A good romp.

Rating: 9/10 (11 June 2009)

Star Trek for the Star Wars era. Out with the campness and scientific language. In with the one liners and special effects. This is not entirely a bad thing, being raised very much in the resurgence of the Star Wars prequels I have been fed by stunning set pieces held together with humour. Looking to the obviously superior original Star Wars trilogy, I saw the formula in which the new films were based. But looking back, not as a huge fan of sci-fi, the Star Trek series always seemed a bridge too far With this modern reboot courtesy of JJ. Abrams, both sets of fans are kept relatively happy. There are constant nods to the series ("Set phasers to stun" and even ol' Nimoy) as well as the younger generation humour ("I may be sick on you" and Simon Peggs green little helper).
The acting line up is an impressive mix of established talent and up and coming stars. Chris Pine wobbles a bit as Kirk, he pulls off the comedy with ease but struggles in maintaining his attitude and powerful status as the ships future captain. Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin and John Cho all do fine in their small roles as Uhura, Chekov and Sulu respectively.
Eric Bana grits his way through as the films villain, with his supposed accent getting the best of him, moving from a thick eastern European accent to a clean cut American for no meaningful reason, disappointing from the films most bankable and talented actor. Simon Pegg displays an atrocious accent in his role as Scotty, showing he should either fire his agent for assuring him he could do the role justice or his voice coach for assuring him his Scottish accent was even passable. It's in Karl Urban's Bones and Zachary Quinto's Spock in which the acting is displayed best. Bones being typified expertly with grisly attitude and a deep voice. And Quintos Spock acts from his eyes which move around intently throughout the film allowing the rest of his body to follow suit and turn in a moviestar performance.
The film is entertaining, its actions sequences intense. But it lacked the cutting edge of an out and out story. It struggles in deciding whether to be a hero and villain film or just an origins story. So it does both.
The films a jack of all trades, but sadly master of none. Commendable though.