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Star Trek (2009)

Director: JJ Abrams

Time Out rating

Average user rating

92 reviews

Synopsis

The original crew of the USS Enterprise battle Romulans from the future in the eleventh Star Trek film. J.J. Abrams (Lost, Cloverfield) directs and we follow James T. Kirk from his first day enrolling at the Starfleet Academy.

Movie review

From Time Out London

Cheerfully bucking the trend for dark, miserablist blockbusters, ‘Lost’ creator JJ Abrams has updated the ‘Star Trek’ franchise for the twenty-first century without resorting to political allegory, moral wrangling or the sadistic violence that characterised similar reinventions like ‘The Dark Knight’. It’s true that an entire planet gets blown up, but the characters swiftly recover on their way to another round of phaser-firing, evasive-manouevring, quip-trading action.

The script details the early years of captain-to-be James T Kirk (Chris Pine) and his taciturn Vulcan sidekick Spock (Zachary Quinto) and is deceptively clever: it works both as affectionate fanboy nostalgia and as a neophyte’s introduction to the ‘Trek’-verse. By employing a time-distorting narrative, complete with mind-mangling multi-dimensional techspeak, Abrams and his writers allow themselves to refit this fictional future completely, keeping the good stuff (beaming up, warp drives, that inimitable ship design) while jettisoning most of the increasingly convoluted mythology.

It doesn’t all work: Eric Bana’s Romulan villain feels too familiar, just another plasticine-headed psychopath with a grudge against the universe. The climax, too, is undercooked: ten minutes of noisy ship-to-ship combat with very little emotional investment.

But these are minor complaints when stacked against Abrams’s many successes. The flawless design wittily updates the ’60s series’ sleek art deco interiors and throws in a few Lycra miniskirts for good measure. The cast are equally strong: Quinto brings wry charm to an otherwise calculating character, while Pine powers through his performance in bullish, if not quite Shatner-esque fashion. The only sore thumb is Karl Urban’s McCoy, whose ‘Damn it, Jim!’ impersonation feels a little too close to pastiche.

The overall impression is one of unbridled enthusiasm on the part of the film’s makers, both for its predecessors and for the brave new universe Abrams and his crew are exploring. Perhaps the best summary of the film comes from Captain Kirk himself, dying on the side of a distant interstellar rock many decades later: ‘It was… fun.’

Author: Tom Huddleston 2009-05-05 10:59:58

Time Out London Issue 2020, May 7-13, 2009

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User reviews of this film

Wayne said...

Posted on May 09 2009 20:16 Best Star tTrek movie so far. People need not to panick about the timeline changing and vulcans being wiped out. They will be more and it will be a continued story and im sure the timeline will be corrected. Ever since kirks father was killed History has changed. Who says Kirk and co cant prevent Neo from changng the timeline in the next movie or so?
Watch this space.........

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madonna said...

Posted on May 09 2009 19:09 I loved it

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Madison said...

Posted on May 09 2009 18:29 funny, dramatic, moving, inspired casting, flawless effects...the first bona fide blockbuster of 2009.

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Andre said...

Posted on May 09 2009 18:24 WOW this film rocks, i am a trekkie and proud of it, i think nothing could be done to make this better, i thought it was about time we had another star trek film and this was worth the wait, everything was great from the cast to the fx, i cant wait for the next one, bring it on JJ dont keep us in suspense any longer. nice 1

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Lori said...

Posted on May 09 2009 12:40 WOW! Die hard fan here and I LOVED IT! This movie is the first to go where no man has gone before in creating the bond between all the characters of Enterprise, and it exceeded my expectations.
McCoy and Scotty were the Bomb! "Good God MAN...Have you lost your VULCAN MIND!"...Priceless.
Only Negative: Checkov character...bad casting on that one....very bad. This kid is not believable at all, at least find a someone that doesnt sound like a six year old trying to sound like a russian...eww.
Spock and Kirk characters were spot on...and I could not be happier with the casting and acting there. Ohura...well, she could have been a little less clingy, but I could see her and Spock in a fling, good one.
So....WHEN do we get a sequel!!!! I can see many spawning off this movie! Great JOB JJ> Thank you so much this day has been long overdue for Trek fans.
SEE IT! Live it...love it! Best Star Trek Movie of All time in my book!
All I can say is ....Live Long and Prosper!

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frank said...

Posted on May 09 2009 10:32 just when you thought this movie couldn't get any better, it turns out the trekkies hate it! amazing!
see below: 'what on earth have they done to the one thing that gave us a little hope that man kind might jut might make it!'
seriously. dude. life. now.

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Bill said...

Posted on May 09 2009 10:15 i thought this film was great, plenty of action and bit of humour, to all those moaning trekkies, things move on and a new generation of star trek is here, hopefully this is the first of many

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Mike said...

Posted on May 09 2009 07:08 Great film. They've taken a musty stale franchise and breathed new life into it. As Russell T Davies did for Dr Who so JJ does for Star Trek. Its fast and it's fun, go see it.

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Paul B said...

Posted on May 09 2009 06:13 JJAbrams what have you do, you say you loved Star Trek, but you have out anti matter with matter and what have we one big mess! Not only killing of almost all the Vulcans and changing the complete time line so that every thing we all love about Star Trek is gone. Spocks love affair ! where on this side of the great rift has that come from. What happened to catian April for the first 5 years mission, Captin Pike gets to be Captin for less than one day! the Enterprise was all ready 10 years old when Kirk took over.
Spock was in he's eightys and Scotty was in he's fortys Oh dear I could go on for ever.
The cast did well, I was hoping for somthing that would be in keeping with what we all know and love, but sadly to say we the lovers of Star Trek and ever thing it stands for is no longer with us. Gene Roddenberry I am glad you are not here to see this Mess that JJ has made of your brave new world. Live long and prosper I don't think so!

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DV said...

Posted on May 08 2009 21:52 This film got right what the Star Wars prequels got so very wrong. It wouldn't surprise me if the makers actually used episodes 4,5,6 as a template...no dull politics, just a great buddy-space-movie. Good vs evil. Plus some mini-skirts. (not on captain Kirk - no, On Sulu)

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CharlieG said...

Posted on May 08 2009 20:43 The movie was awesome. It took what we loved about Star Trek and added the pieces that were always missing - the space action. The Enterprise has always been part of the series, and this movie actually brings realism to the space ship itself, as well as the characters. The storyline helps in the transformation by making it clear that Star Trek as we all used to know it has been changed - for the better.

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Sandi B said...

Posted on May 08 2009 20:27 THIS MOVIE IS GREAT!!! I'm a die hard Trekker and loved this movie. Well cast, well acted, with great special effects. and I loved seeing Spock. My withdrawal symptoms are gone. Now if they just don't wait so long for the next one. I can hardly wait. It surpassed my expectations.

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Loren in NYC said...

Posted on May 08 2009 18:52 I'm 53, an original Trekker who first got to be cool at school because I could talk about the original series. Expected this to be a disaster, and am giddy from the fact that it's not. There are things I could quibble with in the story, but this was just Act I -- the 'big ideas' are down the road. Actors, effects, characterizations in the script are all top-notch. I get to be cool again! Don't listen to the haters, see it . . . it's as fast and fun as the original Raiders of the Lost Ark.

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Ian Smith said...

Posted on May 08 2009 16:41 Oh dear, a complete failure.
Fundamentally Starfleet is a military organisation and this is completely ignored in the development of the characters. It was like watching "Basic Instinct" again, characters were given attributes that matched the film's purpose with no regard as to if such characterisation made any sense.
I also wondered how they were going to resolve the issue that the crew we "know and love" were all in various stages of their career's and would have come together on the Enterprise "by chance". The answer to this was absurd.
Just to annoy me futher, it seems that in order to avoid upsetting non science fiction audiences, the Romulans are portrayed as humans, both physically and emotionally. It took me a while to realise that the Romulans were Romulans, not human merceneries.
Finally I became so annoyed by a ridiculuse plot line involving the whole Vulcan plant that I left after the first hour.
Bye
Ian

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Brain said...

Posted on May 08 2009 16:05 The cinima was all most full, we sat and watched what was an isult to all Trekers , when the film was finished every one walked at silent , depressed what on earth have they done to the one thing that gave us a little hope that man kind might jut might make it! Star trek is dead as we know it! rest in peace.

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