Day 11 -- Star Trek (2009)

Released: May 8, 2009

Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban

Writer/Director: Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman/J.J. Abrams

Description: A chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members.

[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]

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First off, I'd like to put out the disclaimer that I'm not a diehard Star Trek fan, or Trekkies as they are known, so this will not be a review picking apart differences in the films. This will be a stand alone review. With that said, the reboot of "Star Trek" is a fantastic action movie.

The movie is an origin story for the two most iconic figures in the franchise's history, Kirk and Spock. We are given back story on the pair as children, and how they meet for the first time. And to my surprise, they avoided fan service and made them adversaries, which was much better for the narrative. The writers do a great job of making their eventual friendship feel organic and not forced. You believe these two would respect each other, and see the need to be the yin to the other yang.

Even though it maybe sacrilege, Chris Pine's performance as James Kirk was light years better than William Shatner's in the original; he was much more Kirk. I bought into the swagger, toughness, and street smarts of Kirk. It was exactly what I thought Kirk should be from what I could pick up watching the few episodes I did of the television show. It was one of the best action movie performances in the last decade.

The choice of Zachary Quinto as Spock was sublime. From the his work on "Heroes", I knew before seeing the movie that he could easily play the emotionless parts of the character, as well as, the times when he would break the Vulcan code and show his human side. 

The casting of Quinto and Pine shows that there's no need to get an a-list actor to get a top notch performance. If the relationship between Spock and Kirk doesn't work, the movie crumbles. So it shouldn't be surprising that the person in charge of casting also knock it out of the ballpark with the supporting characters as well. 

Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, and John Cho all excel as the crew of the USS Enterprise and add to the light hearted nature that the original portrayed. The only miss was Zoe Saldana, who was not as sassy as I had interpreted the character to be, but I'll give her a pass because she does succeed in making Uhura sultry enough that you believe someone like Kirk would be infatuated with her.

If you haven't seen this movie, do it. Even if you hated the original, and "Next Generation", this movies is so far removed from that kind of storytelling by not being campy. It is a fantastic action movie that should satisfy the palates of sci-fi and non sci-fi fans alike.

Rating: 8.5/10 -- Must see movie. Pine's performance as Kirk is pitch perfect. There's no need to see the original to see this, but having a working knowledge of the series gives you insight into some inside jokes.