Star Trek ***** (2009, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Leonard Nimoy, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Zoe Saldana) – Classic Movie Review 807

Star Trek makes a triumphant return in director J J Abrams’s breathtaking 2009 reboot, getting away with all its decisions – except two. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are brilliant as the young Kirk and Spock, athletic, vibrant and suggesting their esteemed forebears in the roles while making the parts their own.

And nearly all the rest of the crew are perfect casting too – Karl Urban’s grim Bones, Anton Yelchin’s enjoyably hammy Chekov, John Cho’s intense Sulu and Zoe Saldana’s sexy Uhura carve their places into movie history. May they all live long and prosper.

Starting the Trek from the very beginning, this gorgeously gleaming prequel movie’s all about character, backstory and Star Trek lore and legend – and hardly about plot at all. Just as well, as what’s here is truly baffling.

Never mind, it includes a huge lot of action, rushing around and beaming up, Eric Bana’s deeply serious baddie Nero, and, in the film’s boldest and cleverest stroke, Leonard Nimoy’s Spock. Grave, wise and incredibly old, Nimoy’s Spock enjoys a considerable amount of screen time, in which he gets to meet the young Kirk and, eventually, Quinto’s young Spock too!

With best ever visual effects in a movie so far and a spot-on screenplay by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the writers of Transformers and Mission: Impossible III, the look and the tone are perfect.

But now for the two stains on the movie. First, it’s just plain wrong that they didn’t create a role for William Shatner – and he’s rightly aggrieved. Second, Simon Pegg’s casting for silly comedy relief as Scotty is a shocking error of judgment: he’s not funny and it’s not appropriate. Star Trek 2 must rectify!

These aside, this is a stupendous, awesome movie, incredibly entertaining and enjoyable, and occasionally breathtaking. It respects Star Trek big time and is that rare thing in sci-fi movies, just plain darned loveable.

Star Trek Into Darkness followed in 2013. Star Trek Beyond opens on 22 July 2016.

Leonard Nimoy died on 27 February 2015, aged 83. President Barack Obama wrote: ‘I loved Spock. Long before being nerdy was cool, there was Leonard Nimoy. Leonard was a lifelong lover of the arts and humanities, a supporter of the sciences, generous with his talent and his time.’

Anton Yelchin, who played Russian specialist Chekov in the Star Trek series, died aged 27, on 19 June 2016 at his home, pinned between his car and mailbox in a freak accident. Director J J Abrams wrote: ‘You were brilliant. You were kind. You were funny as hell. And you weren’t here nearly long enough. Missing you.’

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 807

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