Star Trek

Critically, commercially, and aesthetically, this version of Star Trek is a strong contender for the most successful rebooting of a film franchise in Hollywood history. Producer-director J.J. Abrams not only pays homage to the original concept, but actually improves on it, approaching the task of revamping this venerable property with meticulous attention to detail—retaining the elements that worked, jettisoning those that didn't, and adding a few that strengthen the overall effect. A sort-of prequel, Star Trek introduces young, rebellious Starfleet cadet James T. Kirk (Chris Pine, skillfully displaying the requisite youthful bravado) and Vulcan-born Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto), thrown together during the maiden voyage of the starship Enterprise and pitted against a revenge-crazed Romulan villain named Nero (a virtually unrecognizable Eric Bana). Depicted here as initial adversaries, Kirk and Spock team up out of necessity after Nero destroys the planet Vulcan with a dollop of anti-matter—which he controls a sizable quantity of, more than enough to threaten Earth.. This origin story also incorporates the other familiar characters of the Enterprise crew: Bones (Karl Urban), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Sulu (John Cho), Chekov (Anton Yelchin), and Uhura (Zoe Saldana). Winona Ryder, Bruce Greenwood, and Ben Cross have juicy supporting roles, but Leonard Nimoy—playing an aged, alternate-universe version of Spock—steals the show. As always with sci-fi plots involving time travel and alternate dimensions, the astrophysics is a little shaky, but Star Trek is otherwise impeccable, even managing to be a bit provocative while maintaining the utmost reverence for Gene Roddenberry's groundbreaking television series. Highly recommended. (E. Hulse)