Set phasers to not that bad

Rating: 7/10 (23 May 2009)

Filmmaker and television creator/producer J.J. Abrams has made quite a name for himself these past few years. His television series like Alias and Lost have established quite a fan based. In film he produced Cloverfield, a film I enjoyed unlike many others, and has directed two, Mission Impossible: III, and one of his more ambitious projects to date, Star Trek.
This new installment starts at the beginning. It follows James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto), starting from their youth and jumping into their beginnings with the Federation. Kirk is the rebellious and troubled youngster while Spock is, well, not really Spock. As I am to understand Spock is supposed to be emotionless but here we have someone who gets irritated, shows hatred, and actually shows some interest in women. I won't say who but it just doesn't seem right.
All that aside, the first half of the film starts off great. There is intense action, a good direction for the story to go in, and some solid performances, surprisingly from Pike as Kirk. I thought he would be more like a teenager with pent up emotions and a lot of whining. He was the opposite really. Another great performance came from Karl Urban as Leonard "Bones" McCoy. He was very on the mark with his character and didn't stray too far from the original McCoy, DeForest Kelley.
Everything was in the right place for a great second half. The villain, Nero, played by Eric Bana, was not too over the top and the conflict was working. Then the film took a turn for the worst, delving into the very dicey and unpredictable area known as time travel. I won't give too much away but needless to say this was something not needed. It didn't completely ruin the film, but it was certainly a let down. It could have gone somewhere different and ended up in nearly the same spot.
The effects were spectacular, but that was expected. The ships were very sleek and true to the original design (I think). My one qualm with the ships was for the majority of the film they were kind of dinky. They had weak weapons and were basically useless. The Enterprise was a little better but still, come on. In this country aren't things supposed to be super sized?
The film finished nicely. It's a perfect jump off point for a sequel, which will most likely be made. Oddly enough, I think I will look forward to the sequel more than this film. As long as the story is good enough and doesn't go too far overboard, there is potential for a really nice looking followup.
This wasn't perfect by any means. There were a lot of scenes that were unnecessary and the characters need to mature a little. That said, it was a solid effort and very entertaining, something a summer blockbuster needs to do. I'd say the film met my expectations, which weren't too high but were slightly above average, and will recommend it for most.