Putting aside the Star Trek theme this is a great sci-fi action film in its own right, it starts off with a fast paced impressive action scene and doesn’t really let up for the entire two hours running time. The production is slick; the pacing of the film is spot on with a nice balance of action, character development, emotion, tension, occasionally peppered with light hearted moments. There’s no doubt this is a film which will divide opinion. As someone who isn’t that much of a Star Trek fan I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, and while you naturally associate the characters of Kirk, Spock, Bones, Sulu, Uhura, etc... with their iconic original counterparts it’s not long before you do warm to the new actors inheriting those characters. There’s no doubt Star Trek purists will probably hate it, while the film pays homage to its origins it does ignore major historical elements of the original series and while the storyline is entertaining it’s also full of silly plot holes which are never explained or resolved. Those criticisms aside this is still an enjoyable, entertaining and visually impressive film which reinvents what was a tired and slightly cheesy franchise.
Star Trek gets the Star Wars treatment in this entertaining prequel to the Star Trek TV series. The younger versions of the characters are very believable in a film with a solid storyline - even if it starts getting a bit difficult to follow about half way through when two versions of the same character appear after a bout of time travelling.
I was disappointed by this movie. We were promised a witty tale of the early years of the Star Trek characters and I was expecting something a bit different from the usual inter-galactic gun-firing. Instead, it was more of the same, but with younger leads. Had we seen more of Kirk & Co actually being cadets at Star Fleet Academy, watching their personalities, strengths and weaknesses develop -- which is the film I was expecting -- it would have held my interest, especially with a good script. This didn't.
Too much is asked of our suspension of disbelief, too. While I could cope with most of the confusions of time travel, the idea that Spock could go back in time and have a mind-blowingly banal conversation with his younger self, was absurd. I was also distracted throughout by the ease with which an academy cadet was able to assume command of not just any old ship, but the Enterprise, with not a single voice raised in dissent. But then, I found Chris Pine's whole authority-flaunting swaggering maverick schtick tiresome after about 5 minutes. I did like Zachary Quinto's quiet Spock, though, and could have wished Simon Pegg as Scottie, with his rather too good accent, could have made an earlier appearance.
So all in all, if you like watching spaceships zip around firing at each other, and young men posturing, you might enjoy this. But if you were hoping for an original, well-written movie which would shed light on our favourite tight-jerseyed beamers-up, don't bother.