Movie Review: Star Trek (2009)

I am writing this, in the interest of full disclosure, as a Trekkie who kind of fell away from Star Trek towards the end of Voyager, and missed pretty much all of Enterprise. Seems pretty common, actually, from the guys I went to see the movie with.

Word of caution: Here there may be spoilers…

I went with the normal work crew to see Star Trek last night at the Imax. I really liked it, and am definitely looking to see it again. It covers a divergent timeline from the normal Star Trek canon – after a vengeful Romulan alters history in an attempt to destroy every Federation planet. You see, Spock (last seen trying to reunify Vulcan and Romulus) fails in an attempt to stop a supernova, which then kills the Romulan homeworld. Nero, captain of a massive Romulan mining ship, goes after Spock for failing to save his people (and family). The singularity device (which creates a black hole) rockets the two ships back in time. hi-def the last exorcism movie

The fanboy in me LOVED seeing this ‘alternate’ version of how Kirk, Spock, McCoy and all the rest came to be on the Enterprise. There are so many things that felt right, despite the changes that come with a timestream-altering ‘prequel’. The way Chris Pine’s Kirk sat in the big chair. Spock’s “Fascinating” upon his piloting of Spock Prime’s ship. In fact, all the catch phrases which were used in the right spots, but not overused. The way Nero didn’t speak like a soldier, since he isn’t one (the ‘Hi, Christopher!’ cracked up the theater). The over-eager redshirt who got himself incinerated (at least you had a name, ‘Chief Engineer Olson’). By the end, the Original Series theme had me grinning like an idiot.

Negative? Well, Uhura had some problems, but mostly due to the fact that her big contribution (everyone had one) was off-camera, her intercepting and translating of the message about the loss of all those Klingon ships. Beyond that, she was mostly there just to hug Spock. I know some were annoyed by Chekov’s accent, but since it was an homage to TOS, I gave that a pass. Beyond that, nothing much else stood out to me as bad.

The most telling thing with me on a movie is how badly I want to see it again…BADLY. After the credits rolled, I wanted there to be another episode – I really want to see what these guys do with the galaxy. Klingon battles? First contact situations? Don’t lose interest in this project, JJ!


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  1. JEFF J Avatar
    JEFF J

    I JUST SAW IT YESTERDAY AND SPEAKING AS A LONG-TIME STAR TREK FAN:
    Like most movies made recently, it was a special-effects extravaganza. Also like most movies made today, the plot seems like it was written for a comic book. Star Trek purists will be especially disappointed. The actors selected to portray the characters were OK, but the film suffered from an unbelievably moronic story line. IÂ’ve seen better on television. Most of the episodes from the TV series played better, and I didnÂ’t blow 10 bucks to see them. Gene Roddenberry probably rolled over in his grave. Let Rick Berman produce the next one.

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