Well, so far so good...

This comment is especially encouraging in regard to its box office prospects:

So its the greatest movie ever made

That are your words.

They need to keep pumping up the tv spots; theyre excellent. They give off that epic popcorn feel that is so rare in rare movies. Iron Man and Spidey 1 are the 2 most recent biggies to pull it off.

If this film has somehow rack 60 opening weekend it just might crack 200 million. The sequel will be enormous no doubt.

2/2 at RT....

http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/vi ... &s=Reviews for the first two reviews, both of which are v. positive - if silly...

Review by Louise Keller:
Get ready for blast off: the world is on a collision course to Star Trek mania. Chances are that even the logic-driven Spock would agree. After all, it is not only loyal Trekkers who will flock to this thrilling, massive scale sci-fi adventure with explosive visual effects, humour, a touch of romance and the compelling back story of how the complex relationship between James T. Kirk, the handsome hellraiser from Iowa and Spock, the emotion-challenged half-Vulcan with pointy ears, bowl haircut and trademark angled eyebrows began. Of course there's a universal plot that pits good against evil, but it is the unique and unlikely friendship between the two men that is at the film's heart.

J.J. Abrams has made a fabulous film that excels in all its elements. While it feels fresh in every way (an achievement in itself, for this 11th Star Trek film), great care has been taken to be respectful of the franchise and the characters created by Gene Roddenberry in the 60s, when they became cult favourites. Technically, everything stacks up. The sound and the sound mix is superb and rivals the extraordinary visuals for attention. Script - tick. Casting - tick. Direction - tick. Special effects - tick. It's an extraordinary achievement and great entertainment for all as we partake in an edge-of-seat thrill-ride.

Chris Pine is ideal as Kirk, the rebel with a cause whose fearless instinct is to leap without looking, while theatre / TV actor Zachary Quinto is a knockout as the scene-stealing Spock ('Fear is necessary for command'), who discovers that love is sometimes a better reason than logic. (Zoe Saldana is appealing as his love interest.) In a journey into the future, when Quinto's Spock comes face to face with himself in the guise of 78 year old Leonard Nimoy (the original Spock), the audience at the world premiere at Sydney's Opera House burst into spontaneous applause. Amazingly, the two actors actually look alike. Eric Bana, almost unrecognisable as the evil Romulan Nero, complete with bald head, deformed ears and face covered with intricate markings and prosthetics, makes a splendid villain: larger than life and easy to loathe.

There are many memorable moments, all enhanced by Michael Giacchino's dramatic and diverse music score. We are there for the Enterprise's maiden voyage and when Kirk sits in the Captain's chair for the first time. There's the always funny Simon Pegg who brings great comic relief as the go-getter engineer Scotty, Karl Urban's medico Bones who drags Kirk onboard the Enterprise under false pretences and Anton Yelchin's young Russian officer Chekov is a breath of fresh air. There's an impressive sequence on the ice planet Delta Vega, and we must not forget the trans-world beaming ('Beam me up Scotty') to which we all aspire. The design is sleek with a great contrast between the vast Audi-inspired Romulan ship and the stylish Enterprise. As we drift among the myriad of stars, the galaxy entices and the appeal has never been so great 'to boldly go where no one has gone before'.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
A stupendous production, Star Trek goes where no movie sequel or prequel has gone before in bringing intelligence and invention to a peak in cinematic storytelling. Starting with the well constructed and clearly delineated screenplay, director J. J. Abrams and his team manage to capture the essence of what is familiar at the same time refreshing it. The familiar in every sense, from the production design, which echoes with the original but has not a whiff of staleness about it, to the spot perfect casting, which reminds us but does not ape the well known and loved original cast.

After Chopper, Eric Bana has done no better work than here as Nero, the bad-ass of the story. With the help of prosthetic make up, Bana is brilliantly, beefily, dangerously heavy. Chris Pine is excellent as the volatile Jim Kirk, but it's Zachary Quinto as the young Spock who is perhaps the most remarkable. But everyone is splendid: I specially like Anton Yelchin as Chekov the young Russian whiz-kid, and Simon Pegg who brings his great and useful comedic talents to the role of the emerging Scotty.

Leonard Nimoy (whose appearance was greeted by spontaneous applause at the world premiere at Sydney's Opera House [April 7, 2009]) plays a not inconsequential support role as the older Spock, time travelling ... and he carries the authority and grace that age and experience provide.

Bruce Greenwood and Karl Urban also make the most of their relatively short screen time, and lovely Zoë Saldana is excellent as Uhura, who has eyes for Spock's ears. The production is spectacular as you would expect, camera and digital crafts coming seamlessly together. Michael Giacchino's majestic, powerful score lifts the film into the stratosphere with complex orchestral colours and the sound design is in the award winning class. Our seats rumbled ...

The overall effect is sensational and the film is fully satisfying as major entertainment.

I wonder if this can top 90%, Iron Man style.

that second review is from Karl Urban's brother.

some clips, too. three at the link below. i've included the link to the best one, too. the banter from mccoy is all sorts of perfect. spot on.

http://trekmovie.com/2009/04/08/3rd-sta ... ow-online/

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/180975280 ... 5#12865145

Yes.

I had no desire to watch this movie but after the trailers and reviews I see no reason why not to watch it.

But I am still looking forward to T4 the most.

yeah, not sure about the credibility. i mean, if RT is counting them... why not?

Rated PG-13 for "sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content"

So, Empire Online has reviewed the movie and gives 4/5 stars. Although the review itself sounds more like 3/5 at best

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/rev ... FID=134061

I suspect they'll be fair share of critics who won't fans of the CW version of Trek, though the production value and effort in restarting the franchise may override that issue.

How long until Star Trek (aka JJ Abrams) vs. Firefly (aka Joss Whedon) thread?

I thought there was a Abrams vs Whedon thread in the tv forum somewhere.

Despite the Dollhouse blunder, Whedon still wins.

There was. But now they can go head to head with ships in space movies. The new round can begin!

What is the OS potential for ST. I checked in BOM that no ST movie has even made 60M in OS markets. But with paramount working really hard on OS marketing this one could do well.

100-150m at most I would guess. ST does not have much OS potential, in its' very nature it is an american film.

This has a tie in with burger king. Add about 10 million to ow.

stoppppp

since i'm probably gonna love this movie, it probably won't do that well. My three favorite movies of the year (Watchmen, Adventureland, Observe and Report) have all disappointed, and my two least favorites (Paul Blart and Taken) have raped expectations. So I don't see any reason for this trend to continue.

so if Wolverine is a hit and Terminator Salvation and Star Trek bomb, I apologize in advance.

i know how you feel

"This Is Not Your Father's Star Trek."

You don't have to tell me - I know it's way too early to have any significance, but the first 232 IMDB votes are up (8.4 average).
The interesting tidbit is that women gave STAR TREK 9.1 on average while men gave "just" 8.4...