I always found the Star Trek television series incredibly boring, so when the film came out I didn't move from my sofa specifically to see it at the pictures. We rented the film from Lovefilm at the weekend and I have to say I was entirely wrong, the film is superb and really watchable on every level.

The Plot:

James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine) is born as his father, the temporary captain of a starship, dies saving hundreds of people, this sets James up as a rebel from his younger years, he has the ability and a never say die attitude but does not have the application to make a success of himself, one day after a bar room brawl he is approached by a captain of the Starship enterprise who knew his father and told he should apply to Starship academy because of his attitude. Kirk thinks better of it but is dared to outdo the exploits of his father and as anyone who watched the original series knows, you don't dare James T Kirk to do anything.
Kirk joins the academy, meets Uhuru (Zoe Saldana) a smoking hot linguist and Bones (Karl Urban) the loquacious, continually grumpy, wise cracking medic who becomes his closest friend.
Kirk meets a confused half Vulcan, half human in Spock (Zachary Quinto) who he immediately hates and who takes an immediate dislike to him, however as a race of people led by Nero (Eric Bana) set out to destroy Spock and Starfleet in general, everyone from the academy is forced to fight this enemy, making Spock, Uhuru and Kirk put their differences aside and work together as the crew of the Starship Enterprise and stop Bana destroying Starfleet, Earth and the universe in general.

Cast:
Chris Pine ... James T. Kirk
Zachary Quinto ... Spock
Leonard Nimoy ... Spock Prime
Eric Bana ... Nero
Bruce Greenwood ... Christopher Pike
Karl Urban ... Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy
Zoe Saldana ... Nyota Uhura (as Zoë Saldana)
Simon Pegg ... Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott
John Cho ... Hikaru Sulu
Anton Yelchin ... Pavel Chekov
Ben Cross ... Sarek
Winona Ryder ... Amanda Grayson
Chris Hemsworth ... George Kirk
Jennifer Morrison ... Winona Kirk
Rachel Nichols ... Gaila

My View:

I thought this was an excellent film, it brings together all of the main characters from the Star Trek series, in a believable way much like Batman Begins, the story is enthralling, the CGI looks awesome and the story is thoughtful and intelligent rather than a vehicle for the effects, the thing I enjoyed most was the cast and the script, I felt they really brought out their characters and stepped far enough away from the originals to make this fresh and exciting. Pine is excellent as the gung-ho Kirk, revelling in his ability to take a kicking, get up and start all over again. Quinto as Spock is thoughtful and confused whilst being incredibly bright, his back story is interesting and shows slightly more emotion than Leonard Nimoy's original. The fact Nimoy plays a part as the older Spock is welcomed and really develops the narrative properly, Nimoy is excellent in his role and knowing enough to be funny in the ultimate straight role.

Saldana is excellent as Uhuru, the object of Kirk's lust and devoted to Spock, she is a strong woman who rules as much as the guys and looks awesome. I enjoyed Simon Pegg's turn as Scotty although did feel it was a tad overdone, while Urban is perfect as the disgruntled Bones.

John Cho is good as Sulu and has a bit more get up and go than the laconic original, whilst Anton Yelchin as Chekov has an amusing accent (Apologies if that is real!). The team work well individually and as a whole and their development is enjoyable, but it is Pine and Quinto who take the honours as the two stars of the piece breathing new life into their roles.
The baddies are nasty, but their story reveals there is an emotive reason why they want revenge and you do feel somewhat sorry for them in the circumstances. Erik Bana is unrecognisable as Nero and it took me thirty minutes before we googled to see who he was, his role is shocking in how well he plays somebody else.

Overall the film has action, humour a great script, enough knowing comments and actions for original series geeks whilst having accessibility for people like me who never liked the series. I got totally lost in the film and accept my prejudices were unfair, this was a great success and thoroughly enjoyable on every level.

The DVD is available from Amazon for £4.99 and includes a making of, outtakes plus trailer.