Short version: While hard core Trekkies may have some problems with it, this long time classic Star Trek fan found this reboot fun, fresh & exciting.
Screen Rant reviews Star Trek
Where to start? (This is going to be a long one, folks. If you want to skip the preamble and get right to the review itself click here.)
Some people are Star Wars fanatics, others go nuts over Transformers or X-Men. While I’m a huge Iron Man fan, Star Trek is my true love going back well over 30 years. My favorite of all the shows? The Original Series (aka TOS). You may look at it now and think it looks cheesy (however I highly recommend you check out the digitally remastered version with brand new visual effects on DVD or Blu-ray), but remember the original Star Trek is over 40 years old.
At the time the other big Sci-Fi TV show was the cheese-fest called Lost in Space – so keep that in mind as a comparison. 
I have Star Trek prop replicas on my bookshelves (some pretty damned nice ones) along with a copy of the original Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph and a set of blueprints of the original U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (which shows the location of a bowling alley on the ship!). I’ve memorized every episode of the original series – I can tell you which one each one is within seconds of any of them starting. And I’ve seen every movie.
Yes, I’m into Trek “canon” – tracking all the little details that tie the whole Star Trek universe together, however I’m also aware (though some fans seem to be in denial about this) that over the course of hundreds of episodes across five different series, Star Trek itself has violated its own canon many times.
Why am I telling you all this? So you have some context for my review of J.J. Abrams’, Roberto Orci’s and Alex Kurtzman’s reboot of the Star Trek universe. However this is not a review just for “Trekkies,” and that’s appropriate because neither is this film just for that group of die hard fans (among which I include myself).
Also, I did read the four part prequel comic that tells the story which leads to the events that take place in the film. If you have a chance I recommend you find it and pick it up at your local comic book store as it really fleshes out the “villain” in the film, Nero.
Some fans may disagree, but this franchise was in desperate need of a reboot, re-imagination, fresh “take” or whatever you’d like to call it. Star Trek, as a brand, was whithering on the vine and was in danger of being put on the shelf for who knows how long – until Paramount might decide enough time had gone by to give it another go. This was due to a number of factors, among which included the subsequent series being taken in directions by Rick Berman (and to some exent, Brannon Braga) that the fans did not agree with. Essentially it was a case of “the fans don’t know what’s good for them – we’ll tell them what they want.”
From this we gained the ignoble death of Captain Kirk in a transition movie with a stupidly weak plot device, Star Trek: Voyager, the Lost in Space of Trek, progressively crappier movies and finally Enterprise: At least an attempt at something fresh in Trek, which unfortunately went off in some half-assed direction – and Manny Coto’s efforts to bring the show back to what it should have been in season 4 were too little, too late.
So… when it was announced that the new film would go back to before the original series crew had met I was both excited at the prospect and terrified of how it might turn out. I mean we’re talking about recasting iconic roles. Bill Shatner? Leonard Nimoy? DeForest Kelly and James Doohan?
Sacrilege!
But I tried to be cautiously optimistic over the course of very early news, pre-production and through the production. I listed this film as my most anticipated of the year…
And I was NOT disappointed.
So finally – the review…
Click here to continue reading our Star Trek review…
Our Rating:
4 out of 5
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Ok, so your not a TOS fan, neither was I (before my time). That being said I was raised on TNG and although I enjoyed it I also enjoyed the movies, Star Trek II come on you can’t seriously hate it. I admit in the series from the episodes I watched they were tacky but you can’t blame that on the actors, but now in the movies I thought William Shatner did a good job. Everyone has their own taste but to compare him to Paris… thats just low.
Oh my freaking God I can’t wait to see this!!!!!!!!
Tomorrow can’t get here soon enough!!!
This is the movie of the year, people, I’m tellin’ ya right now. I don’t need to see Transformers or GI Joe, this is it for me.
@790
“Wolverine is roadkill after Friday”
ROTFLMAO!!! Amen ta that!
@Daniel F
Sorry, I disagree with you overall. Sure there were a few stinkers (especially in Season 3 – “Spock’s Brain” or “Turnabout Intruder,” anyone?) but we also had “City on the Edge of Forever,” “The Doomsday Machine,” “Space Seed,” “Mirror Mirror” and more.
Vic
Hey Daniel!!
HA HA HAHA TNG era is deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeead!!!!!
Picard was a pansy and a bore!! Shatner could kick the crap out Patrick Stewart today
HAHHAHAHAHAHA NEXT GEN ERA IS DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank the Lord!!! No more boring ass characters, devoid of any sort of passion or personality quirks, no more kidergartens on the fleet’s flag battleship, no more androids who seem to get fatter and wrinklier as the years go on, no more sitting around with your shrink and other cardboard cast members asking advice like some Berkley Hippe Philosophical discussion during the middle of some critical space battle, no more sexually ambiguous Captains and that goes for all the Next gen Era captain except for Sisco. No more bland, safe, technobable filled poo on a ship that looks like the inside of a Holiday inn Express rather than a ship of the line!!!
Long live Kirk and Spock!!! Dropkicks, hot chicks, space battles and neat social allegories wrapped up in a terrific action-romance-drama with some comedy as well
Vic awesome review man I’ve been waiting for this
since Star Trek VI
Vic is my boy!!
Love to see a Star Trek “Mirror Mirror” movie.
Quinto with a goat!
« Evil »
This is not Trek; it’s a bastardized version of a classic brand name; I will see it though because I know how big a fan Vic is and I consider myslef a big fan too ( I have TOS and TNG on DVD as well as all the movies)..I hope I can look past some of the annoying changes and just enjoy a good sci-fi film..Hell my wife and I are going and we haven’t gone to see a movie together since Return of the King…
This is not Trek? What makes Star Trek what it is? To say it isn’t just makes no sense. Yes they have changed things that should not have been altered but doesn’t all remakes? I to have all the movies, alot of the books, but that doesn’t change that it is all just science fiction. Let’s not judge something before hand.
What is the film run time?
I wouldnt be surprised if we see TNG references in sequels down the road.
Vic,
Commander archer ?
i heard it was a higher rank.
@Gary
Maybe it was “Commodore” and I heard it as “Commander.”
Vic
Vic,
I know the romance you are referring to and it was hinted at in the first and second seasons of TOS.
i should say CHEMISTRY was hinted at between those two chracters in the first two seasons of TOS.
the tribble ?
I hears its in the same room as Kirk and Pike when they meet.
Trying to avoid spoilers
Sorry for being vague
I’ve heard that the film is a little over 2 hours long. 5 hours, if you live on Vulcan. (Has something to do with their 36 hour long days…)
^
Gary,,, Archer would have retired an Admiral if the aliens known as the Nielsens hadn’t disabled his shields with their apathy death ray…
It didn’t help matters when the Paramountians decloaked and took out the warp drive with a single shot from their control beam….
The show Enterprise would have been before the Kelvin and before the altered timeline wouldn’t it? As for the new Enterprise I like it. Was anyone like me when they first saw the TNG Enterprise? It almost made me vomit! If they hadn’t rebooted there would be no new Star Trek on TV or the bigscreen.
I would say it wasn’t my favorite, to big in my opinion and mishapped a bit. And lets not talk about the Voyager class… just wow… except for landing on a planet I guess thats cool. Now I liked the Soverign Class (E Model) That felt better considering it was farther in the future. I know alot hated it but seriously you have to change designs sometime.
NCC 74656-Voyager was my fav. Knight, it was a (Intrepid class) ship…
Sorry I meant Voyager type, but thanks for the correction. Don’t get me wrong I did like Voyager, now DS9…. Thats another story.
Vic;
Knowing what a huge fan you are, I couldn’t wait to read your review. I am really looking forward to seeing this movie, though may have to wait till next week. I hope I can stand the suspense a bit longer!
Thanks, Terri. Keep in mind I’m an open minded fan – I’m waiting for the backlash from the Trekerati.
Vic
greenknight333 wow that’s strange because I figured it was Trek given that it’s called Star Trek.. Odd.
I’m sorry you may not like it or some of the changes they made, but no matter how you slice it the movie is still Star Trek. If you don’t like this version that’s fine, but no matter what it’s still Star Trek.
This comment is coming from a very sad trekker I have been planning on going to see this movie ever since I heard about it but when things can go wrong they do for some stupid reason my kids school decided to have all of the field trip this month no kidding one of my sons has already went on 2 just this week and one of my daughters are going to stupid a$$ Dollywood so I had to give them the money I was going to use for my happy day so they could go on their trips I guess I’ll see it on DVD thanks vic for rubbing my nose in it LOL I still love this site its the best movie site out
My sentiment exactly Daniel F; as for JD5DAD i’m sorry about the field trips but think of it as event your children will not forget. But now if they were tickets to like a Star Trek land… hmmm… now thats a Theme Park idea. Just imagine the rides.
@vic
lots of people would say that your review has spoilers… but i read it anyways… mainly because i did not like star trek to begin with. I just saw the movie… and i’ve got to say that if all the episodes were like this… i’d be a trekkie myself. The movie was awesome… your review and several other options i had before me helped me understand it a bit more. There were some “phrases” that i already knew about by various spoofs and word of mouth. It was nice to hear some of them…. spoiler alert…
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“I’m giving it all we got captain”
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Spoiler ends.
I know a couple of more but i don’t know them word by word and wouldn’t want to offend anyone by not writing them according to source. Either way mainly what i wanted to say is that i’m usually against reviews because i feel that no matter what its still your opinion of the movie but like i said before being that i know pretty much nothing about star trek… it was a “Dummies intro to Trek” sort of thing for me so thanks.
@JD5DAD
Feel sorry for you man… the movie rocked!!!
I just saw the movie, was pretty good. I would have given it a 4.5 out of 5. The only part that stuck out that I didn’t like was the cornball dialogue between Kirk’s father and his mother when he was about to be given birth.
And the lens flare was indeed ridiculous in the movie. Sometimes there was lens flare when nothing was going on…
Anyway, one comment about the site though, when I click on “show all” it just leads me back to the main page. In fact, I think it does that when I click on any of the page numbers…
One thing I was wondering about the movie…
***SPOILER ALERT***
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If Nero’s ship was just a mining ship, why was it so heavily armed???
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***END SPOILER***
The 4 part comic book explains how Nero’s ship was modified. It also explains the face tattoos, and has lots of cameos from next generation cast. It’s basically the extended version of what Spock “tells” Kirk.