Wade Manns – The Corsair
“Star Trek”
Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Karl Urban
Genre: science fiction.
Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content.
Regardless of how old one is, almost everyone has been affected by, or at least heard of, the phenomenon that is “Star Trek.” Whether we’ve only seen the original series, or grew up, as I did, on “The Next Generation” and subsequent series, “Star Trek” holds a special place in the hearts of many.
For my part, I also developed quite a bit of liking for the original series, so as to equal my liking for “The Next Generation,” which until then was my favorite series. The exploits of Capt. Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest filled me with excitement as I watched them, as they, with very few exceptions, offered up heaping helpings of satisfying science-fiction week after week and day after day.
It was with this in mind that I approached J.J. Abrams production of “Star Trek” (which I saw in theaters earlier this year, but was released on DVD Nov. 17) with a fair bit of trepidation laced with excitement. I read that they were going to reboot my beloved series. Sure, this had worked well with Batman, but this was Star Trek. Totally redefining the continuity of the series that so many have developed a fondness for over the years, and giving us a whole new set of actors to have to relate to–the task seemed near impossible.
Fortunately, there was a crew up to the task. J.J. Abrams as director, and Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof as producers, and their team that worked on the ABC series “Lost” were totally successful in bringing this venerated series up to date with a fresh new cast and great storyline. And, they even did it viably within the universe of “Star Trek.”
A renegade Romulan, known as Nero, has come from the future bent upon revenge against the Federation. We follow James Tiberius Kirk (played by Chris Pine who shines in this role), from his birth, through his misspent adolescence, through his enlistment in Starfleet, through his time to take command of the USS Enterprise after a few particularly harrowing moments involving Spock (portrayed with some rather excellent acting from Zachary Quinto, who is better known as Sylar from the NBC series Heroes, and with some exciting work from the original actor, Leonard Nimoy).
Karl Urban, a Kiwi actor who has been around quite a bit (Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Return of the King, among many others), has the awesome role of Dr. McCoy, surprisingly authentic to the original DeForest Kelly role. Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Simon Pegg as Scotty, Anton Yelchin as Chekov, John Cho as Sulu, and Eric Bana as our villain, Nero, round out the main cast and together with the supporting actors, really make us feel at home in this new, re-imagined “Star Trek” universe.
All in all, I am very proud to call this one of my favorite movies, standing right up there with the best of the original “Star Trek” movies such as “The Wrath of Khan” or “The Undiscovered Country.” I’ll give this a five star rating, and I would immediately recommend this to anyone who is a “Star Trek” fan, or anyone who isn’t.