Review #645: 'Star Trek' (2009)

After Captain Picard and his crew crash-landed at the box office with Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and the TV series Star Trek: Enterprise was canned, the Star Trek franchise was at a dead-end and in desperate need of fresh eyes. After TV success with the likes of Alias and Lost, and a decent franchise entry in Mission: Impossible III (2006) - which brought the series back on course after John Woo's horrible first sequel - in stepped J.J. Abrams, along with writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. This would be a complete re-boot, going back to the very beginning of the careers of the characters from the original series - Kirk, Spock, Scotty et al, who are now some of the most recognisable faces in popular culture.

Born amidst the heroic death of his father, James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is a rash, headstrong, yet intelligent adrenaline junkie, who, after a bar fight with some Starfleet cadets, is convinced by Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) to enlist in Starfleet academy. On Vulcan, Spock (Zachary Quinto) faces the decision whether to give himself over completely to the logic-based Vulcan way of life of his father, or embrace the emotions brought on by his human mother. After being invited to join the Vulcan Science Acacemy, but taking offence at a suggestion that his humanity is a 'disadvantage', Spock declines and enlists in Starfleet. Three years later, the cadets find themselves on the Enterprise commanded by Pike, where they answer a distress signal from Vulcan, who are facing destruction from Romulan Nero (Eric Bana).

While admittedly not a fan himself, Abrams clearly doesn't want to upset the huge fanbase that this franchise attracts, going as far as using a clever plot device that allows the rookie characters to pursue their own path, and therefore not eradicating everything that happened back when William Shatner was hamming it up. Occasionally, you'll see Shatner in Chris Pine, but Pine makes Kirk very much his own. Kirk is the humanity of the story - cocky and arrogant to the point of dangerous, but capable and confident like every leader needs to be, and here we see him discover where to draw the line. He is the polar opposite to Quinto's Spock, who, at this point of the story, is a cold, angry presence, but inwardly fighting his natural instinct to balance logic with emotion, seeing weakness in his humanity.

It is the interactions between these two characters that form the emotional core of the film, with the characters naturally learning from each other and starting on the path that would lead to their great friendship. This being an origin story, the focus should naturally be on character development, so Bana's Nero, although nailing the short time he has on screen, doesn't get much of a look in, becoming not much more than a plot device that allows the crew of the Enterprise to pull together. However, Nero's ruthlessness does allow for some fine action scenes, and one genuinely shocking moment. There's less 'set phasers to stun' and more hand-to-hand combat in the vein of the Bourne trilogy, with Spock displaying some chopsocky skills and Sulu (John Cho) revealing some unknown kung-fu abilities (he is Asian, after all!).

It won't please all the fans, certainly not the hardcore Trekkies. Original creator Gene Roddenberry fused philosophy and science and gave the world a series that, on the surface, could be misconstrued as just another cheesy sci-fi series from the 1960's, but was rooted in something far deeper and more intelligent. Abrams take on Star Trek all but throws away these ideas, and focuses more on action and comedy, aspects of the traditional blockbuster. Myself, I've seen very little of the TV series, so this didn't bother me in the slightest. Although I think the original Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) has an unfair bad rep, I generally find the original movie series quite tedious and very hit-and-miss (something the fans will admit), so I welcome the new take. It's Star Trek for the modern age, but shows enough respect for what came before that a fine balance is created, and, some lazy plot devices aside, is one of the most shamelessly entertaining films of the past few years.


Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Zoe Saldana, Bruce Greenwood, Leonard Nimoy, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin
Country: USA/Germany

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie