Family members of mine--who are not fans of the franchise--raved about the movie...
I would call that a successful reboot wouldn't you...?
The film opens with the Federation starship USS Kelvin investigating a mysterious looking Black hole. From its maw appears the Narada, a heavy-armed Romulan vessel, that attacks. The Kelvin's captain, Richard Robau (Faran Tahir) is captured and killed by the Romulan captain Nero (Eric Bana). First officer George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) takes command and sacrifices himself and the Kelvin in order to allow the rest of the crew to escape. During the escape, George's pregnant wife (Jennifer Morrison) gives birth to a son: James Tiberius Kirk.
Kirk (Chris Pine) as an adult is intelligent but reckless with no direction in his life. He meets Lt. Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) at a bar in Iowa and is challenged into enlisting in Starfleet.
During his education on Earth, he is suspended for cheating on the Kobayashi Maru test designed by the half-Vulcan, half-human Spock (Zachary Quinto) and not given a starship assignment....
Kirk is smuggled on board the USS Enterprise through by his friend, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban), for its maiden voyage as it investigates a distress signal originating from the planet Vulcan: Captain Pike commands, with Spock as his first officer.. En-route, Kirk realizes that the situation is similar to the one 25 years ago when his father died; he convinces Captain Pike that the Enterprise is heading into a trap. When the Enterprise arrives, they find the rest of the rescue fleet destroyed and Nero's ship, using a drilling machine to tunnel to the planet's core. After promoting Spock to acting captain and Kirk to first officer, Pike surrenders to Nero, giving Kirk and Lt. Hikaru Sulu (John Cho) a chance to destroy the drill.
Nero soon decides to set a course for Earth with the intention of destroying it. Kirk wants to follow Nero immediately, but Spock insists that the Enterprise regroups with the fleet. Spock has Kirk placed on a life pod and sent to the nearby ice planet Delta Vega, where he meets the also stranded Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy)...
Director J.J. Abrams, and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman make sure this voyage pops with enough action, eye-candy FX, emotional resonance, and reverence to the franchise to make Trekkers beam with glee--As I indicated at the top--Non fans can and will enjoy the film as well.
To those fans who grumbled about changes to established Trek lore before seeing it--fret no more--the film does a fine job explaining it all--including Spock showing lots of emotion without giving everyone else a headache--Debate about alternate time lines and choices made by the filmmakers was gonna happen no matter what--"Star Trek" TOS V.2.O is here to stay (at least for 2 more films)
The film is, at its center, an exploration of the Kirk/Spock dynamic--"I have been and always shall be your friend" and the like..which is even given more weight with the presence of Nimoy.
Casting and chemistry (behind the scenes squabbles not withstanding) has always been strong on Trek and here is no exception...
For me, Pine is the true revelation of the flick as Kirk--and a star is born--Kirk as played by Shatner had plenty of bravado...Check....Made time with ladies...Check..and radiated confidence and authority...Check. Pine had all of that even giving a nod to The Shat at times without doing just an impression. it was more of a subtlety kind of thing...(The Maru Test scene)
The scene in Sick Bay is priceless...
Urban as McCoy is also just great...Somewhere DeForest Kelley is smiling--Quinto as the younger Spock is dandy too...As Uhura Saldana is given much more to do here then in most other episodes or films and thus the character is fully formed...Bana is fine as the villian but screen time is lacking therefore Nero is no Khan--Most of his important stuff happens before the film...As for Nimoy, he is Spock and clearly enjoyed himself...Good to see you old friend...
The supporting characters Cho as Sulu Simon Pegg as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott., Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov Greenwod as Pike were all given chances to shine here....The beloved characters are in good hands...
Quibbles are very minor (What I said about Nero) Trek is back big time--The film does what every franchise pic should do leave audiences wanting more...A must see! Indeed...
The Human Adventure Is Just Beginning...
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