Star Trek (2009)

I've been a fan of the series for a long time, and hearing that they wanted to re-boot the series and show the original crew only younger I was a bit skeptical about the results.

Well rest assured my doubts as well as millions of others have been put to rest. J.J. Abrams has rebooted the series and as I've said before this Trek is not your fathers Trek, and that's a good thing. Origin movies are hard to do, but here Abrams does it well by casting some top notch actors in the roles that will clearly define their careers. Giving it an alternate reality is an interesting plot device, and having Lenord Nimoy in it kind of ties a nice bow on the trajectory of the Trek storyline.

I'm not sure about some plot holes in the movie that made me think WTF. It's only after I had viewed the film that I began thinking about the holes in the story, but then again Trek is meant to be a ride you don't forget or should I say an experience you bond not to forget. The core of the Trek series has always been the friendship between Spock and Kirk. In this film we see that bond begin.

It's a good summer movie. Hopefully the studio won't ruin it with stories that will be senseless and pointless to the franchise. I remember when Trek 2 came out and it was hailed as a very edgy Trek. Why it was called that was due to no small part to Mike Nichols who wrote an interesting and very personal Trek. It was in that movie that we saw how complex, and intricate the relationship between Spock and Kirk was. In the most recent one we get to see how it begins, and I hope the studio doesn't loose the focus on what the series is all about. In the end Trek is about the dream that man gets to explore space, and explore. It's a view of the future that has hope, and that humankind has a destiny. Maybe I'm reading too much into the series, but as a little boy it was those story lines that made me watch the series so intently. That is what is at the heart of Trek, and its characters are beloved folk hero's in American pop culture.

It's well worth the time if your a fan. If your not a fan you may want to skip it, but I think you'll enjoy it even if your not a fan, and that is what Paramount Pictures wants. After all it's a re-boot, and this isn't your fathers Trek. This Trek is meant to be for another younger generation, and hopefully not anger the loyal following it already has. Because after all what Mel Brooks said in "Space Balls" is true. "Merchandising, merchandising, merchandising", so viva the franchise!