Star Trek (2009)

3/4

Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Bruce Greenwood, Eric Bana, Zoe Saldana, Leonard Nimoy

Rated PG-13 for Sci-Fi Action and Violence, and Brief Sexual Content

Like "Star Wars," "Star Trek" has captured the imagination of geeks around the world (they even have their own nickname, "Trekkies," and two documentaries about them).  TV wunderkind J.J. Abrams rebooted the long-running TV and film franchise into a flawed, but entertaining two hours.  Paramount Pictures has created a solid start to a new franchise, and it's a welcome change from superhero movies.

It is the far away future.  The U.S.S. Kelvin has come under attack by a mysterious ship and has been badly battered.  The captain has been asked to come aboard to negotiate but is quickly killed.  The next officer in line, George Kirk (future "Thor" star Chris Hemsworth in a heartbreaking performance) sacrifices himself in order to get everyone, including his newborn son, off.  Years later, his son James (Pine), a brawling, drunken troublemaker joins Starfleet and ends up battling against the same opponent that took the life of his father.  Meanwhile, he has to deal with Spock (Quinto), who is half-Vulcan, and only cares about logic and frowns on emotion.

I've never seen the TV show "Star Trek," but I have seen a few of the movies.  The films are good yarns, but Abrams' film is most welcoming to non-fans.  The special effects are considerably better and fresh faces provide a new opening for people like me.

The acting is strong all around.  Chris Pine, one of the best, and lowest-profile, young actors out there these days, transforms the beloved character into a lovable rascal.  He's got the ego, the mischief and the wandering eyes (always to the closest beautiful woman...or the next best thing).  But when push comes to shove, he's the best hope anyone has.  Zachary Quinto is an amazing character actor (compare his performance in this to his in "Margin Call"), and he plays Spock with depth and feeling.  Although Pine is wonderful, Quinto steals the film.  Eric Bana makes for an okay villain, but his forced accent gets in the way.  And Leonard Nimoy returns in a role that is far more than an obligatory cameo.

The plot deals with time-travel, and that's where the film trips up.  The sequence that explains what really happened isn't flawlessly written, and it took me three times to really understand what they were talking about.  There's a ten minute sequence in the second half that will likely lose many viewers, especially those who haven't been paying attention.

Perfect, it's not, but it is fun.

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