Movie Review: Star Trek (2009)

Stolen from Damien at 2 Cents From Down Under

Just saw Star Trek yesterday with the boyfriend and we both enjoyed it a lot. Honestly, the original series was aired in the the late 60s and the movies are of early 80s. I can't claim to be a Trekkie but I do know William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and George Takei are held as cultural icons because of the series and the subsequent films. But just as The Onions had acclaimed, the film is watchable, easily understandable and fun at the same time.

This film is pretty much acts as a prequel to the whole series started with the birth of James T. Kirk and progress to how he met his crew and became the captain. I'm happy to find that pretty much the whole cast is composed by actors that are of lesser fame which allows viewers to focus more on the storyline. Chris Pine who played James T. Kirk was quite charismatic and did not overplayed his role. Zachary Quinto pulled off playing Spock with his own already unique looks, his story and his role gets to be the main part of the movie. I have to say I'm quite happy to see John Cho playing Zulu, great way to have a handsome guy representing the Asians even though I can do without the stereotype of kung fu sword fighting and driving. Zoe Saldana who played Uhura is quite stunningly beautiful, although I'm sure in the original series would have a lot less public displayed affections? I wouldn't know.

Other famous actor includes Simon Pegg who played Montgomery Scott, Simon is there to add some comic relief. Eric Bana played the main villain Nero in this movie and for shame the make up was so good that I've missed him completely during the movie and I've also missed Winona Ryder who played Spock's mother. I thought given her klepto history, she'd be banned for life but I'm glad she's acting again. Another for shame moment came when I didn't recognize Tyler Perry without his white wig and glasses. I'll have to watch it again. I've also read from Wikipedia that Randy Pausch has a cameo and a line in this movie before he passed, it'd be great to be able to find him in it. And of course, Leonard Nimoy has quite a few scene in this film to add some weight.

Since some time travel elements were add to the movie, they will have an excuse to restart the whole franchise again. Sequels are already at works, personally I'd like to see another TV series done by the same cast maybe dealing with the years of the academy with James Kirk's promiscuous ways and Spock's more serious academic research and struggle for acceptance; maybe like a futuristic Dawson's Creek. And since my last experience with X-Men Origins: Wolverine, maybe it'd be nice to see the film in a mode where the special effects are at their raw stage as a special on the DVD.

Generally, I loved the film and I think it'd be the best film of the year. I only want to know how did Nero get that ship given what has happened to him, I also get confused when Spock got the location of the captain and left while they didn't handle how that information get passed to Kirk. I understand that Roger Ebert had quite a bit of complaints on the technology end but that seems very silly. Can we set our phasers to electro music now? B+