Star Trek [Blu-ray] [2009]

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!

Originally not a fan of the tv show i was a little reluctant on seeing this, however i saw the dvd in a store, read the synopsis on the reverse and dcided it may be a decent watch.
And i am very glad i bought this one. JJ Abrams the creator of LOST and Alias brings us this absolute blast of a motion picture, all out action, awesome special effects and a top notch cast make this one of the most enettaining movies in recent years. The battle scenes will absolutely blow your mind and the rest of the movie just runs along at a fantastic pace.Michael Giaccino's score is stirring and epic and suits the film perfectly, both in the emotional moments and the full on action set pieces.
Viewers who have never watched the show itself should not be concerned about being unable to follow the plot as the writers have taken care to make this relatively stand alone and not made it impossible for non fans to follow.
The cast are well suited to their parts and bring their own spin to the renowned characters of the show. As a bonus for fans, Leonard Nimoy returns as Spock. Rarely have i been so suprised at how much i enjoyed a film but Star Trek shows that there is originiality and suprise left in film making and delivers one of the most exciting and action packed two hours you are likely to witness for some time to come. You don't have to be a fan of the show, just a fan of action packed science fiction that will leave you hungry for the sequel due out in 2013.
This 1 disc edition is fine for those of you not interested in bonus features and just want to watch the film, but if you want hours of features then the 2 disc edition is the one you should get.

2009's reboot of Star Trek is certainly an enjoyable improvement over the ailing Next Generation series of movies, but despite all the love and US box-office success (the film wasn't nearly so popular with ticket-buyers in the rest of the world), it still doesn't make the leap to being a great film. The opening with the birth of Kirk and the death of his father during a battle packs a surprising emotional punch and the film consistently does an interesting job of showing how the characters we know and love evolved - a cocky young Jim Kirk learning to brush that chip off his shoulder and earn responsibility, Spock still struggling with his half-human impulses - but there are things that don't work that well playing against the film. J.J. Abrams tendency to put lens flares in every other shot becomes increasingly distracting and, if anything, the refit of the Enterprise is much worse than in the 1979 film, making it look distractingly like a wildly overlit nightclub or computer salesroom. It's also a shame that for someone so cavalier about using other composer's music, Michael Giacchino's score eschews Jerry Goldsmith's iconic movie theme in favor of a combination of Tan Dun oriental scoring for the Vulcans and a Danny Elfman Batman-lite theme for the Enterprise itself. Even his version of Alexander Courage's original TV theme in the end credits is typically a rather hollow reorchestration.

The plot is another time travel/revenge story that ingeniously allows the filmmakers to create an alternate timeline for future entries with a well-motivated but otherwise rather underdeveloped villain in Eric Bana. It's blessed with particularly good casting, with Zachary Quinto's Spock and Karl Urban's McCoy uncannily catching the essence of their predecessors without falling into slavish imitation, and the film does work in many nods to the original series in the form of green women in bikinis, Commander Pike in his wheelchair, Sulu showing off his fencing, Kirk taking the Koboyashi Maru test, Chekov having twouble with his `r's and `v's and those perennially ill-fated redshirts. There's even a little bit of emotion with Leonard Nimoy's final scene talking about friendship defining both Kirk and Spock, though it's a pity that it wasn't William Shatner who delivered the iconic `Boldly go' end narration. It's a fun film filled with neat touches that's better than anyone had a right to expect, but there's still room for improvement in future voyages.

The single-disc version is extras-lite - just an audio commentary, featurette, outtakes and a couple of trailers for other movies, with the two-disc version offering deleted scenes and the expected self-congratulatory featurettes.