Star Trek (J.J. Abrams, 2009)

A key question with reboots of megabuck franchises is always whether taking the easy option of capitalising on goodwill and familiarity with a set of characters and precepts is outweighed by what's been added. Certainly, the example set by Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins holds up as a model for what a bold enough director can accomplish, revitalising a character who'd become mired in pointless tongue-in-cheekery  in previous outings. As for the last Star Trek films, a series of recycled TV episode themes with some extra CGI frills pointed to a niggling and inevitable demise.
So, how does Star Trek stack up? Trekkies will probably leave apoplectic and gratiated in equal measure: Abrams has cheerfully plundered anything that took his fancy from the whole existing canon, jumped up the octane level and given half the cast a brief to summon up their best impersonations of the original '60s characterisations, Karl Urban's Bones McCoy the most shameless of the lot. This all works to good effect: the frenetic japery throughout is a welcome switch from the stolid po-facedness of the last Treks. Abrams also sidesteps the pitfall of inconsistency with the established canon quite neatly by recourse to that most traditional Trek MacGuffin, the alternate timeline, and works in additional insurance by having Leonard Nimoy, as the Spock from the future, hand over his blessing to his younger self and the reboot itself.
It's easy to forget amidst such a cornucopia of thrills that a plot might be required too: what substitutes for one is a stock Trek set-up of the growling baddie from the future with a justifiable grievance who wants to destroy Earth. And Abrams also makes a misjudgement common to first-time sci-fi directors, namely that the far-fetched setting does not excuse dramatic implausibility. But the sheer verve on display just about carries the day.

6/10