J.J. Abrams is the IT man in tinsel town, every thing he touches right now turns to gold. He took a castaway story plot and turned it into one of the biggest hits on television. Now he tries his hand at what many consider to be the one untouchable icon. "Star Trek" is one of those shows that have become a cult classic, it's popularity is unlike nothing to date. Abrams turns the Trek universe upside down and inside out, the fact that his version is so interesting is a credit to the man's talent. From the movies opening scene to it's well crafted and intelligent ending, this version will keep even the most hardy Trekkie glued to his seat.
The movie opens with the much needed action sequence, here the truly gifted Abrams brings the action right into our hearts, with the birth of one of the movies major characters and the death of what could have been another. Jump forward as most movies must and we meet the young James T. Kirk (Jimmy Bennett), he is in a rebellion of sorts, he is looking for adventure and doesn't even know it. When we meet the older Kirk (Chris Pine) he is still troubled. One evening while in a bar he runs into several star fleet cadets, one of them being Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana) when he asks her if she would like a drink, the rest of her fellow cadets are offended at this and decide to take matters into their own hands, Kirk at first gets the upper hand but luckily is stopped from getting pulverised by Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), who tells Kirk that he knew his father, that he was a hero, and then Pike challenges Kirk to do better.
Kirk signs up with star fleet and is taken to space. When Kirk gets on board the shuttle the rest of the crew starts to show up. First we meet Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy (Karl Urban), who has a fear of flying. The main villain of the movie is Nero (Eric Bana) a Romulus Captain who blames Spock for the death of his planet. The Spock Nero blames is, of course fan favorite Leonard Nimoy, the way he is introduced into the current story arc is not only compelling but is also believable. The current Spock (Zachary Quinto) is unaware that he plays such an important part in the mind of a madman. Nero takes his weapon out to destroy the home planet of Spock, this causes the star fleet to respond, at first they think they are out on a rescue mission, but Bones has snuck Kirk aboard the Star Ship Enterprise and he knows just what is awaiting the ship when it comes out of hyperspace.
Piloting the Enterprise is Hikaru Sulu (John Cho) aided by Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin), when Kirk runs onto the bridge, Captain Pike and Spock both want to know how he made it on board, Kirk tells the Captain that what they are flying into is a trap. When they come out of hyperspace the other seven star fleet vessels have been destroyed by Nero and his ship. The Enterprise is fired upon by the enemy until Nero sees the name of the ship, he contacts the Enterprise telling them that Pike must come aboard his ship, or the Enterprise will be destroyed, Pike tells Sulu and Kirk that they need to dive down onto the weapon and destroy it, so that they can beam back to the ship, this is one of the movies more dramatic sequences, having gone skydiving myself I can attest to the feeling of free falling, in this movie the free fall lasts for thousands of feet. Spock understanding what is about to happen to his planet beams down to the surface, he wants to save his parents, Sarek (Ben Cross) and Amanda Grayson (Winona Ryder). Spock is able to save only a handful of the six billion inhabitants of Vulcan, his mother isn't one of them.
When Spock takes control of the bridge he has Kirk jettisoned off the Enterprise to an ice planet, not being one to just sit back and wait for rescue Kirk sets out on foot, of course there are dangers on the planet other than the temperature, the wild beasts of the planet try to make Kirk dinner, he is saved from one such beast when another attacks it. Being chased by the second alien creature Kirk runs away and falls down the side of a cliff, the creature falls right behind him, Kirk runs into a cave and is rescued by the Spock of Kirk's future. The two men decide to go to the star fleet's base camp where they meet the witty Scotty (Simon Pegg). Of course Spock is full of history, and easily convinces Scotty that one of his several hundred ideas, including the one to perfect the equation that will allow the beaming of a live person to a ship while its in hyperspace flight actually works. They put it to the test right away, and Kirk and Scotty are beamed aboard the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock go at each other unlike the friends they will one day become, Spock loses control of his human emotions and excuses himself from control of the Enterprise, when Kirk takes over, he has the Enterprise return to where Nero has now taken his weapon, which just so happens to be Earth.
Beaming himself and Spock aboard the enemy craft, they are immediately set upon by Romulus warriors. Spock takes control of the ship, the same ship that he would one day fly, and escapes from the enemy craft, Kirk goes to rescue Captain Pike, having done what he set out to do Spock turns the ship back toward the craft he has just escaped from. To give away the ending of this movie would be a mistake, suffice it to say that the history of the Enterprise stays true, the Characters go on to become the men and women that we all love.
I give Star Trek a 4 and on my avoidance scale a hearty 0 go and see this beautiful movie. The action is fantastic and as close to realistic as a movie can get. I can't say enough about this movie, it is a masterpiece. This is coming from someone who isn't a Trekkie. Take that for what it's worth. You will walk away amazed. The ending of this movie easily sets up the arc for many follow up movies, I for one can't wait.
Star Trek is rated PG-13 for Sci - Fi Action and Violence and Brief Sexual Content
Running time is 2 hrs. 07 mins.
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