An action-packed, fun ride

Rating: 8/10 (26 September 2009)

As a fan of the original series who has just forked out a tidy sum for the Blu-ray version of Season 1, I have to say that the new film pushed all the buttons for me.
The opening is absolutely terrific, with both action and emotion and, apart from a few minutes in the middle of the film, the pace hardly slackens throughout.
Most of the cast are thoroughly engaging – I particularly enjoyed the performances of Christopher Pine, Karl Urban (doing a brilliant version of DeForest Kelley) and Zachary Quinto. The only character who didn't entirely come off in my book was Scotty. Simon Pegg's Scots accent is better than James Doohan's, but the film's attempts at comedy are its least successful aspect and come across as rather laboured. There are certainly scenes that are more reminiscent of Star Wars (a franchise that doesn't appeal to me) than Star Trek, but this didn't offend me at all. While the time travel device is used in a fairly unsubtle way, and purists can no doubt pick various holes in the plot, is this is really important in an action film? Star Trek sets out to entertain and, in this respect, it succeeds completely.
I don't think it's giving anything away to say that the script does two odd things with the character of Spock, that are most apparent towards the end of the film. It'll be interesting to see how these oddities develop in any sequels.
and while I'm talking about sequels, if the team are looking for stories from the original series to remake or "re-imagine", forget Khan and the Tribbles – how about the classic The Menagerie/The Cage? The original story cried out for realistic settings and the Talosians, cleverly realised as they were, could no doubt be done even better in the 21st century. It can't be beyond the wit of Hollywood's writers to think of some apposite new twist to the theme of mind control