Review - Star Trek (2009)

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, I've talked about Star Wars plenty of times here on Chuck's Movie Breakdown, but I have yet to discuss the other highly popular sci-fi franchise: Star Trek. Created by Gene Roddenberry back in 1966, Star Trek has spanned over fifty years with thirteen movies and nine television series on both regular TV and streaming on CBS All Access, with new series set to stream on the new Paramount+ platform. Heck, April 5th is deemed by Trekkers around the world as "First Contact Day," as according to Star Trek lore, it was on April 5th, 2063 that Dr. Zefram Cochrane made man's first warp flight, drawing the attention of the Vulcans, who landed in central Montana and met humans for the first time. However, the Star Trek film we'll be looking at today has a bit more significance, as it is solely responsible for bringing the Star Trek brand back from the dead, and that would be the 2009 film simply titled Star Trek.

         The movie opens with the Federation starship U.S.S. Kelvin encountering an anomaly in space: a singularity that looks like a lightning storm. From within the singularity appears a massive Romulan ship, the Narada, which opens fire on the Kelvin with highly advanced weaponry. After initial bombardment, one of the Romulan crew, Ayel, contacts the bridge crew of the Kelvin, requesting the captain, a man named Robau, use a shuttle to board the Narada for negotiation. Robau names one of his top officers, Lt. George Kirk, as Captain, and heads to meet with the Romulan captain, Nero. Ayel, speaking on Nero's behalf, asks Robau about a unique form of starship, the Jellyfish, as well as the location of Ambassador Spock. When Robau states he is unfamiliar with both, and informs of the Stardate as 223304, Nero kills Robau, and the Narada continues its attack. Kirk then orders the Kelvin be evacuated, including his wife who, during the escape, gives birth to a son, who the couple decide to name Him. Yes, this newborn is none other than James Tiberius Kirk. Anyway, George sets a collision course with the Narada, sacrificing himself to save his crew, his wife, and his newborn son.

         Years later, we see Jim Kirk as a child in Riverside, Iowa, where he takes his uncle's vintage car for a joyride, blasting the song "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys on the radio, and crashes the car into a canyon, all while being chased by a police officer. We then jump to the planet Vulcan, where a Vulcan child named Spock is taking a test in school. Upon completion, three older Vulcan children approach Spock, and continue to mock him for being half-human, half-Vulcan. They end up crossing the line by insulting Spock's human mother, Amanda, leading to Spock beating the crap out of one of the bullies. Some time later, Spock's father, a Vulcan named Sarek, speaks to him, and tells him that he is capable of choosing his own path. Years later, Spock is now an adult, and is accepted into the Vulcan Science Academy, but declines the opportunity after one of the Vulcan ministers refers to his being half-human as a disadvantage. 

        Back on Earth, we see a now adult Jim Kirk trying to hit on a Starfleet cadet named Uhura, who shows no interest in him, despite his smarts, which impressed her a bit. After a bar fight with other cadets, Kirk meets Captain Christopher Pike, who encourages Kirk to enlist in Starfleet, even daring him into it by referring to his father's heroic sacrifice. Kirk then heads to the local shipyard, where he sees a Federation starship under construction. Kirk then boards a shuttle heading for Starfleet Academy in San Francisco. It is here that Kirk meets, and befriends, a highly paranoid doctor named Leonard McCoy, who Kirk refers to as "Bones." Bones absolutely hates outer space, and suffers from a fear of flying, but joins Starfleet because he has nowhere else to go. 

         Three years pass, and Nero encounters the Jellyfish finally arriving after twenty-five years since the Narada attacked the Kelvin. At Starfleet Academy, Kirk prepares for his third attempt at the Kobayashi Maru test, which he manages to reprogram to allow him to beat the test, which was programmed to be a no-win scenario. The Academy Board then holds a formal hearing, where Kirk is confronted by the Board, as well as Spock, on the grounds of cheating the Kobayashi Maru. Spock informs him that the test is designed to test a Captain's emotional resolve in the face of death. The hearing is adjourned as the Board orders all cadets to report to a shuttle hangar for ship assignment, in response to a distress call from Vulcan. Bones and Uhura are assigned to the U.S.S. Enterprise, while Kirk is temporarily grounded by the Board. Bones, in a moment of weakness, takes Kirk to a spot an injects him with a vaccine for an illness, giving Kirk the illness's symptoms. Bones then takes Kirk aboard the shuttle headed to the Enterprise.

         On the Enterprise, we meet the rest of the crew, including Commander Spock, helmsman Lt. Hikaru Sulu, Ensign Pavel Chekov, and the captain of the Enterprise, Pike. Along with the other ships, the Enterprise enters warp speed, heading to Vulcan to assist in what they believe to be a rescue mission due to a natural disaster. Kirk, however, overhears a detail that causes him to realize the truth: Vulcan is being attacked by the same Romulans that destroyed the Kelvin on the day he was born. Upon arrival at Vulcan, the Enterprise crew sees the debris left behind by countless destroyed starships. Upon encountering the Narada, the Enterprise is attacked, but Nero stops the attack after realizing what ship he was attacking. Nero then hails the Enterprise, requesting that Pike boards the Narada by using a shuttle. Pike, along with Kirk, Spock, and Sulu, heads to the shuttle bay, where they are met by Chief engineer Olsen. Pike then names Spock as acting Captain, and makes Kirk first officer. 

        So Kirk, Sulu, and Olsen air drop from the shuttle into Vulcan's atmosphere, landing on the Narada's drill, although Olsen doesn't make it. In fact, Olsen gets completely vaporized by the drill. Kirk and Sulu successfully deactivate the drill. However, the drilling was successful, and the Romulans were able to reach the core of Vulcan, dropping a device carrying a substance called "Red Matter" into the hole. The Red Matter ultimately creates an artificial black hole at the center of Vulcan, which will consume the planet from within. After Kirk and Sulu are back on board, Spock goes to the surface of the planet to retrieve the elders, as well as his parents. Unfortunately, a number of elders, as well as Amanda, do not survive, and Vulcan is destroyed. 

         The crew try to figure thing out, and Spock deduces that Nero and his crew are from the future, and his actions dating back to the attack on the Kelvin have created an alternate reality to what the timeline would have been prior to this displacement in the timeline. Kirk the suggests heading to Earth, which is Nero's next target, but Spock orders the Enterprise to regroup with the rest of Starfleet in the Laurentian system. Kirk is then ejected from the Enterprise and marooned on the frigid world of Delta Vega, where he is attacked by two creatures native to Delta Vega. Kirk is saved, however, by an older Vulcan, who refers to himself as Spock. This Spock, who is also known as Ambassador Spock, is from the original timeline, over a hundred years in the future, where he tried and failed to stop an exploding star from destroying Romulus and Remus, costing many Romulan lives. Ambassador Spock used Red Matter to create an artificial black hole to absorb the exploding star, keeping it from wiping out the rest of the universe. However, Nero arrives, and both the Narada and the Jellyfish are sucked into the black hole. Upon Ambassador Spock's arrival in the now-altered past, he is captured by Nero, marooned on Delta Vega, and watches helplessly as Vulcan is destroyed. Ambassador Spock and Kirk then head to a nearby Starfleet outpost, where they meet Montgomery Scott, or Scotty for short. Ambassador Spock then plugs in Scotty's transwarp beaming equation, which Scotty had tried to crack for years. Scotty and Kirk then beam aboard the Enterprise, leaving behind Ambassador Spock, along with Scotty's friend Keenser. 

         Kirk and Scotty are brought to the bridge, where Kirk attempts to invoke Starfleet regulation 619 by goading Spock into attacking him in a fit of rage. After nearly killing Kirk, Spock relieves himself of command, and Kirk takes over, re-routing the Enterprise to Earth. After some encouragement from his father, Spock offers to join Kirk in sneaking aboard the Narada, finding the Jellyfish and taking control of it, and rescuing Pike. They succeed in their goal, and even destroy the drill. Spock warps away from Earth, and Nero orders the Narada to follow. The Enterprise arrives, beaming Spock, Kirk, and Pike back on board, leading the Jellyfish to crash into the Narada, igniting the Red Matter, creating a black hole, which completely destroys the Narada, and Nero refuses assistance from Kirk and the Enterprise. The crew is able to break free from the gravitational pull of the black hole. Back on Earth, Spock meets Ambassador Spock, who encourages him to remain in Starfleet, having already located a planet on which to establish a Vulcan colony, while Kirk receive a commendation for his heroic actions, and is officially named captain of the Enterprise with Sulu, Chekov, Uhura, Bones, and Scotty as members of his crew, and Spock joins as first officer. The crew assembled, the Enterprise then enters warp to "boldly go where no one has gone before." 

          Star Trek was a great way to bring back the dormant franchise. Actors Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, John Cho, Zoe Saldana, and the late Anton Yelchin were all terrific as Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Bones, Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov. Bruce Greenwood was great as Captain Pike, and Eric Bana was terrific as the Romulan villain Nero. Even Leonard Nimoy's return as Spock was great, with his scene with Zachary Quinto as the younger Spock being a major highlight of the movie for me. I also liked the designs of the Enterprise in this movie, even with comparisons between the bridge and an Apple store. The visual effects, the action, and the music score by Michael Giacchino were all terrific and make this movie enjoyable.

          Okay, so there are a lot of people that have issues with this particular Star Trek film. Primarily that Kirk and Spock were friends from the start, Delta Vega is not an icy world, nor is it in any close proximity to Vulcan, stuff like that. Now, yes, I, as a fan, do see these differences from the continuity and acknowledge them. However, I don't let them stop me from enjoying this movie. Director J.J. Abrams did a great job in reinvigorating interest in the Star Trek franchise. So, I'm going to give Star Trek 2009 a rating of 5/5. This is Chuck signing off. See you guys next time.