Review: Star Trek (2009)

In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit to having been a Trekkie (Trekker?) for decades. I got hooked on the original series in the mid-70s when it was shown in syndication on our local channel - and I've followed most of the ensuing series. Although I never lived in parents' basement, I did once attend a lecture by James Doohan (got his autograph even! I wonder where that is....) My favorite episode? " The Trouble with Tribbles." I liked Next Gen, got bored with DS9, and loved Enterprise (mainly due to Scott Bakula). So, I was pre-disposed to like the latest incarnation, JJ Abrams' "Star Trek."

And I wasn't disappointed. Wow! They had me hooked from the opening moment. The special effects are fantastic, the story is compelling and pulls you right in, and the cast is fantastic. The casting agents deserve an award! They didn't try to clone the original cast, but instead caught their essence. Chris Pine as Kirk captures all his brashness - and sexiness; Zoe Saldana as Uhura is sexy, yet smart; I loved Simon Pegg as Scotty; Karl Urban is terrific as McCoy; the actors playing Sulu and Chekhov are terrific. A special thumbs up to Zachary Quinto as Spock. A fantastic capturing of Spock's character: torn between being human and Vulcan, trying to choose between two very different cultures.

The story itself is compelling: a group of Romulans (led by an unrecognizable Eric Bana) travels thru time to punish Spock for not stopping the destruction of their world. That's probably overly simplistic, I realize, but that'll get you started. There are all kinds of sidebars - the childhoods of Spock and Kirk; how the crew came together; how Kirk became a captain at such a young age. I love how they get Leonard Nimoy into the story, too.

Abrams did a great job of including some of the ST mythology. At my showing, people actually cheered when Bones said, I'm a doctor not a physicist"! Pegg's Scotty stole every scene - which Doohan often did. There's even a throwaway mention of "Admiral Archer's dog" (a salute to "Enterprise")

The best way to sum up this film is to use the words of my movie-going buddy. It is rare for Holly to be effusive about a film - she usually says, that was good or that sucked. As soon as the credits began, she turned to me and said, "That was f---ing awesome." I couldn't agree more!