Refreshingly Unrevisionist

Rating: 10/10 (3 January 2014)

It took me a while to get around to this film, as I am always sceptical about prequels and revisits. They have a tendency to be revisionist. So I waited until I found it quite cheaply, in a charity shop (favourite haunts of film collectors like me). But I needn't have waited. This film is excellent. Whilst not as tongue in cheek as Star Trek the motion picture, it has the approachability and the impact that has characterised most of the franchise. Chris Pine's Kirk is every bit as brash and arrogant as Shatner's, and Zachary Quinto's Spock has the immaturity and uncertainty hinted at in Spock's youth, by The Search For Spock, and shows all the requisite signs of becoming the older Spock we all know. I have heard it said that the special effects don't have enough impact, but the restraint shown here actually makes the film more believable as a possible future.