Film Review: Star Trek (2009)
Background
In 2009, J. J. Abrams directed Star Trek, based on the 1966 television series created by Gene Roddenberry, as the eleventh film in the franchise. Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, John Cho, Ben Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Winona Ryder, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Eric Bana, and Leonard Nimoy, the film grossed $385.7 million at the box office.
Synopsis
While his father takes command of a Federation starship during an attack, his son James Tiberius Kirk is born while the ship's personnel flee. He grows up angry and rebellious until Starfleet recruits him. There, he makes waves and must overcome his initial mistrust of Spock to stop a rogue Romulan named Nero.
Review
As a way to reboot the franchise and reintroduce modern audiences to the characters of the original series, Star Trek is quite good in presenting an engaging origin story for the crew of the enterprise. Notably, despite the timeline being radically changed into an alternate reality thanks to Nero, they all still manage to come together, as if willed by destiny. Rather than his father inspiring him directly to join Starfleet, Kirk is inspired by Captain Pike, using the example of his father heroically saving over 800 people to dare Kirk to rise to his potential. Further, since Kirk didn't grow up with his father, his attitude and outlook changed to be more cynical which put him at odds with Spock. However, they still wind up friends due to Spock Prime. It’s also thanks to the bad blood between Spock and Kirk, along with the help from Spock Prime, that caused Kirk to meet Scotty. Had Kirk not been beamed down to Delta Vega, the Enterprise may have either had a different engineer or still had Scotty, just under different circumstances.
Though the film's "present day" looks quite a bit different from how it did in the original series, that's because of Nero's presence. Him just appearing and attacking the Kelvin started a chain reaction, which was the cause of universe becoming a different timeline than the original series. As such, it does make sense that Nero is the proverbial butterfly. Starfleet became more militaristic because Narada attacked Kelvin, causing Starfleet to be more advanced than it should be as a result of reverse engineering from when Kelvin scanned Narada. The bad blood that was initially between Kirk and Spock also makes sense because the latter is more disaffected and disgruntled than his counterpart from the original universe, making it so that when the two met, they had to overcome their differences. It's not just characters, technology and attitudes that changed though as events playing out in this timeline vary wildly from the way they did in the original series, such as the destruction of Vulcan.
Speaking of Nero’s influence on the timeline, he’s actually a great villain. Inadvertently being thrust into the past and destroying the Federation out of a desire for revenge for letting Romulus be destroyed by a supernova seems like an overreaction. Still, it's implied that he doesn't care about Romulus itself anymore and just wants those he believed caused the destruction of everything he ever knew to understand his suffering. This does bring about a bit of a paradox though as in this timeline, Romulus hasn't been destroyed yet, meaning he's getting revenge for an action that has not happened yet. What's more is Spock Prime arrived to late and this universe's Spock hasn't done anything yet. Therefore, nothing was Spock's fault in the first place. Nonetheless, Nero is just as insane as his namesake and his reasoning that he's going to prevent a genocide by committing genocide, when those he's getting revenge on didn't even cause the genocide to begin with, makes perfect sense for someone like him. Nero had 25 years to extract revenge as well, bringing about the possibility that he was consumed by a lust for vengeance.
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Awards won
Academy Awards
- Best Achievement in Makeup
Screen Actors Guild Awards
- Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Saturn Awards
- Best Make-Up
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards
- Top Box Office Films
Austin Film Critics Association Awards
Second Place - Best Film
BMI Film & TV Awards
- Best Music
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
- Best Ensemble Cast
California on Location Awards
- Assistant Location Manager of the Year - Features
Casting Society of America Artios Awards
- Oustanding Achievement in Casting - Big Budget Feature - Drama
Denver Film Critics Society Awards
- Best Acting Ensemble
Empire Awards
- Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Golden Schmoes Awards
- Second Place - Best Trailer of the Year
- Second Place - Best DVD/Blu-Ray of the Year
Golden Trailer Awards
- Best in Show
- Best 2009 Blockbuster
- Best Summer 2009 TV Spot
- Best Summer 2009 Blockbuster Poster
Hollywood Film Awards
- Spotlight Award (Zachary Quinto)
International Film Music Critics Awards
- Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction Film
- Las Vegas Film Critics Society Sierra AwardsT
- Best Score
- Best Visual Effects
National Board of Review Awards
- Top Ten Films
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards
- Best Stunts
Satellite Awards
- Best Overall Blu-Ray Disc (3 Disc Blu-Ray Edition)
Scream Awards
- Best Science Fiction Actor (Chris Pine)
- The Ultimate Scream
SFX Awards
- Best Director
Nominated for
Academy Awards
- Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
- Best Achievement in Sound Editing
- Best Achievement in Visual Effects
BAFTA Awards
- Best Sound
- Best Special Effects
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Saturn Awards
- Best Science Fiction Film
- Best Director
- Best Writing
- Best Production Design
- Best Special Effects
ALMA Awards
- Actor in a Film (Clifton Collins Jr.)
- Actress in a Film (Zoe Saldana)
American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards
- Best Edited Feature Film
Art Directors Guild Awards
- Excellence in Production Design Award - Fantasy Film
Awards Circuit Community Awards
- Best Motion Picture
- Best Achievement in Visual Effects
- Best Visual Effects
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
- Best Makeup
- Best Sound
- Best Visual Effects
- Best Action Movie
- Best Acting Ensemble
Cinema Audio Society Awards
- Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures
Costume Designers Guild Awards
- Excellence in Fantasy Film
Denver Film Critics Society Awards
- Best Picture
Detroit Film Critic Society Awards
- Best Ensemble
- Breakthrough Artist (Chris Pine)
Empire Awards
- Best Film
- Best Director
Gold Derby Awards
- Ensemble Cast
- Art Direction
- Makeup/Hair
- Sound Editing/Mixing
- Visual Effects
Golden Schmoes Award
- Favorite Movie of the Year
- Best Director of the Year
- Best Sci-Fi Movie of the Year
- Best Special Effects of the Year
- Biggest Surprise of the Year
- Breakthrough Performance of the Year (Chris Pine)
- Coolest Character of the Year (James T. Kirk)
Golden Trailer Awards
- Best Music
Grammy Awards
- Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
Hollywood Post Alliance Awards
- Outstanding Editing - Feature Film
- Outstanding Compositing - Feature Film
Houston Film Critics Society Awards
- Best Picture
Hugo Awards
- Best Dramatic Presentation - Long Form
International Cinephile Society Awards
- Best Original Score
International Film Music Critics Awards
- Film Score of the Year
- Film Music Composition of the Year (for the composition track "Enterprising Young Men")
Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Awards
- Best Sound Editing - Music in a Feature Film
- Best Sound Editing - Dialogue and ADR in a Feature Filkm
- Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects and Foley in a Feature Film
MTV Movie Awards
- Best Breakout Star (Chris Pine)
Online Film & Television Association Awards
- Best Makeup and Hairstyling
- Best Sound Effects Editing
- Best Visual Effects
Online Film Critics Society Awards
- Best Original Score
People's Choice Awards
- Favorite Movie
PGA Awards
- Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures
Scream Awards
- Best Science Fiction Actor (Zachary Quinto)
- Best Science Fiction Actress (Zoe Saldana)
- Breakout Performance - Female (Zoe Saldana)
- Best Villain (Eric Bana as Nero)
- Best Supporting Actor (Leonard Nimoy)
- Best Supporting Actor (Simon Pegg)
- Breakout Performance - Male (Chris Pine)
SFX Awards
- Best Visual Effects
Teen Choice Awards
- Choice Movie Villain (Eric Bana)
- Choice Movie Fresh Face Male (Chris Pine)
- Choice Movie Rumble (Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto as James T. Kirk vs Spock)
Village Voice Film Poll
- Best Supporting Actor (Zachary Quinto)
Visual Effects Society Awards
- Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture
- Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Feature Motion Picture
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards
- Best Ensemble
- Best Art Direction
World Soundtrack Awards
- Soundtrack Composer of the Year
World Stunt Taurus Awards
- Best Stunt Coordinator and/or 2nd Unit Director
- Best High Work
- Best Specialty Stunt
Writers Guild of America Awards
- Best Adapted Screenplay