Respectful, action packed but classic characters lost in new bland portrayals!

Rating: Null/10 (31 July 2011)

Films like these are always bold attempts, and particularly hard ones to appease the hoards of drooling fans who expect everything to be perfect down to the slightest detail!
Happily the majority of Star Trek wins this fight. The film has a good pace and an interesting if absurd concept but most of all it's good to see the original characters back in action.
Back in action is a loose term though because unfortunately the characters are there mostly in name only. I really, really despise it when young actors try to 'bring their own thing' or 'do an original performance' with an already established character. Fine if it is a literary character who is open to many forms of interpretation but for something so iconic and enduring as the original Star Trek cast then tribute must be paid and was lost in a sea of lacklustre personalities. Chris Pines Kirk came off the worst, with the actor portraying a pretty standard action lead with nothing really to distinguish him from so many others. Zachary Quinto gave a suitably dead performance which luckily suited the Vulcan personality but was totally outshone by the Magnificent, if slightly slurry Leanord Nimoy. Ultimate cast Kudos goes to Simon Pegg and Anton Yelchin for they fantastic portrayals of Scotty and Checkov which were done with both energy and familiarity. Karl urban sits firmly in the middle with his accurate but much less passionate portrayal of Bones McCoy.
Actors note, to imitate convincingly is as great an acting skill as to deliver a superb original performance. An even balance of the two for films such as this are essential, but was lost in favour of actors trying to 'make their mark', saddened even further by Pine's brilliant second long Shatner impersonation at the end of the film. More of that mixed with what he brought to the role would have been a classic. Kirk is Shatner and vice versa the same as all the Trek characters and this can't be ignored.
Effects wise you really can't complain. Lush CGI is abundant everywhere and apart from the Romulan ship being too dark to see most of the time it is still a foreboding and menacing vessel. The same cannot be said of the horribly misused and underdeveloped character of Nero played by the excellent Eric Bana. As a villain he has minimal background, flimsy motivations and zero personality in both look and character to make him stand out. in fact I couldn't really tell which Romulan was the leader most of the time.
The altered reality concept of the film should have been a major insult and flimsy excuse for the filmmakers to change things at will, but surprisingly it is not offensive at all and strikes up a curiosity about what is next while preserving the integrity of the original series.
In conclusion Star Trek is a decent action sci-fi film with much to offer. But bare in mind, it is solidly directed at those who may have never seen a Star Trek episode or film before, and with a fan base that is arguably the strongest in film & TV history the nods to the original are few and far between and these are the elements that just about every Trekkies will be watching out for first.