I have lost count as to how many Star Trek movies have been shown on the big screen and I’ve seen majority of them. This one though was surprisingly good for me in many aspects. I love the cast they built around this installment as fans, especially Trekkies, would have a wry smile on their faces when they see the uncanny similarities in terms of how the characters looked, moved, and talked, compared to the originals! And of course, the highlight for me of the movie, SPOILER ALERT, is when THE Leonard Nimoy showed up. I swear, if I wasn’t with my wife and watched it with friends who were big Star Trek fans, I would have clapped just like everyone else. Geeeky!
Origins and stories of the history of a cult classic like Star Trek will always spark interest in die hard fans. I’m not a Trekkie so I don’t really know how it all started for Kirk’s Enterprise crew as well as his strong friendship with Spock, but I do know the characters of that series. And boy, did they pick a great cast to portray them! I’m really a Star Trek TNG Picard fan, but this movie made me want to watch the original series to see if what I watched was really how it all began.
The movie starts off with a huge rogue Romulan ship coming out of a rip in time that wreaks havoc on what was then the USS Kelvin. The ship was captained for 12 minutes by Kirk’s father (you’ll know why after you watch the movie), that goes on a collision course in the hopes of saving the remaining crew, as well as a newly-born James Tiberius Kirk. What follows is the history of Kirk’s childhood as well as Spock’s and what was great was that it delved deeper into the true character of Spock, being a half-human, half-Vulcan.
Chris Pine portrayed the young brash Kirk to a tee and Zachary Quinto played the young Spock unbelievably well. The other characters like Sulu, who was played by John Cho (Harold and Kumar), as well as McCoy who was played by Karl Urban (Chronicles of Riddick), were fantastic. I didn’t know Sulu was a martial arts specialist though, hehe. And I thought Karl Urban was Riker from TNG when he had a beard at the start! Apparently, he can play both Riker (with a beard) and McCoy (without one), in a dual role! I won’t say much else about the movie, except that the cast itself can bring in a huge audience base, but the allure of Star Trek has definitely been revitalized with this latest epic.
The movie was a really great ride. From the construction of the USS Enterprise, to the short but sweet development of each of the main characters in the crew, to the comedic dialogues of Chris Pine as Kirk, and of course, the appearance of the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy. If you take a look at the crew above, they all really do have a striking resemblance to their predecessors. It’s just amazingly surreal. Kudos to the super cast as well as another great big screen JJ Abrams production.
If you’re a Trekkie, you will love this movie. And if you aren’t and you really don’t care what Star Trek is, you’ll be surprised how much of the true history of it you’ll want to know more of after watching this. And that’s definitely the mark of a really good movie. You can also download the making of Star Trek below, it’s around 182MB but well worth it. Have a good one!
Personal Rating (out of 10): 9.2/10
IMDb User Rating (out of 10): 8.4/10
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Karl Urban
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure
Duration: 126 minutes
Links: Official Site, IMDB
Feature: The Making of Star Trek
