Star Trek back at its best

Rating: 10/10 (23 July 2016)

When I first heard they were doing a remake of Star Trek, I was not excited as I worried whether this new film would capture all the elements that had made Star Trek a joy to watch but I have to say I was more than pleasantly relieved that all the creative forces behind it did a fantastic job of bringing it back to the big screen with the elements fans had loved from the series and films and added new components that gave a freshness to the series that it much needed.
The plot was very inventive, to change what fans know of the environment of Star Trek and the characters backgrounds. I will admit to not understanding the science behind the plot or should I say any of the science involved in Star Trek but what happens is a romulan space ship from the future comes through a black hole and changes the history that had been written before. It shapes the life's of Kirk and Spock in the same ways as they both grow up isolated but also acting out in their own ways. They meet at Starfleet Academy where Spock catches Kirk cheating on a test but before Kirk is disciplined, they are sent on a mission to answer a distress call from Vulcan. What continues throughout the film is Kirk and Spock's mistrust of the other before realising that if they work together they can stop Nero.
The casting was on the money. Some look like what you would expect the younger characters to look like in the original series but for others the mannerisms are dead on particularly Zachary Quinto, Anton Yelchin and Karl Urban who play Spock, Chekov and Bones. It was nice to see they had the Christopher Pike character that originally had featured in the series starring Jeffrey Hunter before the character was changed completely and William Shatner was cast in the main role. I thought that it was great to see the original Spock (Leonard Nimoy) as part of the plot that is convincing and not just added on as an after thought.
Another thing that worked so well was the acknowledgement to the past with the uniforms and the characters but adding a new, modern take with new angles to the story line and the character's development. The special effects are out of this world particularly the battle scenes and when they're using the transporters.
I really hope that they make another as I'm interested in seeing where they will go next.