Movie Review: Star Trek (2009)
Director: JJ Abrams
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin
Plot: A reboot of the Star Trek franchise containing everything the average movie-goer loves: lots of action and explosions, and none of the techno-babble. This movie is very accessible to the average person, but as a Trek fan it feels very dumbed-down. Like Star Trek lite: same great Star Trek taste, with only half of the smarts and wit.

When time-traveling Romulans (Bana) come back to the original Star Trek series universe to seek revenge for events that won't happen for another 129 years, it forever alters the cast of characters that Trek fans have known, but introduces and modernizes Trek for anyone else who had never watched before. Because of the Romulans entering our universe, the Kirk family has become broken and James T Kirk (Pine) is forced to grow up with a man who he knows isn't his real father. This causes him to be a very rebelious kid who steals cars and gets into bar fights, and really has no ambition in life - yet is a very smart and quick thinker.

Enter Spock (Quinto), a half-human half-Vulcan who has to purge himself of emotions to fit in with the other Vulcan children, but has difficulty letting go of any anger when his mother is the subject of the taunting. Eventually, both Kirk and Spock end up at Star Fleet Academy to begin their training as the next generation of men and women who boldly go where noone has gone before.

However, the Romulans are still out there and begin an assault on Vulcan (the planet), completely destroying it in the process. Captain Pine (Greenwood) of the Enterprise is taken prisoner, and it's up to Kirk and crew to overcome their differences and save the universe from a similar fate.



[MILD SPOILERS AHEAD]

The reboot of the franchise puts our familiar characters in a more modern world (both visually and socially). The destruction of Vulcan being similar to September 11th in the United States, a tragic event that pulls people together and hightens tensions. This also makes the franchise more accessible to casual consumers of sci-fi, people who enjoyed the aliens and lasers, but were turned off by the techno-babble and science of it all. Just so you know, the most techno-babble that we get in this movie is the term "red matter" and it makes black holes. Plot established: moving on to the next aciton piece.

And there are a lot of action pieces in this movie. As much of a scrapper as Kirk is, I was a little disappointed that he wasn't a better fighter. They also say that he has a head on his shoulders, but he's certainly less of a strategist in this film and more of a "let's go do it!" kind of guy. It works for him against this villain, but it certainly reinforces that Picard is the better Star Fleet captain. :P

Some of the twists and surprises were a fun intorduction in this series. I won't spoil what they are, but they were a welcome addition to me. I'm curious to see how they'll develop over the course of future films with this cast. There are also some fun fan shout-outs in the flick, like finally getting to see Kirk beat the Kobayashi Maru (which, let me tell you, doesn't do down the way that I anticipated, but it certainly wasn't bad).

There's been a lot of comments about the lighting flares, and while they are abundant in the film I don't think that they're out of place. It does seem to be like a shout out to Joss Whedon doing Serenity and Firefly (especially since there were also scenes that take place in space where there is no sound, but anyone who's taken middle school science knows that space is a vacuum and that there's no sound in space, so it's not like Firefly owns the exclusive rights to displaying space in that way). Perhaps I need to watch the movie again, but I thought thatt he lighting flares only took place in space - which would make sense, since the sunlight isn't being filtered through atmosphere. Just the glass.

In conclusion, Star Trek is a fun and refreshing take on a classic franchise, and what it lacks in smarts it makes up for with explosions. It's much more accessible to the average movie goer or the casual consumer of sci-fi, but there's enough elements there for the Trek fans to enjoy as well. Certainly worth seeing in theaters, and definitely worth owning on DVD.