Search - Star Trek (Single-Disc Edition) on DVD

Laurie K. from KANSAS CITY, KS
Reviewed on 12/8/2013...

Excellent movie. Would recommend you any one who likes Star Trek.

2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.

Mrs C. from MORRISVILLE, NC
Reviewed on 7/19/2012...

For fans of Thor star “ Chris Hemsworth” his appearance is brief to the extreme as George Kirk. On the day of James Kirk's birth, his father dies in a thwarted effort against a mysterious time-travelling vessel seeking Spock.

Challenged by Captain Pike to realize his potential, James Kirk in keeping with the original role and integral in annoying characters such as Spock, he accepts every criticism as a personal challenge. Chris Pine in his role as James T. Kirk is brash, confident and charming.

Karl Urban assuming the legendary role of Leonard "Bones" McCoy, in my opinion steals every scene in this challenging role. Zachary Quinto as Federation Starfleet lieutenant and Vulcan “Spock” provides an excellent antagonist, made famous by Leonard Nimoy (later appearing in his original role), Zoe Saldana is communications officer Uhura and romantic interest of Spock.

This movie was highly entertaining and remained true to the original plot and characters.

2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.

Irene L H. from QUARTZSITE, AZ
Reviewed on 7/3/2012...

GREAT MOVIE. LOVE ALL THE STAR TREK'S

1 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.

Klava D. (bookfan1)
Reviewed on 4/3/2012...

Love this movie! I was a Star Trek fan way back when I found it in reruns in the early 80's, and when I heard about this new Star Trek movie, I thought no way I would like it, especially considering the low quality of earlier movies, but wow...this one is good, J. J. Abrams did it justice. Especially like the new Spock.

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

The Resurrection Of Star Trek

Daniel McKinnon | Tewksbury, MA USA | 05/10/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In order to get big rewards in life you have to take big risks. If there is one thing that the Star Trek universe hasn't done in 20-25 years its take risks. The franchise has suffered greatly for it, continuing to follow a formulaic approach that has made the franchise stale, predictable, and for quite a while... DEAD. Not sick, not on life support, but D-E-A-D.

Those days are over.

The 11th feature presentation is quite simply the first GREAT Star Trek movie ever made. While others in the series have been enjoyable, there was no definitive movie that stood out, nothing that could be pointed to as something unique, something special, something that takes RISKS.

What you get here is the biggest risk that has ever been taken in the Star Trek universe in its 40+ years of existence.

I will not ruin this risk but if you are a fan of the movies at all you will know it when you see it. Being a long time fan of Star Trek (I am a Next Generation first and foremost) and having seen the trailer numerous times I figured out what was going to happen about 20 minutes before it did but that didn't stop the shock when I witnessed this awesome writing decision played out on the big screen. The strongest of Star Trek lovers (especially TOS people) will no doubt have a lot of outrage at this risk but it was the right move to make. The Star Trek franchise needed to be shaken up, it needed something fresh and it needed a movie to shock and awe the audience.

Man did it ever deliver.

This movie is an absolute JOY to experience. Spock was always my favorite TOS personality as he probably was for most fans, but I never felt the connection to this cast that I did to Picard, Data, Worf and the Next Gen cast so I really didn't care what changes they made (and there is another major change that involves 2 characters that you never have experienced before in TOS history) if they were for the better. In all cases these were for the better and executed with near-perfection by JJ Abrams (who might later be revered on the same level as Gene Rodenberry if this re-visioning [this is much more than a simple reboot] succeeds like I think it will).

Since I don't like getting too deep into spoilers with reviews instead of focusing on the story (try your best to stay ignorant as possible of the story so its fresher when you see the film) I will instead focus on the characters we know so well (and some we don't).


True To The Character We Know

Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) - Even though Kirk (ahhem William Shatner) was advertised as the lead of TOS, the real centerpiece was Spock. The work here by Quinto is beyond exceptional and complements the amazing work done by Leonard Nimoy the past 40 years. Quinto plays the character as well as you could imagine and the real special thing in this movie is that finally (FINALLY) the half human side of Spock is heavily examined. It is a major part of the movie and no doubt will continue to be focused on in future films. Spock is no more or less important to the crew and story as he always has been. Other actors could do lesser work (they didn't) but the movie franchise will only succeed as well as Quinto acts. The character is in the best of hands.

Bones (played by Karl Urban) - The gem of the entire movie without question. Karl Urban takes the difficult role of playing not only Bones but Bones played by DeForest Kelley and is he ever amazing. It's a complete joy to watch his character on the screen. Urban doesn't need to do anything different in future films. You can tell how hard he worked to keep the Bones character as he has always been and he hits a home run out of the park. Wonderful wonderful wonderful

Scotty (played by Simon Pegg) - We don't meet Scotty until far into the movie but Pegg does a great job doing James Doohan. Since Scotty was always kind of the "middle" character on the show where he wasn't wasted but wasn't the tops (Spock, Kirk, Bones) all Pegg had to do was do a good Scotty and hopefully the script-writers would give him more to do. This is the case here.


Revisions And Improvements Made

Kirk (played by Chris Pine) - No longer do we get the ultra womanizing, overacting of Kirk/William Shatner but we get instead a focus on the risk-taking side of Kirk and this is the Kirk that I could truly learn to love. Over and over again we see why Kirk in Star Trek canon is revered so much and his take no prisoners approach is put on the front burner all throughout this film. Pine is confident and does a fantastic job. I don't care how revered Shatner is, the writers got it right with this re-visioning of Kirk and it's thumbs up all the way.

Sulu (played by John Cho) - Not much to say here. Cho was fine but nothing amazing in his performance. Sulu fights a little bit but hopefully more focus can be made on him in the future, no problems here but nothing jumps out.

Uhura (played by Zoe Saldana) - As a communications officer her role is MUCH better in this re-visioning. She is given more intelligent input by the script-writers but the one major canon change of Uhura (which I can't go into detail in this review) I am still trying to determine how I feel about. Her mod is the 2nd biggest risk/mod taken in the movie.


Complete Rewrite

Chekov (played by Anton Yeltin) - Except for being Russian and making fun of his thick accent this is a completely new character and man was this a serious improvement. Instead of the bumbling doofus that really doesn't do anything now Chekov is a ultra-young uber-intelligent officer that plays pivotal parts in the movie. Yes this was a serious canon change but I can't imagine how any fan wouldn't approve because now you have a real character you can be emotionally attached to.


New Characters

Nero (played by Eric Bana) - Bana instantly becomes one of the main villains in Star Trek lore and in my opinion because of events in the movie he now becomes THE single villain in Star Trek history. I wish Nero could have been on the screen more but with only 2 hours and so many people to get on the screen I think the right balance was struck.


Old Friends


XXX - You will know who this is when you see them. I have no complaints other than one voice-over part where the narration seems a bit droll and uninspired but I also think this is because of the circumstance how they are speaking. This old friend was a +++ to the movie and not just a ploy to get people in the seats. A welcome addition to the movie and plot.


Intangibles

Bridge - The new bridge is the most gorgeous bridge you will ever see. Some say it looks 'too sexy' or 'too bright' but THIS is how the bridge should have always looked. Please please please don't change it for the future films. You have already achieved the perfect look.

Score - The one downside of the movie. The 3rd trailer featured some of the most gorgeous background score ever and my hopes were very high. The score that is featured in the movie is serviceable but doesn't inspire. I was disappointed with the end result. It's alright but it could have been so much more.



IMO 'Star Trek' achieves what only 1 Star Trek movie (IV - The Voyage Home) came close to doing and that is being a successful film to the general public, not just Star Trek fans in general. This is the quickest 2 hours you will spend this summer and an absolute joy. I can see several movies being made with this cast and I hope several are made. The events of this film make for a realistic approach to the original cast working anew in these new revisions. As the movie ended I wished I could move ahead 2-3 years in time to see the next chapter and the next and the next.

Everyone likes to rank the movies in order and I knew 1 hour in this was EASILY (note I don't even flinch when I say EASILY EASILY EASILY) the greatest Star Trek movie ever made. You know a movie succeeds when a character or a movie itself feels like candy for the brain (last year Heath Ledgers Joker was the ultimate 'candy') and this is some yummy candy.

If you are a Star Trek fan go see it and try to have an open mind for what you will see. Many will be fine with the changes made. For the ones that aren't would you rather have changes and new Star Trek movies or the same old same old that had ruined the franchise for so long (kudos to Rick Berman as the official murderer of ST)??? If you are just a person that loves movies you (yes YOU) can even enjoy Star Trek as this movie has been produced not just for the Trekkie but the every day Joe and Jane.

***** HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION"

**Blu Ray Specific** Review - Problematic as Trek, but WOW w

Matthew T. Weflen | Chicago, IL | 11/18/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Blu-Ray:

"Star Trek (2009)" is presented in a 1080p 2.40:1 aspect ratio Blu-Ray. Video quality is terrific. A very light film grain is present which is quite accurate compared to the theatrical presentation. Black levels are inky and deep, colors are vivid but still accurate. Close-ups demonstrate a lot of detail, especially facial close-ups. Space scenes are also swimming with detail, since most every space ship in this film is in various numbers of pieces or states of damage. Noticeable edge-enhancement and digital noise reduction are non-existent.

Simply put, this is five star material all the way. Anyone who enjoys action/sci-fi eye candy for their HD setup would do well to purchase this disc. It is demo-worthy material. This may be the single best Blu-Ray I have seen - it at least ties in visual quality with the excellent Braveheart and Frost/Nixon discs.

Sound is presented in a well-balanced Dolby TrueHD mix, which is notable for not only its punch and vibrancy, but also the fact that it never drowns out dialogue. This is something that many action movies fail to accomplish, and it is most appreciated, at least by this viewer. I HATE it when I have to constantly adjust the volume on the fly in order to hear whispers of dialogue, only to have my speakers threaten to blow out when some sudden burst of noisy action occurs. "Star Trek (2009)" is wonderfully well-done in this respect. Surround channels get a lot of work, bass is booming at appropriate moments, so just like the video, audio is stellar. Also included are commentaries with Director and writers (no, they do not apologize for various inconsistencies and mistakes) and some foreign language tracks. The subtitles are a little odd - sometimes they fail to transcribe dialogue. 95% of the stuff is there, but there are clearly things missing - Kirk says "wow" upon seeing the Enterprise, and it is nowhere to be found in the subtitle track. Not a deal-breaker, just weird.

Extras are copious and presented in HD, which is great. However, this disc suffers from a recent trend in home video extras - they are split into 30 separate chunks, presumably to look better on box copy. So you are forced to navigate a menu with 30 choices, with no markers for what you've already seen, in order to see all of the features. This is too bad, because the features are really, really good. If they had been spliced into one 2-hour making of feature, one set of deleted scenes, and one gag reel, this would be just about the perfect set of extras. Instead, you are made to do "work" instead of just enjoying the "fun." The deleted scenes, by the way, are also in HD, and most would have made the movie better. They should have just finished the effects and incorporated them into the film proper.

The Movie:

In the special features, the producers and director make it very clear that their guiding question when making the film was "Can we make it cool?" Well, they've succeeded at making it "cool." Unfortunately in making this their emphasis, they have also made some severe missteps that make it difficult to swallow as a serious Trek fan.

So I'll review this movie wearing two hats. First, for "the rest of you:"

"Star Trek (2009)" offers a bold re-imagining of a venerable television science fiction franchise. To a certain extent, it sheds much of the baggage accumulated over 40 years of television and films, giving non-Trekkies an easy entree into the universe.

We are given the tale of Kirk, Spock and McCoy taking the reins of the Starship Enterprise, in a galaxy populated by both humans and other races. James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is a brash young man who is set adrift by the attack of a Romulan villain upon the ship carrying his parents. Without the influence of his father, a Starfleet officer, Kirk has an aimless childhood, squandering his intellect and his drive on bar brawls and car thefts. Luckily, he is intercepted by the wise, gruff Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) and challenged to make a better life for himself and to live up to his ability by joining Starfleet.

There, he meets fellow cadets Uhura (Zoe Saldana), McCoy (Karl Urban), Chekov (Anton Yelchin), Sulu (John Cho), and an irritating instructor, the cool, logical Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto). Their contrasting styles immediately put them at odds with each other. Spock has grown up the child of two worlds, with a human mother, and a father from Vulcan, a planet whose culture has embraced logic and the shedding of emotion, except perhaps the emotion of racism against humans.

Before their education is complete, they are presented with the threat of the same villain who had killed Kirk's dad 25 years prior - Nero (Eric Bana). Turns out Nero is from the future, and is bent on revenge for the destruction of his home world, Romulus. In a plot development somewhat like "Space Camp," for some unstated reason, every other ship is somewhere else, and there are no trained crew members available for the newly-built Enterprise. So the cadets are drafted into service right then and there.

Various plot twists and turns see Kirk marooned on an ice planet, where he meets not only Scotty (a very funny Simon Pegg) but also a much older Spock (Leonard Nimoy). This old Spock explains that the visitor from the future has changed history, and that Kirk must team up with the younger Spock, melding their disparate styles and talents into a team that can defeat the threat.

Overall, the plot moves very quickly, and might be a bit confusing to those not versed in Trek lore. But the speed, noise, and bombast are such that pausing to consider holes in story logic (and there are quite a few) is not really feasible until after the movie has finished. The effects, music, and performances are all flashy and dazzling, and it is hard not to feel aggressively entertained by the whole spectacle. Especially charming are Pine as Kirk and Quinto as Spock. Their chemistry works well. There were really no casting problems for the heroes. The villain, Nero, is somewhat less successful, as his motivations are rather obscure, especially to an audience not familiar with Romulans, time travel, and the like.

It is all done with ample brio and verve - enough panache to surmount its sometimes lazy storytelling and slipshod logic. On a scale of ten, I'd give it a solid 7, perhaps even an 8. It is much more entertaining than the average Hollywood popcorn movie, mainly on the strength of the characters and the performances.

Now, for the Trekkies:

"Star Trek (2009)" is the product of Hollywood corporate committees, shedding "baggage" in such a way that it dilutes some of the core concepts and appeal of the show which gave rise to the Trekkie faithful in the first place.

The characters from the original series are brought together in a way which feels quite far from organic, presumably because Hollywood executives were worried that a slower tale that realistically developed their relationships would fail to satisfy audiences unused to thinking and realism. Instead of being members of a logically coherent military organization, each with careers and internal lives of their own, all of our principal characters are roughly the same age and have the same amount of experience, despite the fact that by the end of the film, they all have different ranks and specialties. Especially galling at the end is the instantaneous promotion of Kirk from 25-year-old Starfleet cadet (not even a graduate, as he is in his third year of studies) directly to Captain of the fleet's newest and most advanced flagship. It would be akin to a fresh West Point graduate being given command of the invasion of Afghanistan, or an Annapolis cadet being given command of an aircraft carrier. Why would anyone who had invested a lifetime in this organization respect any order that escapes his lips? Equally puzzling are the promotions of all the other crew members at the end as well - why is Kirk a Captain, but McCoy a Commander, Uhura a Lieutenant, Chekov an Ensign? They all have the same amount of experience and "seasoning" (i.e. none).

This is the sort of world-breaking contrivance that litters the film (want some more examples? "Transwarp Beaming" immediately springs to mind...). Which is too bad, because "Star Trek (2009)" ably captures the feel of the previous shows, mixing humor, fisticuffs, and dazzling gadgetry in nearly the perfect proportions. It fails, however, to add the integral piece - a logically consistent world, one that creates and follows its own rules, one that is similar enough to our own to be comprehensible, but different and better enough that it inspires admiration and wonder, and makes you yearn to live in it. It is a bit of a tragedy, since just a few tweaks and edits could have turned a story full of world-breaking holes and missteps into pretty much the best Trek movie ever.

The quality of special effects is above that of the other films and series, and will definitely impress Trek veterans who are used to less. Many in-jokes and subtler references abound, and will no doubt elicit smiles and chuckles from those who are "in the know."

But that certain something is missing. That special thing which makes something "Trek," and not just "Generic Space Opera #12." There isn't much "Real" science fiction, for one thing - black holes and space ships could have been substituted with quicksand and stage coaches - they are not concepts that drive the plot or the characters or the world, instead they are generic perils, and devices to surmount those dangers. But heck, that could be said of some of the other films, those films that, despite their failings, we would still call "real" Trek. What is missing is the logical consistency of the world. Continuity. "Baggage." In stripping "Star Trek (2009)" down to something that will appeal to a "mass" audience, the producers of this film have denatured it into something reminiscent, but not recognizable.

In summary:

This is an entertaining film, no doubt about it. If you are not a Trekkie, you will probably love it. You should buy it. It's a terrific disc to give your home theater a workout.

If you are a Trekkie, you may have mixed feelings. I do. But you should still probably buy it. Consider it a riff on Star Trek. The greatest, biggest budget fan film ever made. It doesn't all work, the writing isn't all good, and a certain something is missing. But it's an entertaining ride that will probably make you yearn for the "real thing" all the more."

A Big Hand from an Original Trekker

Bronwyn P. Noble | Madison, Wisconsin | 09/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"9/8/66. It's a badge that Original Trekkers wear proudly -- the date that the very first Star Trek episode ("The Man Eater") appeared on television. I bear it, and Star Trek hooked me that very Thursday evening, and for the next three years, I sat through all 69 episodes, both the best ("Oh Boy! The Trouble with Tribbles") and the worse ("Oh, no! Not that one!"). When they began to appear in syndication, I watched them over and over until I could repeat the lines with the characters. And, no, I'm not going to tell you who my favorite character was.

It's been 43 years since that first episode. I'm still hooked.

A lot of my compatriots have said that J.J. Adams' "reboot" of the Star Trek franchise went too far -- they weren't ready for some of the things that happened (and, for the sake of those readers who have not seen the movie, I'm not going to reveal what those things are). They didn't like the changes in the mythos that occurred. OK, fine. Different strokes ...

I, however, love this film, and would have gone to see it over and over again if it hadn't been that my darling didn't really want to (and our budget didn't allow it). So what if things changed? It's an alternate universe -- and any Trekker worth her salt will recognize those occur -- Remember "Mirror, Mirror?" A planet blows up, and I admit, given the planet, I'm pretty sad (no, it's not Earth). I'm also sad that Scottie used Admiral Archer's favorite beagle for an experiment, and it hasn't been seen since (Okay, so one slipped out).

However, the most powerful ideas and characters remain true to their alternate others: Kirk is strong, handsome, creative in a crisis (and may be a womanizer, although he doesn't get the woman he wants here), even if he's not William Shatner. Spock struggles to keep his emotions in check and his logic foremost (tremendously well-played by Zachary Quinto). "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban, unexpectedly unlike many of his fantasy and SF rolls)is humane, funny, and passionate -- and a lot better looking than the well-beloved, late DeForest Kelley. Bruce Greenwood ("The Core"), Simon Pegg, Ben Cross (superb as Sarak) and Winona Ryder (Amanda! And I am getting to be too old) are all wonderful, and add strength, passion and substance to both their characters and the film. It was, however, sad to see Leonard Nimoy, as "our" Mr./Abassador Spock, late in his life, and know we probably never see him in another Star Trek film.

So. Buy it? Damn straight. Get it for your children and yourselves.

Star Trek would have never died for me, anyway, because I've dreamed of walking on another planet ever since I saw that first episode. But now, Star Trek will come alive for a fourth generation to learn those same dreams."