Matthew Knott

Well, anyone who was worried about what JJ Abrams would do with the Star Trek franchise need not worry, he has totally reinvigorated the franchise, giving it decades more life. Here's why.

The Cast

From an acting perspective, the cast was flawless. Zachary Quinto's spock perhaps being the weakest of the ensemble. Being aware of the back story before seeing the movie (That of Nero, the reason he was in pursuit of Spock and the origins of his ship), I was unsure how other viewers might regard the movies plot. It was a shame the back story was not really explained but the overwhelming force of the movie carried you through in a gripping fashion.

Simon Peggs was probably a good choice as Scotty. I say probably because he had such sparse screentime and was often solely used as light comic relief. I look forward to seeing a more developed role in the sequel. The award for most entertaining performance goes to Peggs nameless, faceless sidekick, who despite having only perhaps one word of dialog "Me" in the whole film, was the perfect in lightening otherwise dull scenes.

Also, an almost unrecognisable Karl Urban was unmistakably Dr. Leonard McCoy in all of his complaining, Vulcan-hating, damnit saying glory. Without a doubt the easiest character for anyone familiar with the original series to identify with.

I wish Eric Bana had more time to shine on screen as the villian, but he was solid in his part.

Photography

One thing I was really looking forward to was the level of detail, which was nothing short of astounding. One thing I noticed from the trailer was the detail of the phaser banks on board the USS Kelvin, and this detail continues through the film. More than just detail for details sake it's the function visible through the detail, like the rotating section of the phasers as they switch from stun to kill, or the landing bays of the star ships.

The film sufferred at times from simply too much happening on the screen at once, as is often the pitfall of a cgi-centric movie, but at times this also formed some of the films greatest moments as the Enterprise weaved through fields of debris.

The design of the ships and shuttle craft was fairly loyal to the original series, very similar to the model from Wrath of Khan, the second movie.

Conclusion

This film is a blockbuster through and through, with all the baggage that goes with it, e.g. highly commercial, yet surprisingly, it's the best think to happen to Star Trek since it was conceived. They've removed the camp and replaced it with sex. Made it cool and appealing to the masses. Trekkies will still be regarding as outsiders and likely 50 year old virgins.