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

Comment: First of all, I admit that I'm somewhat biased by being a big fan of the original Star Trek movies. I grew up with them, so I had to take into account my bias when I finally got around to seeing JJ Abrams' 2009 version of Star Trek the other day. Suffice it to say, I was highly disappointed.

My disappointment with this movie has a lot more to do than with just the original actors being replaced with new, younger actors. Although, that certainly plays a factor. NONE of the new actors drew me in. None of their performances were truly impressive. They were average actors playing average, and sometimes over-the-top caricatures of the original portrayals of these great and classic characters. I found myself particuarly annoyed by Karl Urban's "Dr. McCoy." He was trying too hard to act the part just like DeForest Kelley. But that's on the low end of my annoyances. Anton Yelchin made me want to plug my ears every time he opened his mouth in his portrayal of "Chekov," and I used to think Walter Koenig was bad. Now I think I can listen to Walter all day long. Simon Pegg's "Scotty" was satisfactory right up until he started to become annoyingly arrogant. John Cho, a Korean-American, as "Sulu?" Really? At least he made virtually no impact in the movie. And why was Zoe Saldana's "Uhura" in this movie at all? Abrams tried way too hard to make her a more significant character than she was before, but instead she came off as nothing but a cliched, stand-in love interest. Eric Bana as the villain "Nero" made no impact. He was perhaps the most boring and non-menacing villain of any of the ones I've seen in all movies, including TNG. A shame, too, because a much better villain could have brought this movie up a few notches. Villains make movies like this....See "Wrath of Khan." Heck, even see "The Undiscovered Country." Plummer was better than Bana. Both Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine were somewhat tolerable as "Spock" and "Kirk," respectively, especially Quinto. Neither seemed over-the-top, and fortunately Pine didn't really try to act the part like Shatner. He'll never be Shatner, or Kirk for that matter.

One more thing to add about the actors is how they leave you with absolutely no feelings for the characters they portrayed. You simply don't care if they get hurt or die because they don't convince you to feel compassion for their plights. Their acting just isn't good enough. That also leads to the complete and total lack of chemistry between them. The original actors, when they got together to make the first "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," had worked together for years on the original series and they formed a true bond that you can't fake on screen.

As for the story itself? Wow, too much to discuss in this review, so I'll keep it short and to the point. There were far too many "conveniences" and cliches in this movie. Want to make sure Character A/B/C takes his/her proper place in the story? No problem, let's kill off this guy, and that girl, and get rid of the Captain in this manner so that so-and-so can take his proper place in the big chair. What's bad is that most of the conveniences take place within seconds, or minutes, all lined up in almost perfect order. (spoilers) What about when Kirk gets stranded with old Spock? Oh boy, we can't see that cliched ice monster(for lack of a better description) coming after him can we? What about the ultra convenience of there being a nearby base that old Spock apparently didn't know anything about(based on his facial expressions when they enter the facility), that somehow allows the story to both introduce Scotty and make sure Kirk and Scotty can get back to the starship at the same time? What luck for Kirk!! Oh, and wasn't old Spock supposed to stay there? And someone please, please tell me, was the little ugly rock-like creature that was some sort of aid to Scotty really necessary? Was he supposed to incite a few giggles and laughs from the audience? EPIC FAIL.

I know I learned from this story that you can plug a black hole with a mining ship like a cork in a water drain, a ship that had previously gone through a black hole without any problems. I also learned that you need to pointlessly blow that ship into bits, although the black hole itself should have torn it apart. I learned that a starship can eject its warp core to blow itself back out of the black hole, and still make its way home in a relatively timely fashion. I learned that a turbo lift from the shuttle bay can make it to the bridge in a matter of about 3 seconds, even though it's supposed to go both virtically and horizontally on its trip there.

This movie boiled down basically to a generic space adventure with some nice visual effects, albeit not nearly as encompassing as the trailers made it look. And on that note, was this Star Trek or Star Wars? Seemed more like Star Wars at times. The movie left me with no feelings one way or another. I didn't like it and I didn't hate it. It was just forgettable, as in one second after the credits started to roll. It's an absurdly overrated film by the critics, most of whom were probably just big fans of Abrams' hit series "Lost." I don't recommend it unless you just want to add it to your Star Trek collection, which is why I bought it.

Comment: My husband and I don't go to the movie theater very often. We find watching at home much more comfortable. We both loved this movie. It was funny, action packed and beautifully filmed. This movie is not just for the young, but is a great watch for the young at heart.
LOVED IT!

Comment: If there is one industry that puts out better products every year, it would have to be the global movie industry. In the past decade, Hollywood has put out the best comic book movie ever (Dark Knight), the best zombie comedy ever (Zombieland), the best pirate movies ever (POTC 1-3), and now the best Star Trek movie ever. Coming after a series of so-so Trek films from both the original and Next Generation genres, this is the first Star Trek movie not based on a TV serial. Instead, all the actors and actresses are new, the soundtrack is new (except for the ending credits), the cinematography, shooting style, ship interior, ship exterior and everything else is new. Hence a clean slate for the director and for the fans. The result is probably one of the 5 best movies of 2009, and a movie that should have received a Best Picture nod from the Academy Awards. The dialogue is engaging, the action scenes are a great mix of drama, tension and chaos, the fight scenes are bloody but not gory, and the movie's pacing is perfect. Not a wasted scene in this movie, and nothing is left out. Overall, a great movie.

Comment: my wife and i were never trekkies, but we grew up watching shatner, and the old star trek and liked it, never really got into the spinoffs even though i liked the next generation movies, wife didn't, we both just finished watching the new star trek movie, and very glad i bought it, we liked the characters, the humor, storyline, the action, special effects were outstanding, don't understand some of these reviews and what they want in a movie, they nailed most of the characters, the movie without spoiling anything was a little fast put together as the crew were put in their places a little earlier then was believable, but we loved the movie and can't wait for the next one, without spoiling anything the romantic interlude was very unexpected, the plot great, characters likeable, this movie had the humor the next generation and other star treks lacked which i think is why my wife loved it so much, james kirk was a little bit wacky, spock's voice was a little high pitched, was it a perfect movie, such thing is not possible, but a great movie we both think it was, simon pegg could have been brought in a little sooner also, if you are a fan of any star trek or star wars, it hard to believe you would not like or love this movie, good luck and take care...............

Comment: When I received this 2-disc digital copy edition of Star Trek: The Beginning (Star Trek XI), my dvds were in perfect shape. They looked perfect and played perfectly. I experienced 5 star top quality service and I am 100% satisfied. Thank you very much. Grade A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++