It Boldly Went
Ever since his father died saving him and his mother's life James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine) has had a chip on his shoulder, always looking to cause trouble and prove himself. When he ends up in a punch up with some Starship academy trainees he is rescued by Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) who suggests he joins up as he could be as good as his father. But Jim has a way of getting on the wrong side of people which he does when he decides to enter the academy and finds himself suspended when it comes to his cheating of the Kobayashi Maru test. But when a time-travelling Romulan battleship appears and sets about destroying the planet Vulcan Jim and the young Spock as well as the likes of Scott, Uhura and Chekov are going to have to work together to save the day.
It has become an increasing rare occurrence these days that after I have finished watching a movie I have the urge to sit there and watch it immediately again but it is what happened after watched "Star Trek" the 2009 movie which takes us back to the beginning. Whilst some parts of it annoyed me, including some of the special effects during scenes which happen in space the over all tone, the adventure, action, characters, comedy and back story kept me entertained from start to finish.
Now I am so impressed with "Star Trek" I am going to keep things short as this is a movie which just needs to be watched and for those who are not Trekkies it can be watched as you don't need to know the characters for it to work. What we get is as I said the beginning; the beginning for Jim, the beginning for Spock, his decision to join Starfleet rather than remain on Vulcan, the initial conflict between Spock and the seemingly cavalier Jim and so on. But where as other beginning movies have tried to re-invent a franchise this embellishes what we know by taking advantage not only of modern technology but also the movies which have been made in the intervening years.
To explain we have special effects which basically takes Star Trek into a different Universe compared to the old series and movies. It makes it new for a new generation whilst impressing the older generation. Yes there is an over use of a specific effect which threatens to kill the movie shortly after it starts but fortunately it doesn't. But then we have the characters and whilst I am not completely taken with Zachary Quinto's take on Spock, in fairness an impossible role to play, what Chris Pine does with Kirk is brilliant. This is where the movies in the intervening years come in to play as he brings plenty of Harrison Ford to his take on the young Kirk from moments of humour to moments of action and it works because it allows Pine to make this Kirk his own rather than trying to be a Shatner imitation.
What this all boils down to is that this update on "Star Trek" isn't perfect and certain over indulgences with the special effects are a big negative. But as I said it is a rare occurrence these days for a movie to entertain me so much that I wanted to watch it straight away again and as such I would say if you enjoy space action and adventure movies then give this a go.
