Star Trek (2009)
There was no way that this reboot was going to avoid all references to either the original series of Star Trek or the other spin-off series - anyone going in to see this film had to accept that as a given. But any cheesy bits (of which there were relatively few) are blown away by the sheer beauty and bravado of this film.
What made this film special for me was not the story (remarkably good, bearing in mind that, like the first film in any new franchise, it's backbone was character development). What made this film for me was the....photography? Can you even call CGI photography? Well, either way, this film was a visual feast. The way that scale was conveyed was breath-taking. I'm not sure whether I read this somewhere or if I can take credit for it myself, but the difference came in the way that Abrams shoved aside the traditional Star Trek view of Enterprise as a lumbering naval ship and took a more Star Wars-esquire dogfight approach. This has set a high standard for a new era of Star Trek that I hope will spawn at least a couple more films.
It's not that I wasn't impressed with the character development, the acting, the script or the story - it's just that this film looked so gorgeous that I haven't been able to think of anything else since I saw it last night! But sufficed to say, this was overall an excellent feature.
Acting as a prequel/alternate universe to the original television series, Star Trek introduces us to Kirk's father, George, who is forced to sacrifice himself and the U.S.S Kelvin to time-travelling Romulan, Nero, so that he can save the rest of his crew's life. This is the turning point in the story, meaning every single action done is part of an alternate universe. Being a reboot, this is a very clever way for director J.J Abrams, to separate his film from all previous Trek entries.
The film then follows Kirk as he joins Starfleet at a young age and Spock as he leaves Vulcan to continue his emotional development at Starfleet. After a few amusing incidences, cheating and manipulating, they find themselves together on the Enterprise as they try to defeat and stop Nero from creating black holes that could destroy the federation's planets. Chris Pine stars as the young arrogant, overconfident womaniser that is Officer Kirk. He puts in a very funny and charismatic performance and if we had seen William Shatner's Kirk at that age, he probably would've been like that. The same can be said for all the actors portraying young versions of old characters. Zachary Quinto's Spock is obsessed and completely engrossed in logic and scenes where he and Kirk try to outdo each other leaves you stunned at their sheer hate and annoyance towards one and other.
Some may be disappointed that Karl Urban's Bones McCoy is just an impression of DeForest Kelley's one, but he does, actually do the finest impression I've ever seen. John Cho and Anton Yelchin give strong performances as Sulu and Chekov (who keeps the V, W swap) and Simon Pegg's incarnation of Scotty is far funnier than James Doohan managed. In previous instalments, Uhara, although elegant, was never considered sexy. But here, Zoe Saldana transforms the character into a complete beauty whom both Kirk and Spock fight for. Also in the cast is future Avenger, Chris Hemsworth who, although on-screen for a matter of minutes, creates emotional impact as George Kirk, and Bruce Greenwood, who plays Enterprise Captain Christopher Pike strong and boldly, and also acts as Kirk's mentor.
A nice little surprise for fans is the inclusion of the old universe's Spock, of course portrayed by living legend, Leonard Nimoy. It was an absolute joy to see him on screen and he provides knowledge to the younger characters since he was also drawn into the black hole. His storytelling skills are superb and you feel such despair for him as he describes losing his own universe forever. Eric Bana, who plays Nero, is however, the film's only casting stumble. His acting isn't bad, but he makes little effect on the viewer, for good or for worse. This could be because he is unrecognisable as a tattooed, bald Romulan, or maybe he just isn't suited to playing the bad guy.
The film itself is well paced throughout and full of dazzling action sequences along with top of the market special effects. The modern re-design of the Enterprise's interior is ingenious and the film makes constant references to the original series, which is sure to please all die-hard Trekkies. This film is so entertaining and does what no one has done before. It makes Star Trek cool. This adaption is an amazing re-imagination of the Star Trek universe, which captures the human and philosophical elements of the old while giving it a fresh and modern update. The finale is absolutely thrilling and a final voice-over from Leonard Nimoy that calls space the final frontier and tells us to boldly go where no man has gone before, made me in complete awe of this film even more. The ultimate Star Trek and one of the (if not THE) finest and most accomplished films of the 21st century. A total joy which left me grinning from Vulcan ear to ear.
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