Director J.J. Abrams resurrects the classic science fiction franchise created by Gene Roddenberry with this feature film.

Rating: 8/10 (13 October 2010)

Star Trek is a successful update of a franchise that desperately needed an update. The film doesn't raise any new ideas in science-fiction and that's what keeps it from being a great film, but just about everything else about it is shiny and polished. Star Trek is the eleventh film based on the Star Trek franchise and features the main characters of the original Star Trek television series, who are portrayed by a new cast. The film follows James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto), before they unite aboard the USS Enterprise to combat Nero (Eric Bana), a Romulan from the future who threatens the United Federation of Planets.
Watching Star Trek was the best time I had at the movies for well over a year. After the first part of the film ended and the film's title appeared accompanied by an uplifting music piece I felt the hair on my head rise up. From then I knew that this was going to be a good film. Star Trek isn't burdened by showing Kirk's and Spock's childhoods. It's all done rather quickly at the beginning. The fun starts when the two become young men. Chris Pine as Kirk provides most of the humor while Zachary Quinto as Spock is always serious and all-knowing. Both of them are very likable as is the rest of the crew of the USS Eterprise. For me the other standout performances were from Karl Urban as Leonard "Bones" McCoy and Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov. Things were always interesting when Chekov was on screen. Zoe Saldana as Nyota Uhura turns out to be a strong female presence on the Enterprise (and by the way she's just gorgeous in this film). Simon Pegg as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott is also good and as is to be expected, funny. And I can't forget John Cho as Hikaru Sulu. It was great to see him as the pilot of the Enterprise and then as a competent fencer. Eric Bana as the villain Nero on the other hand wasn't given much screen time. Although he's menacing and cool we don't see him do much other than giving orders and being angry. However, he, his crew and their gigantic Romulan mining ship Narada pose a real threat to the Federation throughout the film.
Now, what about the special effects? The special effects are state of the art. They look great too. For once in a science-fiction film we aren't shown a doomed future for mankind, but a prosperous one instead. Seeing the construction of a Federation space ship in Iowa or the incredibly tall skyscrapers and neat streets in the San Francisco of the future was like a breath of fresh air for me. Human science and tolerance has progressed in the future of Star Trek and that's fantastic. The space battles are also spectacular. Watching the Federation fleet go into warp speed was awe-inspiring for me. Oh, I almost forgot about Leonard Nimoy's presence in the film. I'm not going to spoil anything, but I will mention that his Spock plays an important role in the story. So he's not there just for show. Seeing Nimoy back was an additional treat for me. Star Trek is a blast from beginning to end. It's thrilling, funny, touching and action-packed. I give Star Trek a high recommendation.