Great fun, top acting, full of action and effects: shame about the Odeon Screen 1 sound system!

Rating: 9/10 (14 May 2009)

I'm a Star Trek fan... worn the t-shirts, done conventions etc. There's plenty of media hype around this one and I had confidence that it would be a good film based upon other projects that Jeffrey Abrams has completed. In my opinion, there are two schools of thought regarding where they should go with Star Trek after the demise of the TV series Star Trek:Enterprise (premature, also in my opinion: had they started off with the team that produced season 4, we'd probably still have Enterprise on TV.) One school of thought is that they should stick rigidly to established history and timelines; the other that they should completely re-invent it. To a certain extent JJ satisfied both: for what he delivered was an alternative universe filled with familiar sights as well as substantial history changes. The return of Nimoy's Spock also added some stability to the happy coexistence of Classic Shatner/Nimoy Trek with that of Pine/Quinto. This film was about character introduction and re-invention and the acting standard was at a height never previously achieved in Star Trek films: this sets the scene well for the further JJ Trek films. This was not just Kirk, Spock, Mccoy, Urura, Chekov, Sulu and Scotty in young bodies: they were a believable interpretation on how they would have been when younger. Scotty was the exception who was the comedy element of the film: well portrayed and fun by Simon Pegg. With the effects being very well produced, the only downside was the very poor sound system at the Guildford Odeon screen one. Simple front stereo is not good enough these days: shame on them. In summary, loved the film: True to Star Trek but still new and fresh. Can't wait until the next one but, in the meantime, I'm going top see this one again next week.