MOVIE REVIEW: Star Trek (12A)

Who’d of thunk it? It’s like recasting Luke Skywalker, such is the affection many hold for Kirk, Spock and all of the original crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Then again, Paramount has nothing to lose - the 'Star Trek' franchise has been dead in the water for a long time, with the last in the first run of movies, Nemesis, putting the exclamation point on the fact that even hardcore fan boys were running out of reasons to care. In swings TV messiah JJ Abrams to revive what was once a megabucks franchise, but does he have what it takes?

Star Trek is the origin story of Iowa tearaway James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine). The day he was born, his father bravely sacrificed his life to save his crew, and so grew up with little guidance until Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) recommends he join Starfleet. To the chagrin of Vulcan prodigy Spock (Zachary Quinto), and young officer Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Kirk stows away on the maiden voyage of the Enterprise thanks to ship’s doctor ‘Bones’ McCoy (Karl Urban), only for the whole crew to be thrown into peril when they are attacked by the revenge-obsessed Romulan Nero (Eric Bana).

First things first - what’s the new crew like? Pine had easily the hardest job in slipping into Shatner’s yellow shirt. Luckily he makes it his own, playing the character and not the personality. He’s not the best thing about this movie, but to fill such a role successfully is a huge achievement. The stand out by a mile is Quinto. Seeing Leonard Nimoy in a brief returning role only goes to prove how bang on the Heroes star is, not just in looks but in mannerisms, speech and delivery - he is Spock. Other notables are the always brilliant Eric Bana, and Anton Yelchin who actually manages to improve on the original Chekov. Pegg looked terrible in the trailer, but whilst he isn’t hugely memorable he’s passable as Scotty.

The plot is one that will split Trekkies, as (without giving anything away) it remains faithful to the timeline whilst, um, ‘tweaking’ it a little. It had to be done and to be honest it’s the freshest any Star Trek movie or series has looked for years. Action packed, interesting and with a lot of humour, it’s a top notch Sci-fi adventure that won’t alienate newcomers.

Success, then, for Abrams and his young charges. As he did (to an extent) with ‘Mission: Impossible 3,’ he keeps the elements of what people liked about the source material, and manages to update it with a well chosen cast and an intelligent (but not overly complex) plot. It may not spark a sci-fi revolution, but it appears Paramount’s resurrection of the Enterprise has been a success.

Star Trek is out in the UK on May 8.