Star Trek (2009)

Copyright 2009, Paramount Pictures

What the eleventh feature in the Star Trek series, with only those two words in the title, truly is could be categorized as great fun. No, not every film in the series is fun to sit through, and some Trekkers may argue that fun isn't what these movies are supposed to be, but let's just let them suffer through this film in frustrated silence. Only a curmudgeon could sit through Star Trek and not have a fantastic two hours at the movies.

I suppose I ought to double back and explain here that I am not a dedicated Trekker nor am I a complete know-nothing when it comes to the franchise. I was born in 1984, so my first major exposure came with the second TV series, Star Trek: The Next Generation. I can't honestly remember having seen a full episode of the original series, though I'm sure I have. Thus, there was never really any contest: Picard was a much better captain. I've seen all but one of the movies (that would be the oft-loathed first film from 1979); as a heads-up, after the Pixar and Bourne retrospectives end, I'm going to go through all ten Star Trek films, with this as a kind of inaugural start.

And yet, I'm not sure I wouldn't have wanted to see this newest film in the series, partly thanks to the phenomenal final trailer that ends with a lengthy shot of a missile heading straight for a Federation starship. How could I resist a film from J.J. Abrams, whose star continues to rise, what with his successful TV series, Lost and Fringe (kudos to the latter show for a great finale, by the way), and his feature debut, Mission: Impossible III, which was a fun action film with some great performances.

I specified that it was the final full trailer that got me excited, because the first full trailer almost completely turned me off. For some reason, the folks who made the trailer thought it wasn't just right to showcase the actors playing James Kirk and Spock (Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto), but that the scenes with the two should show them fighting each other. Because that's what I want to see; two great friends, before they're buddies, beating the crap out of each other. Great. To be fair, I wasn't ever completely thrilled with either casting decision, partly because I'm not impressed with Pine's previous work and Quinto seemed to be channeling his TV character, Sylar, in the trailer.

The trailer was mighty deceptive. Oddly, those scenes of them in the middle of a fight is from one and only one scene about two-thirds of the way through the movie, and the reason why Kirk goads Spock into the skirmish makes far more sense. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start here: my presumptions about Pine and Quinto were dead wrong. Pine, in particular, is a born star, full of charisma, charm, and snark. I'm not well versed enough in the franchise to say he's a better Kirk than William Shatner was, but he makes the character work on a completely different level than Shatner ever could. There are plenty of little plot points here that you could question, specifically why the captain of a starship would make a stowaway the first officer in his absence, but when you already know that Kirk has to be the captain of the Enterprise, you're willing to forgive. I never thought I'd say this, but I want to see Pine's next film to make sure it's just the one movie that he dominates in.

Quinto is also great, as the conflicted Spock, younger and more snippy than he was even in the original series. He never feels awkward as the logical half-human, half-Vulcan, even selling the infamous Vulcan salute. Quinto sells the imperiousness of the character along with the confusion and frustration. Seeing the younger version of the character get goaded into showing emotion is not only a great bit of foreshadowing, but the older version seems just as willing to let himself go. In fact, the whole cast here, from top to bottom, is excellent. I want to make special mention for Simon Pegg, who shows up late in the film as Scotty and steals the show; Zoe Saldana, as the flirty and coy Uhura; and Eric Bana, as Nero, the head villain, who sets the movie in motion by traveling through time in a black hole and blowing up the ship that holds one First Officer George Kirk, whose sole act as captain of a starship is to evacuate everyone, including his wife, who gives birth to James Kirk as the ship explodes.

The plot is, as it goes with anything Abrams is involved in, a bit too complicated to go into, but Nero killing the elder Kirk sets all the characters from the starship Enterprise into a completely different reality. Tribbles? Haven't happened yet and may never happen. Klingons? Not yet. Khan? Well...who knows? Of course, the movie does end with all of our favorite characters on the Enterprise with Kirk at the helm, but still, the possibilities are endless and I can't wait to see what Abrams and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzmann do for the 2011 sequel. Kudos to the whole cast and crew for making Star Trek popular. Cliched as it may be, I'm ready to end this review by declaring the 2009 summer movie season officially on. Here's hoping the rest are as good as this one.