Star Trek (2009)

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Director: J.J. Abrams

Writers: Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman, based on the television series created by Gene Roddenberry

Stars: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin



A pair of time travelers go nearly 200 years into the past, setting into motion a series of events that will assemble the original crew of the starship Enterprise under alternate circumstances, creating a new timeline and rebooting the franchise.

 


The plot is overly complicated, there is some clumsy exposition in the middle, and the villain (Eric Bana) is two-dimensional.

 


However, everything else is perfect and the resulting picture gave this franchise the kick in the behind it needed during that dry spell between the end of Enterprise's fourth season and the explosion of new Trek content on Paramount+. 



Purists find much to gripe about, but I am impressed by the way director J.J. Abrams and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman managed to push the reset button in a way that did not nullify more than 40 years of storytelling. 



This film gave us a great young cast portraying classic characters and forging their own continuity. 



Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban, as Spock and McCoy respectively, give faithful presentations that do not resort to caricature.

 


The rest of the cast--Zoe Saldana as Uhura, John Cho as Sulu, Anton Yeltsin as Chekhov, and Simon Pegg as Scotty--create engaging characters that are quite different from the originals. 



Chris Pine, as Kirk, does a good job of portraying a cocky young man who grows into the role of starship captain.



























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