Star Trek? More like more contemporary Hollywood drivel eagerly lapped up by lowest common denominator

Rating: 4/10 (5 June 2009)

There are lots of points to make regarding this film. 1) The casting was superb, only Uhura's character was pretty shallow and was never really explored. 2) I'm a professional video editor and I've seen many great movies and I can honestly say that this movie has one of the most number of cuts in it I have ever seen. Consequently the directing never shines. The average duration of one shot must be like 3 seconds? If someone is sad enough to count the cuts then it could be worked out ;-)
The effect of this is audience separation, lack of engagement with the plot or characters, the 'masses' may have been impressed by flashing images but anyone with a bit of intelligence will have felt something lacking. I personally felt sick after seeing the film, it has accelerated modern pace to now 'epileptic' proportions. I guess its a reflection of society, because people can't sit still or focus for 3 seconds without realising how boring and insignificant their own lives really are. Take my advice, chill out a bit more.
3) I liked the colourfulness of the battle scenes and the angles used, definitely gave it new life there, but it didn't really manage to disguise the level of CG. The Star Trek movies 1-8 used models as the basis for effects, although this film did better than other contemporaries its still noticeable. I'd prefer a juicy fly-by of a cg enhanced model to a cartoon any day. You can't beat the destruction of the Enterprise in ST3 or the flyby of the spanking new Enterprise E in first contact. Mouthwatering and powerful, instead of thin and annoying.
4) I felt this 'Star Trek' film downgraded the content so that there was nothing profound or intelligent to take home with you, no message. A fundamental error of any film, and certainly of a Star Trek film or episode as this was the basis for all of the good ones. And yes I do think Nemesis and Insurrection were lacking in this too, however they did at least attempt to pay homage to intelligence. This film is more concerned with appealing to all the family like a George Lucas movie, than actually providing anything memorable.
5) The film features time-travel as the convenient plot device which I dislike, its just lazy. The older Trek did use time travel but in a minority, where as the later trend of star trek (a very bad one) in voyager and enterprise was non-stop time travel.
6) The film sets up a new premise for a new series for new fans, and I'm all for this. I want new people to like it. I just won't be a part of it, I'll keep watching the old stuff (there's plenty of it!). However I actually believe that this film is too shallow to have any enduring or lasting appeal, and the masses will not follow it with any loyalty at all.
7)Some child-like elements (little kid drives car fast without parents permission), Disney elements (kirk turns into a cg monster human WTF??) and product placement (Nokia) confirmed how moral-less and banal this film was.
8)The bad guy was mean, Eric Bana is cool, but he didn't have enough screen time to be truly believed.
9)I didn't feel anything for any of the characters, except Leonard Nimoy and thats just cos he was in the movie. I felt for him I really did.
10) There were too many distractions to what could have been a good solid movie.
11) It was good for kids, I think it would inspire my nephews.
12) Regarding the director, I personally think Lost is a big waste of yours and my time, engineered to hook you without ever telling you anything worth knowing. Much like this film. If we spent our time creatively, something might actually be achieved (the spirit of Star Trek).
Conclusion: It was a money-spinner that raped the Star Trek name for a bit of cash, in good old Hollywood style. it might leave a few new fans in its wake, but an even worse sequel is sure to nip that in the bud. The fact that the rating is so high for this movie is due to something I like to call 'The Retard Factor' (should be an episode?). The only way forward for people who actually like Star Trek (and not star wars) is for they themselves to make a film.