Star Trek (Three-Disc Edition) [Blu-ray]

JJ Abram's Star Trek is a good movie. But that's all I can really give it. It is definitely not in the Top 3 best Trek movies of all time, nor I would say its in the top 100 best Sci-Fi flicks of all time. Lets go over the pros and cons.

Pros
J.J. did a masterful job of rejuvenating the series, and was able to get the movie to reach out to people who wouldn't normally ever sit to down to watch a trek episode. Every non-trekker that I have spoken with, only had praise for the movie. So, kudos, J.J.

This movie is just fun to watch too. The actors are completely into their roles, and there's plenty of action, comedy, and romance to go around for everyone. HOWEVER, i think you must be somewhat of a fan of the sci-fi/action genre to consider watching this movie. If you are looking for any critique on present day ideologies, philosophies, etc, you're not going to find it here. This movie is a straight up popcorn flick and does an excellent job of keeping those eyes glued to the screen.


Cons
(Time to let the Trekkie side come out of me a lil)

Pretty much most of my beef starts right around the halfway point in the movie. I have officially ranked the first half of the movie as a GEM. Then, unfortunately, the movie unravels completely. More often during the second half do the action scenes drive the plot, and unfortunately not the other way around.

The writers also felt the need to take the best bits of Star Trek, and somehow fit it into the entire movie. This ranged from the Vulcan neck pinch to the Kobyashu maru to some planet called Delta Vega that appeared in the first episode ever, to......the list continues. It was as if they wanted some viewer to start pointing at the screen and say "oh yeah! that's a famous star trek gag!" or "that's so star trek". It's like fitting all James Bond villains/gadgets/gizmos into one reboot movie.

The writers also violate something that is probably a cardinal sin somewhere in some writing handbook, which was to explain the entire plot of a movie in one flashback scene. Kind of ridiculous. I bet it probably had something to do with the writers trying to figure out how to add Nimoy into the movie.

There's also nothing intellectually stimulating about this movie. There are no political, societal, moral undertones in the movie, something that is so integral to the Trek mythology. That's not to say all movies are like this. Wrath of Khan(STII) and First Contact(STVIII) were straight up action as well(just better movies :) ) But I feel that is something that they should have incorporated into the script, to let newbies know how it sets itself apart from other genres.

The villain is weak. I don't think its Eric Bana's fault though. I just think the character wasn't believable enough due to the poor writing. You might be let down here as well.

As a sci-fi flick, it's ultimately forgettable. But I still do recommend this to any fan of action and sci-fi movies, as you will be thoroughly entertained.

It's not like you were worried it might be a substandard Blu-ray release with poor video or audio quality, not in a big-budget effects-heavy J.J. Abrams movie made recently. They were planning the Blu-ray during filming, you know it.

The bonus stuff is pretty good too -- Abrams is always fun to watch behind the scenes because he looks like how we, the fans, would probably be on the set, occasionally so overwhelmed by how freaking cool it is to be there and how cool is everything going on, that the enthusiasm is infectious.

As someone who grew up watching the original series, I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie. I was thrilled with the result. This was a great script, with great actors, and it just brought me back in time. Chris Pine was superb as Kirk, Karl Urban nailed McCoy, and Zachary Quinto was a compelling Spock, although the 'human side' was more of a departure from the series. I'm ready for that to be explored, however. I'm sure some devotees would disagree, but I think this movie did it right by capturing the essence of the characters, but not copying them. I look forward to the next installment of this series - if done as well as this one, it will undoubtedly be my favorite movie again.

Great Movie Terrible Villians...CGI 5/5-Top notch special effects...Casting 5/5-Great casting, everyone fit into their roles nicely, there was noone i didnt like...Story 3/5-same old story, "im mad at you cus you didnt save my planet"...Villians 1/5-tattooed romulans with a case of misplaced rage, i was hoping for a Strong villian like Khan or Borg type, maybe in the sequel...

Excellent work in establishing a new timeline. Story very weak in following standard grandfather timetravel paradox. Hopefully this movie will kick off a new story line.