> Star Trek
Director: J.J. Abrams
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Ben Cross, Winona Ryder
Rating: (M) James T.
Five stars (out of five)
Review by Christine Powley
What makes a television show so great that it spawns a movie franchise covering 30-plus years? It was not the plots, which always seemed to involve the Enterprise finding a strange planet. Then Captain Kirk would lose his rag, bop everyone, and be beamed back to the ship, which would then leave, making a note to look the planet up in another hundred years.
It was laughable but still we loved it. I guess it was the characters - that utopian united nations of a crew, including a strange emotionless guy with pointy ears.
Getting the reboot of Star Trek (Rialto and Hoyts) right is a big deal.
So many people know it that you have to capture the spirit, and if you succeed you have a licence to print money.
The new Star Trek has that licence.
It has whizz-bang special effects, an ironic affiliation to the old uniforms and a ripper plot about an annoyed Romulan, Nero (Eric Bana), travelling through a black hole and time to exact revenge on Spock.
Most importantly, it has a confident cast unafraid of entrenched characters. Our own Karl Urban as Dr Bones McCoy is particularly good as the comic relief.
In going back to basics, director J.J. Abrams is not being cute.
Instead, he has reintroduced an old friend and I, for one, cannot wait for the next one.
Best thing: It has been made by lovers of Star Trek but they are not afraid to give us interesting new twists.
Worst thing: With so much impeccable casting it is especially galling that the guy playing Chekov is so physically wrong.
Could no-one find him a wig?See it with: A die-hard fan.
They are going to be amused and relieved to see how well that world has been recreated.
