Star Trek (2009)

Director:

J.J. Abrams

Writers (WGA):

Roberto Orci (written by) &
Alex Kurtzman (written by) ...

Release Date:

8 May 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The future begins.

Plot:

A chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members.

Plot Keywords:

Captain | Vulcan | Starship | Alien | Planet

Awards:

1 win & 8 nominations

Cast

Chris Pine	...	James T. Kirk
Zachary Quinto	...	Spock
Leonard Nimoy	...	Spock Prime
Eric Bana	...	Nero
Bruce Greenwood	...	Capt. Christopher Pike
Karl Urban	...	Bones
Zoe Saldana	...	Nyota Uhura (as Zoë Saldana)
Simon Pegg	...	Montgomery Scott
John Cho	...	Lt. Hikaru Sulu
Anton Yelchin	...	Pavel Chekov
Ben Cross	...	Sarek
Winona Ryder	...	Amanda Grayson
Chris Hemsworth	...	George Kirk
Jennifer Morrison	...	Winona Kirk
Rachel Nichols	...	Gaila

Also Known As:

Christa & Christan's Big Adventure (USA) (fake working title)
Corporate HQ (USA) (fake working title)
Corporate Headquarters (USA) (fake working title)
Star Trek (IMAX DMR version) (Hong Kong: English title) (IMAX version)
Star Trek XI (USA) (working title)
Star Trek Zero (USA) (working title)
Star Trek: The Future Begins (Malaysia: English title)
Star Trek: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)
The Ernest Castelhun Chronicles (USA) (fake working title)
Untitled Blake Allen Project (USA) (fake working title)
Untitled Paramount Project (USA) (fake working title)
Untitled Walter Lace Project (USA) (fake working title)
Wet Paint (USA) (fake working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content.

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS | Dolby Digital | Sonics-DDP (IMAX version)

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #44847) | South Korea:12 | UK:12A | Netherlands:12 | Ireland:12A | Finland:K-13 | Singapore:PG | Norway:11 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Australia:M | Portugal:M/12 | Italy:T | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Brazil:12 | Sweden:11 | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Hong Kong:IIA | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | Iceland:10 | Germany:12 | South Africa:10V | New Zealand:M | Mexico:B | France:U

Filming Locations:

Bakersfield, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

In earlier drafts of the script, the USS Kelvin was originally named the USS Iowa, named after the US state where Kirk was born in the original series.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the fight on the drill's platform, which is at an extremely high altitude, Kirk and Sulu remove their helmets. On Earth, humans would find it very difficult to breathe at that height without supplemental oxygen; in Trek mythology, Vulcan's atmosphere is thinner than Earth's. It was an acceptable practice, when visiting or residing on Vulcan, to receive an injection of a Tri-ox compound to assist in breathing ("Amok Time" TOS). Knowing that they would be fighting on Vulcan at a high altitude, it seems logical that the away team would be given a similar injection (considering McCoy's penchant for injecting Kirk on the fly), though it was not shown on screen.

Quotes:

Christopher Pike: I am relieved.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Justin Timberlake/Ciara (#34.21)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Sabotage

Fun

As someone with a longstanding fondness for most things Trek (I've seen most of the movies and quite a few of the shows), I have to say that JJ & Co did a fine job with this picture; the character dynamics were broadly satisfying, the action scenes entertaining and the set pieces well put together. Most of all I was impressed with the lightness of touch of the whole venture - it would be very easy to criticise the picture for making what could be considered significant changes to certain parts of Trek lore, but given that the changes were accomplished with such comfort and confidence makes them, in my view, perfectly acceptable.

With regards to the acting characterisation, everyone was pretty much solid, with perhaps the exception of Sulu, who I thought didn't have much to do. Kudos, though, to Zoe Saldana's loveliness as Uhura and also, especially, to Chris Pine as Kirk - I had always thought Spock was my favourite character, but it looks like I may have to reassess; Pine lives and breathes that Kirk moxie exquisitely and he'll be great fun to watch in future instalments.

With regards to plot, it's pretty good; there is a decent sense of internal logic to it, without it being too overwrought. True, there are a number of points where you might think, "Blimey, that's serendipitous," but as I'd already suspended my disbelief to accept the possibility of time travelling green-blooded alien from the planet Vulcan, these things really didn't bother me at all. Plus there were a number of points in the movie where they were saying, "We were pulling this kind of shtick 20+ years ago, and you loved it then; run with us on this one," and I was happy to.

Oh, and most importantly of all, the movie is fun; it has the good sense to not take itself too seriously, despite remaining well aware of that sense of pomp and importance that all great character dramas should have, and that isn't a bad thing at all.

How this movie will bear up to repeat viewings, I'm not certain yet, but at the premiere, it was a blast.

Addendum: It's a month plus since I originally wrote this and I have seen the film three times in total now - the opening ten minutes remain a manipulative marvel that the remainder of the film struggles to match, the coincidences and conveniences seem even more far fetched than ever and the jokes seem even more silly BUT I still fancy seeing it again, so I guess it must work for me.