They turned Star Trek into a comic book movie.

Rating: 5/10 (10 April 2015)

For better or worse (which honestly depends on what you're looking for with these movies), this aging franchise has been taken back to the shop for a complete overhaul. Not a sterling reboot, but also not half-assed, as Trek has now been completely reinvented for the Summer popcorn crowd; big, noisy and amped to a manic degree. The movie is seductive in its pure balls-to-the-wall entertainment value, and even I have to admit to tuning in for a few minutes whenever this is on TV. But there are large swathe of this that don't make a lot of sense and take the wind of the sails. For one why is Nero so cheesed off at Spock Prime, the one guy who risked life and limb to help him out? This is your big bad guy? He's terrible! Also, Spock Prime just happens to be on the same planet on which Kirk's been marooned? Really? But then that sort of deus ex machina isn't so far-fetched (I guess) in a movie that bend its story over backwards to get Kirk in the command chair.
That said, what the movie does feature is a pretty interesting cast, the highlights of which are Chris Pine, Karl Urban and Bruce Greenwood (a thousand times, Greenwood!). If the movie works, it's wholeheartedly because of the people in these famous roles. But once the credits roll and the cheap thrills are over, the bad taste lingers.
5/10