Star Trek (2009)

Genre

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Director

J.J. Abrams

Country

USA

Cast

Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Leonard Nimoy, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Bruce Greenwood, Ben Cross, Winona Ryder, Clifton Collins Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Faran Tahir, Jennifer Morrison, Greg Ellis, Rachel Nichols, Victor Garber

Storyline

The brash James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) tries to live up to his father's legacy with Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto) keeping him in check as a vengeful, time-traveling Romulan (Eric Bana) creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.

Opinion

J.J. Abrams accepted the challenge to bring back to the big screen the original characters of the famous franchise, and managed to make the first amazing odd numbered film in the whole saga. "Star Trek" indeed is a brilliant, thrilling adventure packed with action, humour, a strong story and stunning visuals.

The film tells of the early days of Kirk and Spock as if it is an origin story of Kirk and Spock, so it's some sort of prequel to the original saga. The roaring star narrating the birth of James T. Kirk, and how his father sacrificed himself to save James's labouring mother and other 800 crew members, is followed by the exciting, wonderfully paced story of Kirk and Spock trying to save the Federation. 

Also the part where the Romulans rely on Spock to save their planet from imminent destruction, the failure of the Vulcanian, and the subsequent destruction of the planet that leads to anger of the Romulan survivors, that travel back in time because of the back hole created, is brilliantly told.

The screenplay is just great. The idea of making a film that is both a prequel, a sequel and a reboot is nothing but brilliant. The storytelling pace is unbelievably gripping, the action is perfectly balanced with humour, and character development is great. 

Obviously, being a science fiction film, it is plenty of special effects and spectacles, but luckily this time they don't ruin the film. 

Then, for once, I can't complain about the cast. As a matter of fact, all the actors are great and they manage to capture the essence of their characters. Chris Pine, other than being eye-candy, portrays all the aspects of the Kirk brilliantly, whether is his cockiness, humour or seriousness. Zachary Quinto is brilliant as Spock, able to capture the coldness and calculated logic of the character, and he is the perfect counter for Pine. Karl Urban is fantastic as Bones, even though he mostly does an impression of DeForest Kelley's Bones. Zoe Saldana transforms the character of Uhura in something completely different, and I love it. Eric Bana is brilliant as Nero, the stubborn, merciless Romulan. Everyone else is just great from Simon Pegg to Leonard Nimoy, who appears as an older version of Spock.

Mention-Worthy Quotes

Spock: If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.