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I was always a Star Wars Geek, I’ve never been a huge Star Trek fan, that is until a few hours ago when I witnessed one of the best science fiction films in a long, long time. Dont get me wrong,I enjoyed occasionally watching the television series. Im old enough to remember watching repeated episodes of The Original Series and was fond of The Next Generation. DS9, Voyager and Enterprise never held any interest for me. Nearly all the previous big screen installments left me underwhelmed except for The Wrath of Khan (which i watched recently and holds up pretty well) and First Contact which featured my favourite villans, The Borg.

THE "NEW" CREW OF THE ENTERPRISE

Bringing Star Trek back to the Big Screen and making it cool for Trekkies and your average cinemagoer wasnt going to be easy. The franchise was pretty much dead after the last movie Nemesis, and the cancellation of Enterprise. In charge of the reboot is JJ Abrams, a veteran of tv series Felicity and Alias, whose biggest success had been long running programme Lost (of which im a huge fan). He only had one feature film as director under his belt, Mission Impossible 3 which in my humble opinion is underrated, and served as producer on last years Cloverfield which I loved. So you could say I’m a fan, but even I didnt think he could make me love Star Trek. It’s good to be proved wrong sometimes and on this occasion I’m more than happy to have been so very ,very wrong.

The story centres around the young members of the Enterprise, There time at Starfleet Academy and there first calling into action against a Romulan hellbent on destroying any planet involved with the Federation. There’s much more to the plot but I really dont want to give much away, I will say it involves time travel and no doubt the internet will be rife with geeks trying to find fault with the timelines, but I bought into it easily and just went with it.

We get thrown staight into action from the beginning in a pre credits sequence in which a Federation ship, The Kelvin, is attacked by a huge Romulan ship which appears from a black hole, We learn the fate of Kirk’s father and are introduced to the films villan Nero(Eric Bana). Its a fantastic opening sequence which sets the tone for the rest of the movie, this isn’t a slow burner it’s a rollercoaster ride.

Fast forward a few years and we are introduced to a young Spock on Vulcan and learn of the prejudices he faces for being half human/half vulcan. Nice to see Winona Ryder back on the big screen in a small role as Spock’s human mother. Back on earth in Iowa a young James T Kirk has become a juvenile delinquent in trouble with the law. Fast forward again a few years and Spock (Zachary Quinto) is turning down a place in the Vulcan Science Academy to join Starfleet, and Kirk (Chris Pine) is getting a life lesson from Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) about following in his fathers footsteps.

ERIC BANA AS NERO

At Starfleet Academy we meet, Uhura(Zoe Saldana) and Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy (Karl Urban). At a hearing over Kirks ‘beating’ of the Kobayashi Maru the young recruits are called into action after a distress call is recieved from Vulcan and join Captain Pike on the newly built Enterprise. Here we are introduced to other long time Star Trek characters Sulu (John Cho) and Chekov (Anton Yelchin).

The film works increbibly well on a number of levels. It reintroduces us to characters who are as familiar as the actors who played them. Zachary Quinto is Spock, albiet a different less logical Spock not in control of his human emotions, and in a role thats much more than a cameo Leonard Nimoy plays the older, wiser Spock we are more familiar with.

Chris Pine whom I cant remember seeing in anything before is great as Kirk.He takes longer to recognise as Kirk than say Quinto as Spock, but this is more due to the fact he doesnt look at all like William Shatner or even try to imitate him, which is to Pines credit, yet he instills him with the same bravado and attitude towards authority. Saldana as Uhuru gets less to do but looks great in a mini skirt. Yelchin as Chekov captures the same wild eyed enthusiasm as Walter Koenig and gets some of the films funniest moments, and Cho as Sulu gets his moment to shine as well. Simon Peggs as Scottie is introduced quite late on,  but gets some good laughs despite his Scottish accent being all over the place, maybe in homage to James Doohans Scottie, but probably not.

ZACHARY QUINTO AND CHRIS PINE

Special mention has to go to Eric Bana and Karl Urban.Bana plays a character who has gone over the edge. His grief and sorrow at the lose he has suffered is turned into an irreversible hunger for revenge. I dont think I will be alone in feeling sorry for his character who at one time was basically a normal working class guy who tried to save his people. Bana plays him to perfection, it’s not a showy role and Bana never plays the character over the top. Karl Urban is Leonard Bones McCoy, as soon as we see him on screen it’s like he has been possessed by DeForest Kelly, it’s almost uncanny. He gets the films funniest lines and his surrogate father act with Kirk is touching.

Everything in the film just works from it’s character interaction to its spectacular action sequences. There is barely a bum not to be found, and if you find any it’s because your looking to hard. Visual Effects are top drawer and consistent.The music score by Michael Giacchino (Lost/Speed Racer) is a corker. The set design is familiar yet spanking new. Sound Effects are suitably loud and invoke memories of the sound effects from Star Trek of old.

This is one of those rare films where everybody involved was at the top of their game, none more so than JJ Abrams, whose direction,of all the elements it took to create the film,is assured and inventive. A sequel to the new yet familiar world he has shaped can’t get here quick enough.      

ALL YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW 

Star Trek is Cool Again. Remember the first time you seen the T-Rex in Jurassic Park or Neo dodge bullets in the Matrix? its that cool. And i feel in love with it and its characters over the course of it’s running time. 5 Stars+A Geek Boner

THE NEW TREK MAY BE COOL,BUT NOT AS COOL AS THIS PICTURE