*** Official STAR TREK (2009) Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Sam Favate]

I thought it was great. It captured the spirit of the characters, and more importantly, the concept of the show better than any Trek film in many many years. (Who didn't think, watching Insurrection or Nemesis, "that doesn't seem like something [Picard/Worf/Data/etc] would do?")

The costumes, the sets, the sounds, the hairstyles, the lighting - it was all exactly as it should be - similar enough to the original show, but updated ever so slightly for our times.

Sure, there were a few things I wish hadn't happened, in terms of story (the destruction of Vulcan and death of Amanda, for example, now make this Trek universe a very different place than the one we have invested ourselves in for 40 years)
, but I can't deny the storytelling logic behind those decisions. Kirk and Spock had major stakes in the outcome of this story, and both were personally affected by Nero (who was more than a one-note villain, but should have been fleshed out more, and we could do without those silly Mike Tyson tattoos).

So many good things about the movie: the casting was as perfect as you are going to get. Greenwood as Pike stands out, and I hope we see more of him. Urban as McCoy was also perfect; loved all the scenes he was in - and also how they worked the part about his divorce into the story, something long-time fans have been hoping to see added for how long now? Zaldana added dimensions to Uhura I wouldn't have thought of, and was a joy to watch, especially her sparring with Kirk. Pegg we should have seen more of, but his Scotty seemed as natural in the engine room as he should have. Cho showed that Sulu could one day become a captain himself - and maybe in this universe, he won't have to wait 25 years for the chance! And Yelchin was very good as Chekov, bringing a part of that character out that made sense - why else would someone so young be on the ship unless he was a genius?

Quinto's Spock was so much like Nimoy it was uncanny. His early scenes on Vulcan were as I'd imagined them. We didn't see the estrangement between him and Sarek as overtly, but I guess these are Vulcans, after all. And besides, maybe with the events in this timeline, Sarek and Spock reconcile much sooner. Pine was a great Kirk. I remember reading during casting that they were having a hard time casting Kirk, but they nailed it. The fun Kirk seemed to be having at times reminded me of that glint in Shatner's eyes on the original show, and when he needed to be deadly serious, he was. I, for one, bought the revised history of the character (rebellious, etc.) given the nature of his changed upbringing. (And the scene with his birth and his parents being pulled apart was an emotional highpoint early on.)

Loved seeing Nimoy again, who looks great. I know Nimoy was in Treks V and VI and was on TNG, but this is the most substantial role he has played since Trek IV. Sad that the character must now live out his days in the past, but appropriate that he will help Vulcan society rebuild. I also dig that they got the timing right - he told Kirk he came from 129 years in the future, which is about right when you consider it was about 30 years from the beginning of TOS to the last mission in movie VI, another 80 years til Generations, and another 20 or so that Spock was on Romulus.

Overall, it was excellent and I hope we see another film soon (like within 2 years - strike while the iron is hot, folks!) and another TV show that captures the sensibility of this movie (focus on exploration, not war!).

 

[Nelson Au]

I've posted a lengthy set of immediate impressions last night in the discussion thread.

Overall, I thought the film was good. They appeared to try to respect everything that went on before while making it their own.

I thought the way the film was set-up in such a way to establish the history of Kirk and Spock, they could have added another 20 minutes to really flesh that out a bit more. It seemed a little shortchanged.

The Kelvin scenes were very effecting and emotional. But it jumps from birth of Kirk to bad kid to the Pike scene in Iowa fast. I wanted to see more of Spock's childhood and his parents as well. But given what sets the movie off to a start resets all that we knew, so I can see the desire to jump ahead to what the audience wants to see, the crew as adults and setting off on their first mission.

It was very fast paced, I was smiling a lot at times and feeling anxious at others for the characters as they appeared to be in real peril. Captain Pike was great.

How the story resolves is a surprise. No reset button is pressed. This is a new Star Trek.

If I compared this film to the best of TOS, I'd say it's very different, yet very similar. This film is very modern in every way. I'm glad the focus was on the characters as it was on the best TOS episodes. I was thinking that Balance of Terror was a great TOS episode. The main characters are all pretty well fleshed out. And we meet Romulans, real people who are well fleshed out. This film feels like it could have been a modern take on that episode.

 

[reddman71]

I saw this last night and I enjoyed it. It kept me entertained. What really made it great for me is that I was able to enjoy it in digital Imax. What an experience!! If you can view it in Imax, do it!!!!! I'm can't wait for Transformers in digital Imax. Back to Star Trek, I'm sure this is going to be enjoyed by many. I'm anxious to see where they take things now.

 

[Todd H]

I had a fantastic time watching this on the big screen. Welcome back Star Trek.

4/5 stars

 

[NeilO]

My wife and I saw the film this morning. We both enjoyed it. It is a great new start to the franchise. I'd recommend it to everyone.

 

[Steve Y]

Saw this yesterday in the morning. All the day's shows were sold out. I thought it was great fun. Is it a perfect movie? No. But it really manages to be engaging on a fun popcorn level, which I think is drawing ire from those who want a more thoughtful, philosophical Star Trek rooted more in the mythology they've come to know.

And it's really no more stupid, from a plot perspective, than any of the more recent efforts. Nemesis? Insurrection? Come on.

If anything, I thought Leonard Nimoy was used far too often in the film. It was great seeing him to a point, but after a while you get the feeling he was there for fan service, rather than because the plot needed him.

Quinto was really good in some scenes, but the poor man cannot do the Spock eyebrow. He tries, but Nimoy owned that role.

This is not "Star Trek" for people who hate "Stark Trek". It's for people who like Star Trek, but don't love it (or no longer love it). I'm a huge fan of the original series and the Next Generation, but can't really stand the direction the show took when it started building up a complicated "Babylon-5" style mythology. (DS9/Voyager/Enterprise)

The people who are going to have the biggest problem with this movie are those who have more than a passing interest in the last five theatrical movies, and the last three or four television series. This "fun, watchable" movie is not their movie.

Chekhov was the weakest character, but I wonder if that's because (for me) he seemed to have little in common with his original counterpart, except for the accent.

The plot was fine, but there was SO much character buildup, and re-establishing characters and settings, that I felt the film's plot suffered as a result. It seemed to be constant build-up ... "main plot coming any second now"... and then a finale. I'm sure the next movie will improve on that.

I'm getting sick of time travel plots. There is no paradox because it's an "alternate universe" (not the same one), but still - it's all blown smoke anyway. Would like to see a more compelling linear story next time (and rest assured, there WILL be a next time!)

:star::star:1/2 out of :star::star::star::star:

 

[mike caronia]

Caught an afternoon IMAX showing today.
Thought it was great. So did everyone in the theater...huge round of applause at the end.

All the lead actors did a great job of recreating characters that we all know so well.
Can't wait for #XII.

 

[Doug Wallen]

Great movie. Lifelong Trek "person" here. Grew up with the original series during the 60's. So much to enjoy with this reset. All the characters seem to be who they grew up to be. Still on a Trek high. So much better than the last two Trek films.

Ready for the first adventure as an official crew.

Doug

 

[Brandon Conway]

I must say I greatly enjoyed this film. It accomplished its purpose: to get the characters into position to have new adventures without having to worry about former continuity limitations. Was it a bit unfocused in the science part of sci-fi? Sure, but there are HUNDREDS of examples of the same thing in the previous Trek shows and films.

I'd give it a 8/10.

EDIT: By the way, I am probably in the minority that really liked the bridge and the engineering designs of the Enterprise. From everyone's complaints online I thought engineering would be overly claustrophobic, but it was fairly open and colorful, despite being practical. This is a HUGE ship with working parts - why shouldn't it have some industrial aspects, especially in areas that are not meant for show?

 

[Adam_S]

Outstanding and one of the year's best films so far. There was one plot hole problem, but everything else was pretty much perfect. I especially thought that the film was pretty much flawless from the point Kirk was on the ice planet to the end. I gasped at his rescuer as I had no idea not having followed any of the news on the film. I'm not a trek fan. I've not really ever watched the TV show, and I've seen most of the movies (though not the most recent ones) This one I would probably rank as the best of all the ones I've seen, and actually I think it's a better movie than Galaxy Quest which I'd always considered to be the best Star Trek-esque movie (and much better than any of the eight or so Star Trek movies I'd seen). Thumbs up all around, the true summer kick off movie is this, which happily has erased all the awful taste of Wolverine's suckiness from my mouth.
9 of 10

 

[Tino]

Loved it!
:star: :star: :star: 1/2

 

[Larry Sutliff]

I liked the movie very much. Despite the modern tone and zip, it still felt like classic Trek. The actors were all pitch perfect in their roles. The story, though somewhat cliched, had many heartfelt moments and a lot of emotional heft. I'm looking forward to seeing more with this cast and crew. The TNG movies were stale IMHO, and this new film is fresh and enjoyable, with a lot of optimism(something missing from blockbusters of late).

4 out of 5 stars

 

[Steve_Tk]

Loved it!

 

[Stephen Orr]

I liked it very much. I'm holding off on a second viewing, although my wife saw it a second time on Saturday with her sister at at "real" IMAX theater.

 

[Brent M]

I agree with the "loved it" sentiment expressed above. I'll definitely be taking in a second viewing, something I rarely do at theaters these days. In fact, the only multiple viewings for me in the past few years are Revenge of the Sith and The Dark Knight. Overall, I give Star Trek 4.5 out of 5 stars.

 

[Cary P]

Just got back from seeing this. Bit of a snoozer, sorry to say.

I've been a strong to mild Star Trek fan for over 30 years now, but haven't paid much attention to the franchise over the past decade. I thought the movie was mediocre at best.

I liked the casting of the leads, felt the acting was generally fine. The effects and music were pretty strong. It was mainly the script, pacing, and direction I had a problem with. The story was just not very compelling, barely held my interest, and I had a hard time caring much at all. Remove the character recognition for the audience, and it would have been 100% uninvolving.

Some of the scenes with Scotty were extremely cheesy and embarassing - really, were talking Jar-Jar Binks level of misjudgement here. Unbelievably bad - what were they thinking?

I was surprised how extensive Nimoy's role was, and while I initially enjoyed seeing him, thought the more he went on the bigger the damage.

I think this iteration will have a fair to middling run of 2-3 movies, and then Star Trek will gradually fade away from popular culture. By then, it will have had a run of what - 50 years? Pretty impressive time-span, but it's time to move on - the well has been squeezed more than dry.

 

[Diallo B]

agreed. i can't remember the last time i saw a movie twice at the cinema. sometimes i feel that i want to but i don't make it back.

i saw this twice within 3 days.

 

[Steve Christou]

Being a bit of a Trek purist I had trepidations about this flashy new 'reboot' of the series and crew.

But I have to admit I liked it, quite a bit. It's faster, noisier and sexier than previous movies in the series. And this really is a reboot, thanks to the villain's time travelling shenanigans JJ Abrams and co have messed about with the history of Trek, arrogantly starting their own timeline, it's Trek Jim but not as we know it!

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The cast is for the most part spot on, Zachary Quinto has the looks and some of the mannerisms of Spock down pat but unfortunately doesn't have THE VOICE. Karl Urban does a good impression of Bones McCoy, though he does overdo the "dammit Jim" bit. Zoe's Sultanas, sorry, Zoe Saldana is the sexy young thing on the bridge aka Uhura, you'll never believe who she has the hots for, I don't think Gene Roddenberry would have approved of this unlikely romance. The films one big misfire IMO. You can tell that Star Wars fan JJ Abrams was never a Star Trek fan, which he has admitted to in several interviews.

The star of the film and the reason IMO for it's success is Chris Pine as the young Jim Kirk, effortlessly charismatic, he carries the film and easily outshines everyone off the screen. You believe this guy will evolve into the legendary captain of the Enterprise.

The villain Nero, a pissed off Romulan played by Eric Bana is one of the weaker Trek villains, no match for the late Ricardo Montalban's memorable Khan Noonian Singh or the Borg Queen from First Contact.

Visually the film looks fantastic, the effects are top notch, the music was good, but the the plot is a bit on the crap side and really just an excuse to introduce all the characters but amazingly the film flies by at warp speed. I can't remember the last time 2 hours just zipped by so fast.

I would rate this new Trek, 4 out of 5, and for now it's probably my 5th or 6th favourite of the 11 films.
Highly recommended.

 

[Clinton McClure]

They sure don't make 'em like they used to!

This movie is average at best, but often not even that good. Great casting with two exceptions: Anton Yelchin who was an unconvincing Pavel Chekov and Zachary Quinto who looks like a young Spock, but that's about it. His mannerisms and timing are way off from Leonard Nemoy which really took away from an otherwise good character lineup.

An immense special-effects budget and an overly complex, yet uninspired plot full of holes along with a lot of near seizure-inducing zoomed-in, fast moving, unsteady camera work and a symphony-backed vocal chorus (REALLY... a vocal chorus ripped right out of the Star Wars prequels!) add to the signature JJ Abrams look, which is an absolute mess. Was I watching Star Trek or Armageddon? Most of the time it was hard to tell.

Besides a few references to TOS and the first six movies peppered throughout and a couple of tongue in cheek moments which seemed oddly out of place, I thought the only saving grace about this movie was Jonathan Frakes wasn't involved.

I'd have to rate this new stab at the Star Trek franchise at :star::star:/:star::star::star::star::star: and place it at next to worst ST film, only beating out Insurrection. Yep, I thought it was really that bad. Let's hope for better things from the next one.

 

[Shawn Shultzaberger]

I was finally able to see this movie and I must say I was highly entertained! It was by far the most "fun" movie I've seen this year. I rarely ever say this but I hope they make a second one.

This movie is going to freakin' rock in Blu-Ray.