Star Trek (2009)

2009 • 126 minutes

About this movie

The greatest adventure of all time begins with Star Trek the incredible story of a young crew's maiden voyage onboard the most advanced starship ever created: the U.S.S. Enterprise. On a journey filled with action comedy and cosmic peril the new recruits must find a way to stop an evil being whose mission of vengeance threatens all of mankind. The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals. One James Kirk (Chris Pine) is a delinquent thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy. The other Spock (Zachary Quinto) was raised in a logic-based society that rejects all emotion. As fiery instinct clashes with calm reason their unlikely but powerful partnership is the only thing capable of leading their crew through unimaginable danger boldly going where no one has gone before.

Ratings and reviews

Good science fiction (SF) is always about characters, not the action. Even when talking about Star Trek. The best episodes of the series, the best movie (really only one great movie, Wrath of Khan) are about the characters. This movie had some of that, but it it had too many extended action scenes and a poorly cast Spock. Everyone else is great. Oh, and it has time travel which is a crutch for writers who do not understand SF and/or who are lazy. If you want to reboot, just do it. No explanation needed.

The reboot has a huge amount of potential and then shoots it to hell. Artistic license is one thing, but the sheer lack of basic astronomy and scale trashes it. Star Trek has always had its moments of hokey ideas, but never the ability to show it in such high resolution drivel. Like the editors dropped the ball on splicing the concept together. The cast deserved better.

This reboot of Star Trek is an odd one. On one hand, there's a cast that did a darn good job emulating the characters of the old tv series. The writers have pulled in all kinds of established lore and use it nicely. The special effects are pretty darn good. But, on the other hand, this movie takes all of that goodness and just piddles all over it. It's horrifying. Now, I suppose if someone's never heard of Star Trek or ever watched an episode of the various series or movies, then this would be a good way for them to watch something modern. But, how many people is that? It's got to be an insignificant number compared to the number who've watched the franchise throughout most of their lives. Heck, even if those 13.7 people who've never heard of Star Trek decided to watch it, they'd probably run screaming from the horrendous military, technology, and science errors throughout it. So, I'm rating this stinker at a Pretty Bad 2 stars out of 5. Watch it only if you're willing to have cherished memories ripped from your brain and destroyed. EDIT: OTOH, I've recently attempted to re-watch the original Star Trek series. I couldn't even make it through the first season.