Review of Star Trek (2009) by Victor T — 24 Aug 2014

Since the 80´s fans have been arguing about what franchise is better: Star Wars or Star Trek. But after the huge bomb that was Star Trek Nemesis, it seem that the franchise was dead but in 2009 J.J. Abrams managed to revive this beloved franchise with a reboot that was a colossal hit that made new fans and made old and loyal fans happy.

In the year 2233, a federation ship named the "USS Kelvin" is attacked by a mysterious Romulan ship, this ship manages to destroy the "USS Kelvin". Seventeen years later, a human named James T Kirk decides to enlist in Starfleet Academy an there he meets the rest of the Enterprise crew and are tasked to investigate a distress signal from planet Vulcan.

I must admit that I have only seen a handful of episodes of the original series and "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate an entertaining and well done film when I see it and that's exactly what this reboot is. Abrams´s "Star Trek" counts with pretty good acting from most of the cast, gorgeous special effects, a pretty solid story, every significant character gets his moment, the beloved characters from the original series are now more useful and interesting, it also counts with exciting action scenes and a perfect balance between humor and drama. But despite how awesome it is, it still has some issues: Quinto is horribly miscast as Spock, I understand that Nimoy had the role for so long and Quinto is the noobie but he couldn't portray a young version of the beloved Vulcan; it counts with a forgettable villain, the pacing never takes a moment to give some calm scenes or the cerebral scenes, which question a lot of subjects, that Star Trek is known for; and the story stopped being important in the second half of the film, wasting all the hard work of the first half.

Abrams new take of "Star Trek" is a fantastic vision fill with excitement and entertainment but at cost of dramatic scenes and the opportunity to modernize the though provoking themes the franchise is known for.