Movie Review: Star Trek

Synopsis: A chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members. The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals. One, James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), is a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy. The other, Spock (Zachary Quinto), was raised in a logic-based society that rejects all emotion. As fiery instinct clashes with calm reason, their unlikely but powerful partnership is the only thing capable of leading their crew through unimaginable danger, boldly going where no one has gone before.

Now THIS my friends, is how you reboot a franchise. I'm not even a Trekkie. Hell I'm not even what you'd call much of a casual fan really. But you don't have to be to like this. I'm sure it helps to know who some characters are but this film would also stand alone as just a great sci-fi movie.

What's so great about it? Well, it's a fresh look at the franchise, the story is solid and credible, the effects and visuals are fantastic, it's got enough humor to break some of the seriousness but not too much and there is a lot of action. Even at 2 hours, the pace is so good I never really noticed.

The cast are all good choices really, I didn't have a problem with any of them. I am familiar with the characters from the original show but not so much that I could really complain about how any were represented here by their modern counter-parts. In fact, not being a big fan may help the enjoyment of this film, since you'll probably not be nitpicking and the only things I think people will really find wrong with this movie will be nitpicking. I did like hearing the new characters say their classic catchphrases even, as cheesy as some of them were. I almost let out a cheer when Scottie says "I'm givin' 'er all she's got!"

It's touches like that which make it all seem so familiar, but it's still a very fresh look at some great characters.

Several Summers ago Nolan brought the Batman franchise back from the dead and now J.J. Abrams has done the same with Star Trek. He's made it hip and current again.

This is just a really entertaining, big, well done Summer Hollywood blockbuster that happens to be about a classic TV show. I liked it so much that when I got home I set my DVR to pick-up all the classic episodes on Nick At Nite. Maybe I'll become a Trekkie after all?

9/10