Star Trek (2009) acknowledges the past but sends us off to explore brave new worlds and new civilizations. With the right balance of reverence to what came before and the desire to make these characters live and breathe for a new audience, it takes all that once was and creates something new and, to quote a certain engineer, exciting.
What really makes the film work is it’s cast, who take these fan favourites and breathe new life into them. Stand out performances for me are Karl Urban as ‘Bones’ McCoy, he is everything that made me incredible fond of the character, the humanity, humour and pathos is there in spades. Zachary Quinto as Spock must be a clone of Leonard Nimoy as he is Spock in everyway. The surprise performance for me was Chris Pine who had the most difficult task of filling Kirk’s boots, and he does. Chris Pine is our Kirk just younger and with a different face, he has managed to bring not just the original performance but the idea of who the character is into a driving focal point for the film. If we did not believe in this Kirk it wouldn’t work, but we believe, oh yes we believe.
In much the same way as all the great stories have been retold over the years, Robin Hood, King Arthur, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond among others, Star Trek has now joined that elite club of characters and stories that can and will live forever. This film demonstrates that however much we love the original and its cast, it’s the universe that they live in and the stories that can be created that has us coming back time and again.
Special mention must also go to Michael Giacchino who has created a score that has stuck in my head, and does for this film what the John Williams scores did for Star Wars. Talking of the score it’s also good to know The Beastie Boys still kick ass in the 23rd Century.
Star Trek is back, and I recommend you see it.
If this gives you a desire to check out the original series, the newly remastered DVD’s are available for amazon.com – get them here – Star Trek - The Original Series - Series 1 - Complete - Remastered [DVD] [1966]
Credits –
Directed by
J.J. Abrams
Written by
Roberto Orci
Alex Kurtzman
Based on
Television series “Star Trek” created by
Gene Roddenberry
Cast
Chris Pine… James T. Kirk
Zachary Quinto… Spock
Leonard Nimoy… Spock Prime
Eric Bana… Nero
Bruce Greenwood…Capt. Christopher Pike
Karl Urban…Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy
Zoe Saldana…Nyota Uhura
Simon Pegg…Scotty
John Cho…Hikaru Sulu
Anton Yelchin…Pavel Chekov
Ben Cross…Sarek
Winona Ryder…Amanda Grayson
Chris Hemsworth…George Kirk
Jennifer Morrison…Winona Kirk
Original Music by
Michael Giacchino
