Star Trek XI (3-Disc Edition) - with Free Comic Book and Bonus Digital Copy (Exclusive to Amazon.co.uk) [Blu-ray]

THIS YEAR'S IRON MAN
I guess there are different sorts of die hard fans. I'm of the type who has lapped up everything Star Trek for 40 years. The orginal series was great and so were most of the even numbered movies. TNG was a great ride but with each successive series thereafter, the ideas got less an less original - not that the shows weren't created by hugely talented people but how could they stay hot after hundreds of episodes? By the time we limped to Enterprise, the franchise needed a shot in the arm if it was going to survive. I was hugely sceptical about Abrams' version - Simon Pegg as Scotty, come on! I mean we love him but that definately felt like credibility was being stretched.

What a true delight it was then to see a true pumped up, rock 'n' roll version of Star Trek! Abrams and his gang did a clever thing, they created their very own Star Trek leaving the original series and everything we know fully intact sat happily in its own time line. Don't misunderstand though, this is the very same Kirk, Spock, McCoy and co. we all know and love, just sent down a slightly different path. So we can take a few liberties, mix things up a bit and generally have a ton of fun.

The story does what it needs to, the casting is great (especially Spock and McCoy), the effects are fantastic and Abrams manages to do character moments on the move so there's hardly time to take a breath - oh and Simon Pegg is great as Scotty!

Overall I got a real sense of joi de vivre, hence it being this year's Iron Man something that's been missing from Trek for a long time.

Maybe the best thing is, die hards and newbies alike will all find something to like.

Buy it!

The latest Trek film cleverly manages to be a sequel, a prequel and a re-boot. It achieves this through the most over-used plot device in the Trek library of time travel, but for once it's justified as the result is an interesting set-up to an adventure that's a great deal of fun. Bad guys from Picard's era go back in time seeking revenge. They return to a time before Kirk and co embarked on their five-year mission, but their arrival changes the time-line, which means the established history doesn't have to follow the same course as it did previously. This is a neat idea, which you can either accept or not. I did.

I'll lay my cards on the table as being a fully-fledged Trek geek. I've watched every version many times, and yet there was nothing within the established history that was changed here that caused me any problems, but then again to my mind there wasn't much in the way of an established history that was all that important anyway. I certainly don't want to see flower people, mini-skirted Romulans and all the other aspects of a quaint 60s look at the future maintained forever. Plus, every version of Trek re-invents itself. The original series and the characters of Kirk, McCoy etc were a re-invention after the studios rejected the original pilot featuring Captain Pike. The Next Generation made peace with the Klingons. Deep Space 9 rewrote the established history for Cardassia and Bajor. Enterprise played fast and loose to allow Borg and Ferengi to appear and the crimes against good story-telling committed by Voyager are long and painful. Frankly, if we Trek fans can swallow Janeway and Paris mating after going at Warp 10 and changing into giant lizards, then there is nothing, but nothing in here to give concern.

Even when something important changes, there's always a good reason behind it. Initially, a romance sub-plot feels wrong, but then again it's a logical aspect of the characters' journey. Clearly the makers cared enough to think about what made the characters tick, and they did their homework. The best example of this is the Kobayashi Maru scene, a sacred piece of Trek law that is played for laughs. At first this felt as if it were diminishing the significance that The Wrath of Khan placed on the incident, and yet it is a valid way for Kirk to behave, and it wasn't until later that I clicked that the apple-eating was a homage. It's things like this that make the movie work for rabid Trekkies like me, but it also works for the less committed fan because the story returns to the old-fashioned values of rip-roaring space adventure that the franchise had forgotten about delivering some years ago.

In the opening ten-minute prologue Trek re-boots itself with more non-stop movement, action, self-sacrifice and corny drama than in the entire previous two movies. Once the human drama has been presented as being as important as the space battles by raising Kirk's birth to mythological levels, we get to see how the original crew meets up. Some of the crew such as Spock look like the original actor, some like McCoy have the essence of the original, and some like Scotty owe nothing to the original. But in all cases the comparison is with the actor, not with the character, and after living with them for a while all the characters feel right.

The adventure itself is as nonsensical as they ever were, but it carries the day with speed, humour, and some well-filmed action scenes along with underplayed special effects. My only complaint is the flares in which bright lights are repeatedly shone at the screen, although I think they won't be so intrusive when seen on tv. Other than that this film gets everything right, especially the big surprise plot twist, one that those who know their Trek would never expect. The fact that it's there is a brave testament to the fact that these are a new set of adventures, and they're adventures I'll be looking forward to.

Amazing blu ray transfer and thanks to the boys in blue (Royal Mail Blue that is) causing much mayhem, many online retailers are shipping early I have just received my copy and I'm 100% happy with it.

Many people are not happy with the new film but I really don't understand why? It is a fantastic way to refresh everything and while it rewrites history it is done in a completely explainable way and I look forward to many more films with hopefully the same actors who play their respective characters to perfection.

CGI has come a long way over the years and this is just about the first time I didn't think "you can tell that's done with a computer".

The Blu ray comes with a second disc jam packed with extras and the extra scenes are fantastic to watch. We all know a directors cut that will include them will be released in the next 12 months though.

All in all this is one of the best modern films I've watched and unlike most modern films I will be watching this on more then one occasion.

Looking forward to Star Trek 12.

5 Star Film and a 5 star Disc