Star Trek XI (2009)

First of all, Spock and UHURA?!

[Fic-writing must be going into hyperdrive right now.]

That finally off my chest, Star Trek XI was better than I thought it'd be. Not that I was expecting it to be miserable or anything; it's just this subconscious thing I somehow have against sci-fi movies. Un-bloody-fortunately. Which is weird, because I like space operas. Also kinda like how I always think Shia LaBeouf's gonna annoy me when he doesn't. He never does, actually.

For those not into movie hype, Star Trek XI is the long-awaited movie chronicling the early lives of the main deck crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, right before James T. Kirk became the Captain we all know and love.

['Long-awaited', because everyone wants to see whether JJ Abrams falls flat on his face with this retelling.]

The movie first delves into the background of Kirk and Spock, with the other characters making appearances as the movie progresses. They face angry Romulan Captain Nero, who's pissed for reasons that are revealed in the movie (don't want to spoil too much) and wants revenge on the entire Federation. Naturally, they beat the guy, and they're set on their way to "boldly go where no man has gone before."

Now, I'm not a full-on Trekker, but I do have basic knowledge of the series, on account of having watched most of the original movies (plus the Next Generation ones), and I'd have to say that I liked the movie. Chris Pine was spot-on Shatner when he's being cocky (especially during the Kobayashi Maru sequence), which I loved. Zachary Quinto was great as Spock, although I was half-expecting some telekinetic butchering to be had when Kirk was trying to get a rise out of him.

I'm kidding; Quinto doesn't go into THAT LOOK in Star Trek.

[LEONARD NIMOY'S IN IT TOOOO!! But I already knew that, so when he finally came out, it didn't have much of an impact on me.]

Karl Urban proved me wrong. I thought he was too macho and buff army-guy (Bourne Supremacy, Doom, Pathfinder...) to play McCoy, but dude was awesome. "Dammit! I'm a doctor, not a physicist!" made my day. Anton Yelchin was adorable as Chekov, considering I never really liked Chekov and found the original rather annoying. He sounded a bit strained putting on the accent, though.

I think the writers did a brilliant job. Storyline was okay, but with the whole time-travelling plot device, which inevitably created an alternate reality branching out from that point, they've just secured themselves an ass-ton of sequels WITH the creative liberty of messing around with the characters BUT WITHOUT the indignant wrath of a Trekker saying that the canon's being disrespected.

It's like starting over. Now that's impressive.

8/10 for effort. Loved the Romulan ship.