Having used a wormhole to catapult himself back to the 22nd century, roughneck Romulan outcast Nero (Eric Bana) plans to use deep-core-drilling technology to obliterate the planets Earth and Vulcan. His timing couldn’t be better, as the crew of the USS Enterprise is just a few hours removed from their graduation from Starfleet Academy. Instead of applying for interstellar internships or backpacking through Andoria, these plucky kids are suddenly staring down a bloodthirsty enemy from the future.
The fates of two planets hang in the balance, but what’s really at stake in JJ Abrams’ film is series continuity and whether the interpersonal dynamics of Kirk, Spock, et al. will survive this temporal disruption. Veteran hacks Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci’s script is atypically clever, rudely reshuffling aspects of the Star Trek universe without compromising its beloved characters — a sly, have-it-both-ways maneuver akin to Kirk’s hot-wiring of the Kobyashi Maru simulation (one of several creation-myth moments visualized here).
As for those beloved characters, they’re for the most part worthily impersonated by the lithe young cast. Top honours go to Karl Urban’s drop-dead DeForest Kelly and Anton Yelchin’s enjoyably dazed Chekov; further up the chain of command, Zachary Quinto is sufficiently Nimoyish as Spock, while Chris Pine never quite nails William Shatner’s fatuousness as Kirk. (But then, who could?) Also on the bill are Bruce Greenwood as Captain Pike, John Cho as Sulu, Simon Pegg as Scotty and Winona Ryder as Spock’s mom.
There are problems, of course. Abrams’ visual style is clean but dull; Bana’s Nero is a weak antagonist (he couldn’t hold Khan’s leather jockstrap); an extended cameo by an original series member feels perfunctory; the final act whizzes by in an indistinct action-movie blur. Yet there’s also enough wit and confidence on display to suggest that the franchise is in good hands. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a better villain in the sequel. Gerard Butler would make a pretty swell Klingon, no?