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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

Rob Allen said...

Posted on Oct 15 2009 23:14 Sensational a worthy addition to the series of films. If you consider the rubbish that was Star Trek 4 & 5 this is leaps and bounds above them. Great casting in the roles though Checkov is a bit OTT with his accent

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cwm said...

Posted on Jul 18 2009 20:21 There are hundreds of ways Abrams could have gotten it wrong, ruining (for the devoted fans) rather than reviving the fading franchise. Give him credit: he got almost everything right!
Hard to follow action scenes with too many jump cuts; a disconcerting fondness for faux lens flares and (just before a smash cut) fading to white. But after the invigorating experience of viewing this film, I feel reluctant to mention what seem like trifling complaints.

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Rachel Marta said...

Posted on Jul 03 2009 02:31 I believe I am one of the oldest Trekkie's writing here. I am 65 years old and saw the very first episode of TOS the first time it was on TV. I have seen the movie 15 times and it is still playing in my neighborhood theatre July 4th weekend in Massachusetts. This movie is amazing. Forget the holes in the story; just remember the gorgeous new young vibrant cast, the increditble music, sets, special effects and sound effects. And this is the first time it was filmed with realistic looking shuttles (with some dents). For those who wonder how cadet Kirk could go to Captain Kirk in such a short time, remember how many ships were wiped out at Vulcan. They had to replace a number of captains quickly. And our hereo proved himself to be a team player who grew up fast once the responsibility was on his shoulders. I adored Chris Pine as Kirk. He showed many different facets to the Kirk character - smug, cocky, funny, sexy, energetic and gorgeous in a rugged way. Don't get me wrong, I love the way Shatner created his Jim Kirk. He made TOS. But we are now in an alternate time line, Kirk has grown up without a father, Spock has lost his mother and his world - and we have many new story lines ahead of us for future movies. I have been rejuvenated - as Kirk said in TWofK "I feel young" - again.

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Ishan said...

Posted on Jun 28 2009 11:03 Fascinating!

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Dan P said...

Posted on Jun 27 2009 04:37 This was the best movie I've ever seen. I believed the sincereity and motivation of the characters. I cared about them within the first 2 minutes of the movie. I was truley entertained and thought it was well worth the money.

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Jason E said...

Posted on Jun 22 2009 15:57 Jim, you saw this film 6 times? I can only assume that you were testing your limits of torture and 6 was the limit.

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JIM said...

Posted on Jun 22 2009 10:34 A VERY GOOD update of the Origional. Been to see it 6 times so far. Chris Pine is defo A YOUNG JAMES KIRK. QUINTO IS GOOD TOO. Simon Pegg was not too bad either. THIS IS AWSOME.

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steven matthews said...

Posted on Jun 20 2009 23:57 thank you fery much j.c. byrd your comment is appreciated

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J.C. Byrd said...

Posted on Jun 17 2009 22:35 Excellent film, it was worth watching hope to see more in the future and BTW well said steven matthews about matty uk boring message lol...

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Chris said...

Posted on Jun 17 2009 18:02 There were some good effects and scenes in this film, but the actors were just far too annoying for me to give this film a decent rating, maybe it deserves a Three star rating but i cant give it more than Two as a result... Although it was nice to see the Old Spock and hear the old music and narration at the end! Is the russian kid really russian btw? Man that accent sounded so fake and annoying! Spock and his love interest were annoying, the guy who plays young spock irritates me, he was annoying enough in 24....

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Kinglouie said...

Posted on Jun 17 2009 10:48 clever, funny & down right brilliant. All the old favourites with a twist. The story is so clever that they can now start the the old Kirk, Spock & Bones startrek from scratch. It will keep us original Startrek fans & new fans coming back time & time again. I loved it.

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Tom said...

Posted on Jun 15 2009 15:37 This film was clearly written for 10 year olds. Captain Kirk, 18 year old rebel goes from surly cadet to Captain of the federations flagship within the space of 2 hours. The pilot of the starship is 17 years old, and generally the whole film is a laughable parody of the quality star ship films with Jean Luc Picard and William Shatner. Where do I get my money back - this plot was written by a 9 year old. Hopefully the producer and the actors have gone where no man has gone before, and are not planning on coming back

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Jason E said...

Posted on Jun 12 2009 01:01 This film was OK. Not great, but not altogether awful. I hear a lot of high praises for this film which I believe is more to do with Mr J.J. Abrams current a la mode status amongst the media elite. I am amazed at the amount of successful producers, writers and actors who think that they can turn their hand at film-directing. Each of these disciplines requires a different set of skills, and as such the mind-set of the individual is also completely different. A good example of these two approaches is comparing Abrams’ Mission Impossible 3 to De Palma’s Mission Impossible. In my opinion the De Palma film is by far superior, purely from a directing perspective. Abrams, coming from a producer’s background is a numbers man, and a very good number’s man he is, and as such his attempt at directing Mission Impossible 3 are clunky and pedestrian. De Palma on the other hand is a true creative and visionary and turns David Koep and Robert Towne’s screenplay into an expertly crafted film. For the mammoth undertaking of making a new revamped Star Trek film, you need a dedicated film director, someone who has studied the craft of film-making and has a proven track record as a film director. You also, and this is essential, need a director who is a fan of the Star Trek franchise, unlike Abrams, who, by his own admission, has stated that he has not been a true Star Trek fan. I tend to think that the mark of a successful film is not how much money is generated at the box office, but rather how many times over the years you can watch it over and over again and still find it entertaining. In my opinion the new Star Trek film will not survive the test of time, and is certainly not a film that will enjoy repeat viewing. It is rather dull and confusing and lacks that magical quality found in some of the earlier Star Trek films. Most notable of these films is Star Trek: First Contact. I have seen this film on countless occasions over the years and it never fails to be entertaining and thoroughly engrossing. Rather perversely, I watched the Phantom Menace the other day and was rather surprised to find that I was mildly entertained.

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fatmike said...

Posted on Jun 11 2009 22:53 this film contains everything that makes going to the movies agreat night out,good story great c g i if you like startrek you will love it 10/10

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Matty UK said...

Posted on Jun 11 2009 13:10 What utter bunkem. A huge fan of the original series with it's pre moderist story telling style. You know what I mean, none or this rediculous "the moral of the story is!" However, there have still been the occasional episodes in the newer series that have been ok. This said, even the original cast movies were inspired rather than the "NG" rubbish that were glorified tv epics that should have gone straight to DVD. So when I heard they were making a prequel with some interesting actor choices, I was excited. Then I heard whom would be directing. Well, if you liked Cloverfield, then you are welcome to this poorly directed load of tosh. The story is so very weak and may I say, utterly boring. There are holes in the timeline of when characters are introduced to the series. Decent actors are wasted, such as Eric Bana, who say's very little and does less. What's even more disappointing is that I actualy went to this film only hoping for a reasonable popcorn movie which for me is to go with no expectation other than to marvel at what new can be brought to the table with inventive special effects and well paced scenes. This film was done on a ZX Spectrum I'm sure. The ice fields monster was awful and looked oddly superimposed on a dodgy stage set. The space battle sequences were so rapaid that you could hardly make out what was going on, let alone be able to comment on how detailed the programmers had been. And finally, I understood that this was made in the hope or revitalizing the flagging franchise and to introduce it to a new generation, but surely there could have been a little more respect given to updating the bridge of the enterprise, rather than supplying us with something more than that dire, overlit ple of junk. The only saving grace for this film was that the script writer/casting given us Leonard Nimoy. As usual, is presence and the tombre or his voice carried the well deserved cudos of the character.
All in all guys and gals. You want something that pays respect to the original cast and crew in an updated package.......then give this miss. If you feel like going to see a film totally unrelated to the original franchise but be delivered something well edited, scripted, directed that has excitement and entertainment awash......give it a miss. Should you wish you just get out the house and see a film that can mindnumbingly entertain with pretty colours and a moving pictures whilst you chump your way through a gallon of cola and a ton of popped corn and nothing more....give it a miss. If you have a desire to sit in a darkened room with a load of other people, feel bored, disappointed and angry for been duped into spending you hard earned money on utter pig swill....then go ahead and see this junk! It's your money, waste it how you wish! And Mr Abrams, please, please, please stop making movies, they are rubbish! One star for you ability to organise funding for a movie and knowing how to turn on a camera.

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