Letter-perfect casting saves a hit-and-miss plot line

Rating: 8/10 (9 May 2009)

Prior to his death, Gene Roddenberry said that he hoped that someday someone would come along and redo Star Trek, making it bigger and better. Almost two decades after his death, Roddenberry's hopes have mostly been fulfilled by director J.J. Abrams (T.V.'s Alias & Lost, Mission Impossible III), who has laid a mostly solid foundation for a more modern take on the swashbuckling space opera.
By far the best thing Abrams' update has going for it is its virtually flawless casting choices. Each actor does his or her part in making their respective roles their own while paying a considerable amount of homage to the original cast. While most critics have reserved the majority of their praise (and rightfully so) for Chris Pine's rebel-with-a-heart-of-gold Kirk and Zachary Quinto's slow-simmering yet cerebral Spock, Anton Yelchin's Chekov and Simon Pegg's Scotty deserve an equal amount of praise. Both are equal parts hilarious and effective; Yelchin as a plucky recruit whom people can hardly understand thanks to his hammed-up Russian accent, and Pegg as a slightly-off-his-rocker Scotty. Zoe Saldana's Uhura is sassy and fun, and Karl Urban brings a quirky, ticking-time-bomb-of-insanity touch to Dr. McCoy. John Cho's Sulu is the only true weak link of the updated cast, but that is mainly due to his character being given little to do other than get in a sword fight and screw up a warp jump. As for the supporting cast, everyone performs admirably, with Leonard Nimoy's return as an elderly Spock carrying some unexpected, and effective, dramatic punch.
The cast is so outstanding as a whole, it is easy to overlook the movie's flaws, which can mainly be found in its storyline. Despite Eric Bana's performance as the villainous Nero being solid, it is hard for the viewer to totally accept his motives behind his quest for vengeance against the Federation because the premise behind his hatred is rather silly, coming off almost as an afterthought when his motives are finally revealed. The tension between Quinto's Spock and Pine's Kirk is also a bit hit-and-miss, ranging from believable to poorly thought-out (to avoid posting spoilers for those who haven't seen it, I won't delineate what happens in this review).
Despite the movie's flaws, it does lay out some impressive groundwork for a new generation of Star Trek fans. Fans familiar with Abrams' work know that the man knows how to film action sequences, and the amped-up outer-space action in the film is gloriously realized and a joy to watch. Most of the interactions between the cast are terrific, with some hilarious humor that almost never detracts from the movie. Thanks to by far the biggest budget of any Star Trek movie, the effects and sets are, as expected, properly grandiose and stunning.
While not the near-flawless hunk of summer popcorn that 2008's The Dark Knight was, this film is nevertheless a promising start to what I hope will become a successful reboot of a classic science fiction saga.
Memo to George Lucas: THIS is how you update an old sci-fi franchise.