Star Trek (2009)

first off... I talk too much!:Before the long wind begins, I will say I did enjoy this film. It did indeed entertain me. The problem always comes with the noisy ruminations of its enthusiastic appreciators.I think that I could get with the prevailing assessment of the "greatness" of this film if there was a modicum of respect for the art that came before it. Like battlestar galactica, like star wars, like the recent installments of superman and batman (the slightly older newer batman - being batman begins actually - coming less than a full decade after the old incarnation) the passionate contemporary blows the loudest horn. The words "Younger" and "better", the word "sexier", the ill gotten word "hipper" are thrown around as justifications of the product's existence altogether. It's the hip sexiness that makes this new such and such a thousand times better than the old so and so. As if there were any better reason for sprucing up and old car or an old house, than the time honored pursuit of long green! New Money making marketeer barons would have us believe the fairytale that this new re-imagination trend of updating the old was the obligation of the young. It is not, as a matter of fact, to anyone listening, it is not not not! But this is the parlance they use, and no one asks..., yeah but... WHY? Why did it HAVE to happen? It didn't. The suits just thought they could make a buck off something. Yes yes, a built in audience! Excellent marketing savvy there, gentlemen, although if you proceed to change everything in order to make it "digest-able" to the A.D.D. in you and me, then aren't they effectively alienating those same supposedly built in devotees? Tis indeed a conundrum!Hubris:And how does this attitude of better come into the equation. This is such a throw away society that we have television shows that are dedicated to mocking the times and styles of decades past with amusingly clever video blubs and pop up commentary atop stock footage of Wham or the Beatles or President Kennedy and everyone giggles about hair styles and artsy gimmickry. However they're clearly oblivious to the fact that in time the right now will be the back then, and brand new snotties in hipster gear of tomorrow year will be mocking them just as vehemently and thinking themselves just as clever. Comparing the old Battlestar Galactica or Star trek to the new is ridiculously naïve and downright stupid. Of course with the benefit of 20 to 30 years of advancement the look of one thing from now will out shine the lack of gloss of the one thing then. No one looks at photography and says that they're modern Polaroid of their dog, or the digital download of their children in a playground are "BETTER" than old picture candids of grandma from 1947, it's the substance of the photo, not the quality of the make of the picture. I mean, That argument would be friggin' stupid, wouldn't it?!!! The special effects are a thousand times better, the look is crisper, the visuals stunning. So let that be written down, we all agree. But sorry kids, I can still separate pretty from nourishing. Just a plain pretty look and nothing much in the story department is the equivalent of empty calories. Something to think about.About the film itself:For something so new and improved we sure did manage to roll out the Sci Fi cliché machine front and center when we were jotting this three act extravaganza down on paper, didn't we?MR.BRAIN: Well... first we need a villain, he should be deep and brooding and virtually wordless so we don't have any of those clichéd cartoon mustache twisting villain moments.MR. PINKY: How can we make him menacing if n' he don't talk, though, boss?MR.BRAIN: Easy, we'll put sinister looking tattoos all over his face and give him nasty looking serrated edged weapons he can use to slay hapless Starfleet officers!MR. PINKY: Brilliant, sir! What do we call him?MR.BRAIN: Darth Maul!MR. PINKY: Uhh, sir? Seriously?MR.BRAIN: Yeah you're right, that's been taken. Alright well Roddenberry templated the Romulans against the Romans, roll out the list of roman emperors, drop your finger on a name and let's just move on, ANYTHING BUT CAESAR! That's too obvious.MR. PINKY: Of course, sir.MR.BRAIN: Now we don't want Darth Maul...MR. PINKY: Sir?!MR.BRAIN: I mean Nero, to be one dimensional, do we? So we'll have to give him purpose, alright, I say page two paragraph six of the vile motivations handbook?MR. PINKY: Dead wife, sir?MR.BRAIN: Yes! It worked for Mr. Freeze, didn't it? But lets up the anti_ his whole planet's destroyed and so now he wants to destroy the federation.MR. PINKY: So the federation destroyed his planet?MR.BRAIN: Nahh, but we'll come up with some convoluted plot point that'll wrap that all up.MR. PINKY: How's he try to destroy the federation, sir, Sabotage? Political intrigue?MR.BRAIN: Are you nuts, that would take whole minutes to establish, and mostly done through dialog! Go to chapter one in the Vile Implementations handbook.MR. PINKY: Oh sir, you don't mean....?MR.BRAIN: Yes my friend, the vaunted planet destroying weapon!MR. PINKY: Didn't we do that with V-Ger in the first film Kahn and the genesis device, or the hunchback whale probe, or with that weirdo nexus ribbon that required the destruction or worlds to be moved, or when that guy who killed Mozart needed a face lift and was willing to use some solar collector thingie on a planet, or that OTHER Romulan dude, Shinzon or whatever, didn't he have a super baddie weapon he planned to use against the federation? And didn't Vader have like two of those types of things?MR.BRAIN: Your point? It works, don't it?MR. PINKY: Alright, so we got the federation against a rogue madman with his very own planet destroying weapon and an axe to grind?MR.BRAIN: Sounds like Gold, don't it?MR. PINKY: But neither Romulos nor Vulcan were destroyed in Kirks time of star trek, sir, how do we fit this in?MR.BRAIN: C'mon, use you head willya, Mirror mirror on the wall!MR. PINKY: Ohh of course sir, an alternate universe! Meaning Nero's a time traveler! The sci Fi trifecta, you are an absolute genius of modern celluloid story crafting, sir.MR.BRAIN: Yes, yes, you're quite right! Alright my nephew'll be getting home from high school any minute; I get him working on the script as soon as he puts the key in the door!Get you-self an edu-ma-cation, son:Sadly I must admit to a prejudice myself, toward these greasy new executive hipsters whom blow in, un-time-tested, with one or two hits under their belt and now suddenly their some prodigy that knows better than everyone. I mean, at first I sort of buy into it cause I saw the flick and didn't vomit so I ran out and snatched up the DVD. Then suddenly you hear it, you hear it right there on the special features. "I really wanted to make star trek more like star wars! Fast paced and not so heady." Fair enough, you wanted one classic space opera to be more like another classic space opera more so than you wanted it to be like itself. Alright, knowing you boys the way I do that almost makes some sense. But then they keep talking and you hear things from their own lips like, "we took this out because it was too Set-up-ee." And allowing the vocab felony just committed by the word `Set-up-ee', you think; alright, the hipster's panicked that his excuse for dialog is going on too long between explosions. So out comes potentially pertinent information for the sake expediency. (them film jockeys call this "pacing") You keep moving. Then you get like a twelve and a half minute featurette showing you how the crafty crafters stationed a man just within camera shot so he could shine a flashlight into the lens and give everything a glaring effect. And you go. Well alright, this is sorta like movie magic, I guess, and it...is...worthy of a....full...featurette...........Right? then they talk about the director and the praise his wisdom and how good he is at turning water to wine and making the sick well and the blind see and all that, and then he comes on the scene and claims absolute stupidity, saying he was never a fan of the original trek, he never watched the show, but he had some GREAT IDEAS when they handed the project to him! So now you're like, alright, well.... So the guy's not a fan and... WAIT, WHY THE HELL IS HE MAKING THIS DAMNED MOVIE THEN? And why does an obviously smart man whom makes A-list movies feel compelled to completely downplay his wit in order to put butts in the seats? Has this society become so cynical and paranoid and functionally illiterate that we are dismayed by even the indication of a higher intellect behind our entertainment, or running our COUNTRY?! Are we at a point where a smart man has to play dumb or keep his street credibility and be taken semi seriously on the internet machine? All be told, allowing for Abrams to come out and claim a willful lack of education for himself and also of the genre he's just reinvented, harkens to the new trend of the hapless hero whom is seemingly brilliant by divine intervention and never had to work for his wit or his talents like everyone else. This new Kirk in the movie is a snot nosed kid, subversive and compulsive and reckless, yet someone sees potential in him and urges him to sign up. He even cheats, breaks all the rules and though Spock is a commander while he's still a cadet he is suddenly elevated to captain on his first mission, rising past Spock and a host of others whom I must assume have all been in Starfleet longer and whom presumably did so without faking out the system. I know the original Kirk cheated at the Kobyashi test, but you never get the impression that this was anything more than just an adherence to his own personal ideology that he didn't believe in the no win scenario. The way this is depicted, without any example of otherwise academic achievement on Chris Pines' (his character, not him, I think the dudes a whip ;)) part, we imply that he just got there on the merits of being ballsy and cheating his way through it. Someone should really have a problem with their heroes being depicted this way, but I don't think people were compelled to pay that much attention to the light lunch of characterization they were being spoon fed with sugary visuals! Hmmmmm, wait a minute.... was this Kirk quark a little autobiographical license there by the young upstart in the director's chair? Coincidence? Nahhh!All put together I began to think to yourself, DID REALLY I JUST FRICKEN SEE AND HEAR WHAT I THOUGHT I SAW AND HEARD? And thus the intellect crusades begin. And there I go off wondering, is it not more important to inspire those still un-jaded and inspirables to CREATING something new?!Technicality peeves:Oh and Warp Nacelles are not thrusters, guys. The point is that they WARP space and propel the ship faster than light. They're not Jet afterburners! FYI. There have been literally a zillion tech manuals written on the Trek science, whereas you might think that these details are ridiculous, remember you're making a star trek movie! Don't talk to me about being a geek, you're the head geek in charge now, Mister mister! Can we get a guy that knows a guy to work on getting a guy to work on that? Also, who jettisons a cadet from their ship to a Hoth just because there's a slight disagreement? Doesn't the new flag ship have a brig? Oh, what? Oh, they needed to do that so young Kirk could meet old Spock and Scotty so that act 2 could begin? I see, uhhh.... Alright.... I guess. ;) BUT I DIGRESS!Wrap it up!:My point is for this film and its fans; it could not have been without the original. Mr. Abrams, for all his genuine brilliance, could not have done this without firmly standing on the shoulders of Mr. Roddenberry, without taking from a wealth of pre-established minutia that allowed him the luxury of picking and choosing and then casting the aforementioned "New Spin". What I fail to understand in this great society of ours is, why does anything new that happens to also be good, have to be good at the expense of what came before? Why does this have to be BETTER? Why would we mock he original actors and what they did and what they left us? I mean, remember acting, folks. True the Shat-inator was over-exuberant from time to time...to time, but there was genuine conveyance of wit and both intellect and emotion from these highly capable people. We're mocking that against modern characteristic development? Are you serious? I think it would be easier to agree that it was a fast paced, enjoyable film that allowed new perspectives and new directions to be taken with old favorites if there wasn't automatically this seeming inescapable negative slant against the old for the exaltation of the new. The new is pretty, the new is newer, stylized and kinetically meeting the manic short attention span standards of the eyes of today. It has not been proven, it has not been weighed or time tested at the moment, it should be given a chance, but exaltation waits until exaltation is earned. As we have clearly learned with the original trek movies, and the new star wars, and even the new dune novels, NOTHING IS AN ABSOLUTE WIN.I liked the film, I liked it a lot. I want more of this, but I want substance with it too, and I am harsh because I can see the trend trending away from weight and further and further towards fluff, toward "easy". Visuals are easy. I can think of a visual: a giant octopus wrapped tight around the empire state building, swatting battle ships out of the river while whistling the star spangled banner!: doesn't make that visual compelling or intriguing, (well kinda...) it's just a visual! It's not the film; it's the new ideological hubris I feel it represents.And.....................breath...

- Captain Pike to surly young townie Jim Kirk: "Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved eight hundred lives, including your mother's - and yours. I dare you to do better."This is neither your grandpa's Star Trek nor the Trekkies' or Trekkers' traditional Star Trek. J.J. Abram's STAR TREK is instead a reinventing of the classic characters and their universe, and if you could accept that their adventures don't at all undermine past continuity - that this instead is a wholly new and separate continuity, parallel to the old one - then this film might become your Star Trek. It doesn't replace as much as add a new layer to what's gone on before. It certainly revitalizes the franchise.The genesis lies in the original Star Trek universe. Something there happens on a cataclysmic level which then triggers an alternate timeline. In this new reality, James T. Kirk grows up without a father to inspire him, and the malcontent boy grows into a cocky, rebellious young local townie who, the morning after a life-altering bar brawl, enrolls into Starfleet Academy. As the movie unfolds, we learn that while this Kirk may be more bitter and resentful than the original, he's still the same audacious, take-charge Iowan we'd long ago propped on a pedestal. James T. Kirk is still THE man.This ranks among the best Star Trek films, in terms of escapism and of sheer high adventure. It's just a fun movie, and I think a smart move by the franchise's think tank. Most of the actors previously involved with past incarnations of Star Trek are become old fogies, or as near as. New blood was definitely required, and really if one weren't gonna do a Starfleet Academy series, then why not go back to the source but with a new spin? Shatner, Nimoy, and the rest are so linked with the characters they made iconic that, really, a parallel reality was the best route to take. It allows a new generation of actors to have breathing room and to establish their own marks on these same characters. Having said that, I'm very happy that we're treated to an extended cameo by a familiar face from the original universe.J.J. Abrams makes this picture an exhilarating one, and action-packed. Maybe he's saving the more cerebral elements and the human drama for the sequels. But this STAR TREK celebrates the new cast, most of whom are terrific, several seemingly out of left field. There's really nothing to say about Zachary Quinto, other than this whole enterprise (heh) would have collapsed if he weren't around. In looks and demeanor, he does really great interpreting a young Spock. Chris Pine makes all the right choices as the new James T. Kirk. He could've effed this up royally by mimicking Shatner's mannered cadence, except that he mostly stays away from this. Pine puts in his own spin, and yet still captures the same spirit and swagger of the good captain. Once in a while, though, either with a pronounced delivery of a line or with a subtle movement, Pine does channel his inner Shatner, as a homage and just to give us a for old time's sake. This guy won me over quick.Rating the other actors: Karl Urban is the shocking surprise here, and I think he walks away with the best performance. His Dr. McCoy is absolutely spot-on, wonderfully crabby and gruff; he perfectly evokes the mannerisms of DeForest Kelley. I didn't think he had it in him, and I'm digging his chemistry with Chris Pine. Smoking hot Zoe Saldana comes in the room and her fiercely intelligent Uhura is, if anything, even more strong-willed than Nichelle Nichol's. While I enjoyed Simon Pegg and Anton Yelchin's respective versions of Scotty and the 17-year-old Chekov, their performances are juuuust a shade over-the-top. But I just don't see John Cho as Sulu. Maybe it's because I keep waiting for Sulu to go looking for a White Castle. Anyway, the core actors show really good chemistry, and if you check out the special features, you can tell they're having a blast spending time with each other. The future looks very good for upcoming sequels.Another cool thing is that the big crisis is met head on by a group of untested cadets, and this sets up that sense of "Wow, they really are starting over." We see the initial interactions of the celebrated Enterprise crew, but again this is a new universe and some things have changed. Just some examples: This movie posits that Kirk and Spock first met thru the infamous Kobayashi Maru incident, and theirs is an instant rivalry. We learn the roots of Dr. McCoy's nickname. And an unexpected romance blossoms.The villains, meh. I'm not ever keen on Romulans as the Big Bad. In relation to Vulcans, Romulans are kind of like those embarrassing relatives you don't talk about, you know, the ones who live on the mountains and generally have a working TV sitting on top of a broken TV. The first appearance of their starship, all bristly and smacking of aggression, is promising and is properly menacing. But then it went downhill once I realized that it was manned by Romulans. It doesn't help that Eric Bana's role of rogue Romulan villain Nero (not cool with that name, either) comes off as underdone and seems to be there just to service the plot.This 2-disc DVD set, the special features: On Disc 1: the filmmakers' nerdy cool commentary (Director J.J. Abrams, Exec. Producer Bryan Burk, Writers/Producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, and Producer Damon Lindelof); a gag reel (worth it alone for the final outtake with Pine and Quinto affecting some weird Ikea accent); and the Making Of featurette "A New Vision."On Disc 2: "To Boldly Go" - a segment going even deeper behind the scenes, focusing a bit more on the filmmaking process, as well as the crew's further reflections on classic Trek; in-depth featurettes on the "Casting," "Aliens," and the "Score"; nine deleted scenes, some of which do flesh out the story, and all with optional director/producers commentary: "Spock Birth," "Klingons Take Over Narada," "Young Kirk, Johnny and Uncle Frank," "Amanda and Sarek Argue After Spock Fights," "Prison Interrogation and Breakout," "Sarek Gets Amanda," "Dorm Room and Kobayashi Maru (Original Version)" - this one details just how Kirk cheated on the test, "Kirk Apologizes to the Green Girl" (funny), and "Sarek Sees Spock." Disc 2 contains the STAR TREK D-A-C free game trial for XBox 360 - just pop the disc into your XBox 360 and follow the prompts; and for a digital copy of the film, Disc 2 can also be inserted into your computer's DVD-ROM or BD-ROM drive.Some things never change, nor should they. The core personalities are intact, and this is never more true than the qualities which make Jim Kirk so iconic. The purpose of the Kobayashi Maru challenge is to instill fear into Starfleet officers so that they can accept and prepare for the possibility of defeat. But that philosophy is simply antithesis to the defiant make-up of Kirk's character. In whatever incarnation, Kirk is all about beating the odds. He simply doesn't believe in no-win situations. And another staple of the franchise to survive: When Pike assigns Kirk, Sulu, and some no-hoper named Engineer Olsen on a high risk mission, and then you glimpse Engineer Olsen sporting that red uniform, well, you instantly know his odds for survival just dropped to a big, fat nil. And I guess, in whatever universe, Kirk will end up macking with a green-skinned hottie from Orion. And, oh yeah, as a last desperate bid for survival, the go-to move will always be that old "eject the warp core" ploy.Now some dubious stuff: I guess the sequence with Kirk as a kid was necessary to demonstrate just how angry he was in his formative years, but, man, this kid was really unlikable. I don't quite buy that Vulcan kids will resort to baiting to test young Spock's devotion to emotionless logic. Vulcans do have emotions, yeah, but I thought they were too well trained from the outset to demonstrate such bullying behavior. And it's a bit convenient that Scotty, newly arrived on the Enterprise, would so promptly be put in charge of engineering. It's also stretching things a bit that Kirk would get marooned on an ice planet and then end up meeting... someone. But the fan boy factor is so high on this last one that it's really easy to give it a pass.This may be the funniest Star Trek flick since STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME. The running hypo-spray gag between Bones and Kirk is sweet. And, lastly, a friendly hint to all would be destroyers/conquerors of the universe: dudes, quit messing about with other planets. Just go and hit Earth first. You inevitably end up there, anyway, and then the Enterprise finds a way to dump on you.Apropos of nothing, this flick reminds me quite a bit of Della Van Hise's 1985 Star Trek novel  Killing Time (Star Trek, No 24) , which also features an alternate history, with Romulans as the villains, Kirk a bitter young officer and Spock as the Enterprise's Captain. Maybe something worth checking out, to hold you over while waiting on the sequel.

Star Trek is probably the most rebooted sci series ever, with numerous spin offs, so was a bit skeptical them doing it again,. But with J J Abrams at the helm, is a brillant fast paced movie, loads of CGI effects . Chris Pine is great as Kirk, but for me its Zachary Quinto who steals the movie with his portrayal of Spock, The excellent Karl Urban is not on the screen enough as MCcoy, and Simon Pegg is again not on the screen enough. Its great to see the "original" Spock with the late great Leonard Nimoy in it too. Two spocks, not at all confusing. The only downside for me, was the plot was a little confusing with the time travelling Spock able to appear on the same screen as his younger self, this contradicts all known therio of paradox and time travel

I admit i was one of the people who thought that: a. star trek had been worn to death with continual series' and b. the premise of "young kirk and spock adventures" sounded awful, BUT in the hands of j.j. abrams (of ALIAS, Felicity, MI:4, Lost and Fringe fame) and an amazing cast led by zachary quinto as spock and chris pine as kirk; this re-boot not only work phenomenally well but actually makes star trek relevant once again - not only as science fiction but as a promising film series. quinto in particular is awesome as spock, and has the meatiest role, pine in a slightly-less-showy than you might expect role as kirk arguably had the hardest job though - following the 'unique' bill shatner, but more than fills his shoes to rightfully take his place as captain of the enterprise. the film, for all it's contemporary nature and re-booted feeling is surprisingly traditional in terms of plot - time travel rearing it's head once again, but the cast and inclusion of the always amazing leonard nimoy - reprising his role as the 'original' spock one last time - elevate the material above the still-decent writing and make this a film well-worth owning.great cast, contemporary film-making, lense flare galore and great action make this one to watch and it was justifiably a big hit at the cinema.

Ok so im not going to lie I am a fairly big geek when it comes to Star Trek. Not obsessively so that I would dress up and go to events but I always found the Star Trek universe to be incredibly detailed and some people might even say a glimpse into our future. I thought the original old movies were pretty good but this remake is outstanding. Yes i know they have changed the story and everyone seems to be messing around with time travel these days but i still think this movie brought it together well. The soundtrack is very memorable and when combined with the great acting, this movie becomes something very special. I think one of the things that was missing from previous star trek movies was that cool factor it was a little too geek for most peoples liking. This remake hits the spot it just has that badass feel to it especially in some of the fight scenes.

This film does an amazing job of trying- and pretty much succeeding- to please everybody.It both rejuvenates the series and brings a new humour and energy to proceedings, yet it keeps (most) old Trek fans happy by being faithful, and very much in the Trek spirit.It isn't a radical Trek departure- the special effects, the visual look, the editing and pace, and the 'baddies' (Romulan renegades) are all pretty much a direct continuation from previous movie "Nemesis".Onto the scene in place of the aging Next Generation crew step an almost entirely new cast, every one of whom deserves praise. Some of them are mainly reduced to being comedy sidekicks (Scotty and Chekov in particular) but each of them does their job admirably well. It's a fantastic ensemble cast performance that never seems to let up for a second.On the one-disc DVD edition you get a straightforward (yet still quite fun) 'making of', and a pretty funny montage-style 'gag reel' with a bunch of outtakes and fluffs. Even the gag reel is brimming with energy and fun.Five out of five. No question.

I suddenly realised that having purchased later movies in this franchise, that my collection was incomplete. I think very well thought out casting has made the whole prequel experience worthwhile. Chris Pine. Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, are all excellent. There is not one jarring note. surprisingly English actor SImon Pegg fits right in as Scotty. To learn how they all came together as a crew, and how lifelong friendships were formed has made this one of the best Star Trek movies, ever. Recommended.