J.J. ABRAMS BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO STAR TREK FRANCHISE
Written: May 07 '09 (Updated May 10 '09)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Great story, excellent acting from an all-star cast, great special effects and directing
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: "Trekkies" and non-"Trekkies" alike should flock to this great new space adventure
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| mike.holmes's Full Review: Star Trek |
I've been a fan of "Star Trek" since it first appeared on television in the 60's. I actually thought "Star Trek-The Next Generation" was superior to the original but I still maintained a fondness in my heart for Gene Roddenberry's original creation.
I was somewhat leery of the new "Star Trek" when I heard that J.J. Abrams was directing it. Abrams has made his name more in television than on the big screen with episodes of "Lost" and "Fringe". I was not a fan of the moronic "Armageddon". However, with some excellent writers (Roberto Orci -"Fringe", "Eagle Eye", "Transformers" and Alex Kurtzman-"Fringe", "Transformers" and "Alias" along with an outstanding cast, Abrams has certainly brought a breath of fresh air to the old series.
I've heard that some folks, including "Trekkies", have been upset with the new movie in that it is more "action-oriented" than pure science fiction. While there is a huge amount of exciting action, I found plenty of science fiction in the film.
THE PLOT
As the movie opens, Captain George Kirk (captain for a very short time) is trying to save the U.S.S. Kelvin from a surprise attack by the Romulans. I don't want to say much more about the opening scenes because they contain some great surprises and an emotional start to the film.
Kirk's son, James T. Kirk (Chris Pine-"Smokin' Aces", "Blind Dating"), is a rebel without a cause until he is recruited into the Starfleet by Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood-"Double Jeopardy"). Already in the Starfleet is the half Vulcan, half human Spock (Zachary Quinto-"Heroes", "24") who immediately dislikes Kirk when they first meet.
The primary action in the film concerns the new U.S.S. Enterprises' confrontation with the same Romulan hothead who destroyed the first Enterprise, one Nero (Eric Bana-"Munich", "Troy"). Nero has a deep hatred for Spock and the Federation in general and he wants to destroy all Federation planets.
That's all I'll say about the plot because I don't want to spoil the film.
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THE MOVIE
First of all, I had a lot of fun watching the film. Why "fun"? Because Abrams and the writers gave us all of the characters from the original series, only as young men and women. We have a new "Bones" (Dr. McCoy-Karl Urban-"The Lord of the Rings" films); a new Uhura (Zoe Saldana-"Guess Who", "Drumline"); a new Scotty (Simon Pegg-"Hot Fuzz", "Shaun of the Dead"; a new Sulu (John Cho-"Harold & Kumar"); and, a new Chekov (Anton Yelchin-"Taken"). All of the young actors do a great job of "re-creating" the original characters without destroying the concept of the original. The enjoyable aspect for me was recognizing some of the same traits in many of these characters in their youth.
In fact, Abrams amassed an outstanding cast from top to bottom for the movie. Pine and Quinto do a tremedous job as the main characters but the movie includes several fine performances (including those mentioned above) by Winona Ryder, Ben Cross and Tyler Perry.
Bana is not only a convincing villain, but the makeup artist for his character did an incredible job.
I haven't even mentioned the wonderful job done by the real "Spock", Leonard Nemoy (called Spock Prime here).
Abrams and his screenwriters have managed to created a truly exciting adventure which, in my humble opinion, continues the great science fiction tradition of the original series. I never found the adventuresome nature of the film to get in the way of the strong story line for the movie.
The special effects for the film are tremendous as is the cinematography by Daniel Mindel ("Enemy of the State").
It is obvious that this is only the first film in what I believe will be a successful "re-birth" of Star Trek franchise. May it live long and be prosperous (the opening night crowd here was huge so I think the film will be successful.)
FIVE STARS
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing
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mike.holmes
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Member: Mike Holmes
Location: Odessa, Texas
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TO HONOR TED KENNEDY, CONGRESS SHOULD PASS A MEANINGFUL HEALTH CARE BILL
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