Star Trek

STAR TREK (2009) - May 2, 2009
Superb. I was pretty skeptical when I first heard the idea of a Star Trek reboot with a young "hip" cast, but my skepticism was, happily, completely unfounded -- JJ Abrams has pulled off the seemingly impossible task of straddling the fine line between pleasing the fans and catering to a new audience, and has pulled it off pretty much perfectly. The film manages to remain faithful to the spirit of the original without getting weighed down by it -- this is a movie that anyone can (and should) enjoy. It gets around the inevitable changes via an ingenious plot device involving time travel, which never feels like a cheat or an affront to the fans. It's definitely more action-heavy than any previous Star Trek offering, but it's never overwhelmed by the action -- it still manages to have quieter moments with the characters, some emotional moments and a good amount of humour sprinkled throughout. It helps that pretty much all of the roles are perfectly cast, though special props must go to Karl Urban, who does a ridiculously dead-on Bones without it ever coming off that he's merely doing an impression. ****