’s earlier years prior to the period covered in the original Star Trek series from 1966, the new Star Trek film takes a younger cast and the advantage of modern effects to create a new adventure that introduces the characters and the Star Trek franchise to new audiences in an accessible manner that, whilst not requiring familiarity with the continuity of 43 years of Star Trek, is still respectful of it and offers plenty of little in-jokes and references for more experienced fans of the franchise.
What J.J. Abrams also returns to the Star Trek franchise is a sense of fun. Whether it is humor at the expense of its character’s youthful mishaps and exuberance or pokes at long standing running gags within the franchise, Star Trek offers plenty of laughs without spoofing the franchise it is reviving. The humor, along with some impressive action sequences and special effects opens the franchise up to a bigger audience than most previous Star Trek films have been able to achieve. The cast in Star Trek is also impressive. Chris Pine steps into the shoes previously worn by William Shatner to play James T. Kirk and while demonstrating moments of Shatner-like charm, also adds his own mark to this character, one whose life takes a more rebellious course than Shatner’s original Kirk. Quinto (TV’s Heroes) steps into the role of Spock with ease giving the character the necessary cold, emotionless demeanor when needed whilst keeping just enough emotion bubbling underneath the surface as his character struggles with his more human emotions. Karl Urban (The Lord of the Rings films) channels the spirit of Deforest Kelley in his performance as Dr. McCoy getting many of the best lines and being suitably grumpy and cynical throughout while Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, TVs Spaced) adds comic relief as the Scottish engineer Scotty. John Cho and Anton Yelchin are enjoyable as Sulu and Chekov and Zoe Saldana gets to develop her role of Uhura into a far more spirited character than the previous incarnation had been portrayed. The only weak link in the casting and in the film is in its villain. Nero, played dependably by Bana, is little seen and underdeveloped. With his motives merely spoken and not really developed and the focus more on the film’s heroes, Nero is an adequate villain whose threat depends more on his ship and his weaponry than on the character himself.
Overall, while the villain is a little disappointing, the rest of the cast of Star Trek are enjoyable as is the story, the humor, the effects and the action sequences. Star Trek is a very enjoyable film and the best Star Trek film in over a decade and certainly the most accessible film yet. An excellent Star Trek film and an excellent summer blockbuster.
Rating: 4/5
