Best Film of 2009

Rating: 9/10 (31 December 2009)

I have been waiting for this moment, the end of 2009 to write the review which film should be crowned as the Best of this year. And after waiting for Avatar to release, I must say J.J Abrams' STAR TREK deserve the title to be The Best Film Of 2009.
Based on a 1960s TV series, which got great fan-base and cult following, director J.J Abrams tells an original fresh tale with a different take. As the previous sequels failed in the box office the production company Paramount pictures originally intended for a Reboot, many talented well known directors decline to take over the project. But things really changed when Paramount decided to give the baby to the new blood of Hollywood.
Writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (who showed their reputation in dealing with preexisting materials, as in the movies Mission Impossible 3 and Transformers, which all got preexisting settings and their universe) created an important decision not to make a Reboot to the beloved 40 year old franchise. Their take was to make a sequel which really reinvents the beginning of Star Trek Franchise. And reuniting with director J.J Abrams we got both Visually as well as Story wise a great Cinematic experience.
Star Trek (2009) (*****)
Movie starts with a time traveled captain Nero(Eric Bana) who is looking for Ambassador Spock/Spock Prime(Leonard Nimoy), leading to the destruction of an entire star-ship. His quest for finding Spock was not only to hurt him, but to take revenge on all people who were responsible for the death of his beloved wife and their unborn child.
Things went wrong when a young outcast cadet James T. Kirk(Chris Pine) comes against Nero.
Based on the original characters created by Gene Roddenberry, director J.J Abrams with writers Roberto Orci,Alex Kurtzman tells the Eleventh chapter of STAR TREK saga. Frankly I am not a big TREKKIE fan, but I must say, I like this film for what it stands for. This film got lot of potential, even in story narration as well as in technical side.
I didn't get the chance to see it on theaters, (because of my studies) but while watching it on DVD it got the Big spirit to shake my eyes away. As a VFX student I must give credits to all CGI artist for bringing this Giant out. Especially J.J Abrams for his signature Jerky Hand Held Camera works, which was new to a Sci-Fi movie, really gave an impression of Reality. And his visual sense for using Lens Flare in almost for all major scenes made exploitation of reality into a whole new another level.
Also the editing done by Mary Jo Markey and Maryann Brandon for the camera works of Daniel Mindel made this captivating story into an action packed bonanza. And the cast assembled for this movie was so brilliant, that it fueled the proper tone for a canonical story. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto nailed their parts, but it was Eric Bana who really shined in the picture. (I hated all his previous films starting with Hulk!) I think it was his performance as the revenging antagonist that really made the whole story worked. Also Zoe Saldana's best performance this year apart from Sucking Avatar! Anything bad in this movie was it's music done by J.J's usual collaborator Michael Giacchino. He done an average job in doing space craft action scores, but failed miserably dealing with emotional parts. Especially Spock loosing his mother, his whole planet, there was no affective moods to enrich the scene. Even the trailer music("Two Steps From Hell" done by composers Nick Phoenix and Thomas J. Bergersen)was well known for it's dramatic tone. Abrams really should work with a good composer like John Powell or Brian Tyler.
Anyway I really enjoyed this movie, it can capture both fan and no-fan audience alike. It's the Best Film of this year, I give this movie 10 out of 10 ! and I am waiting for the sequel in the Future.
Star Trek = Best film of 2009