This movie rocks! But...

Rating: 9/10 (15 April 2009)

As a long time Original Series fan the JJ Abrams reboot sounded good to me. I thought it would be a good way to revive the franchise with new young actors in a familiar setting. And when I saw about 20 minutes of the new Star Trek movie a few months ago there was no doubt in my mind: this movie would freaking rock!
Having just seen the JJ Abrams movie I'm still very excited. Okay, it isn't the masterpiece I secretly expected, but boy, there is so much to enjoy in this one! The good points: great action (both in space as in the sky), Chris Pine (the new Kirk) does a great job, Eric Bana is a scary villain and all the important Enterprise characters get decent screen time. The movie begins with a bang and especially the first half (about the young days of Kirk) is great fun to watch. The story – in which the old Spock (Leonard Nimoy) accidentally changes history in order to give the new leading characters a new reality – is a smart move to satisfy both old and new fans. Although it's a pity that the writers sacrificed the planet of ******* to achieve that. A big shock for the fans! But what works best in this movie is the relationship between young Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto). In the beginning they don't like each other. Spock still has difficulty to get rid of his human side and Kirk struggles with the Starfleet chain of command. When Kirk discovers that it is Spock who designed the Starfleet Academy test that cannot be won – yes Trekkies, that's the legendary Kobayashi Maru – things really start to heat up. To watch the two get closer to each other is great to watch.
While Chris Pine (Kirk), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Karl Urban (McCoy), Anton Yelchin (Chekov) and John Cho (Sulu) are all doing great jobs, I had difficulty with two characters. First of all Spock. Zachary Quinto seemed to hesitate between imitating Leonard Nimoy and creating his own Spock character. Somehow it took a long time for me to get used to the new Spock. But maybe that was because the original one, Nimoy, was also in this picture. The second character that in my opinion still has to grow was – sadly to say – Simon Pegg as Scotty. In the trailer he was great. But in the final movie his funny moments seemed mistimed and misplaced. His humour misfired. What a pity.
What I didn't like in this movie – apart from the new Scotty? The camera-work sometimes resembled the one in Cloverfield too much. At times it was too documentary-like, with lots of flares and strange unnecessary camera angles. At the end of the movie the story may become a bit confusing for viewers who are not used to vintage science fiction, when the results of time travel become clear. Because you don't know exactly what Spock and Kirk are doing, the finale therefore disappoints a little bit.
Overall I think JJ Abrams Star Trek is a great movie and a fantastic way to reboot the franchise and - hopefully - produce more Star Trek movies. It almost never has a dull moment and has a lot of references to The Wrath of Kahn. I can't wait to take my 11 year old to see it. As a fan there was only one thing that really really startled me. It involved the relationship between new Spock and well, see for yourselves. It emphasized the fact that Spock was still struggling with his human side, I can see that. But I justdidn'tbuyit. But maybe that's just my nerdy side talking.
8.5/10