If the classic science fiction films of the 1950s largely mirrored the paranoia and fear of an America in the grips of a cold war, the Star Trek franchise’s debut in 1966 signaled a new era of hope for the future, a vision of racial equality and multiculturalism that avoided the cultural relativism that so often goes hand in hand. Gene Roddenberry, the shows original creator, saw a future in which Americans, Russians, Asians, blacks, and whites worked together without prejudice, a future in which humankind has conquered the scourges of hunger, poverty, war, and religion. His utopia unleashed humanity's collective curiosity on the universe, creating an endless chain of adventures that we enjoy as much for their thoughtful dilemmas as for their suspenseful action. Star Trek embodied progressive notions of justice, civility, and liberty, while embracing the best of its sci-fi predecessors: the contrast between man's limitless potential and his utter insignificance.

Director J.J. Abrams' second feature film, "Star Trek," almost universally hailed as “the Star Trek reboot," is better thought of as Star Trek's assimilation; it's not the end of a franchise, and it's certainly not the end of Star-Trek-as-commercial-endeavor. It's the end of Roddenberry's narrative ideal, an attempt to challenge our accepted mores as much as to satisfy our entertainment needs. Star Trek had reached a dead end; it was an anachronism in an entertainment world ruled by form, not content. It's no secret that Hollywood's ability to create intellectually stimulating entertainment has fallen in inverse proportion to its ability to create stunningly realized worlds with CGI.

You would be wrong to assume in reading all of this that I'm a die-hard "trekkie," or that I'm a cinematic snob, or even that I didn't enjoy Abrams' "Star Trek." I did enjoy it. After twenty or thirty minutes of dangerously clumsy exposition (including a car chase scene whose only apparent purpose was to find a way to plug Nokia phones in a story set 380 years from the present), we're treated to one of Hollywood's better action blockbusters. Writers (and admitted trekkies) Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have developed an alternate Star Trek universe. A black-hole enables a 130-year-old Spock (the real Leonard Nimoy) and some very angry Romulans to travel back in time to a point in space conveniently inhabited by James T. Kirk's father (Chris Hemsworth) and mother (Jennifer Morrison), the latter of which is in the process of giving birth to their son. The Romulans lay waste to the relatively tiny and ill equipped star ship, killing James' father and narrowly missing his mother.

==Written by Matt Parker==

==From: In Review Online (www.inreviewonline.com)==

Star Trek is undoubtedly one of the most popular series, both in television and in movies. It has spanned 40-odd years, with six TV series and ten movies already made. And that amount of longevity obviously wasn't for nothing; fans of the whole mythology are not simply fans, but practically obsessed with the whole thing. So logic would lead to another incarnation, this time making full use of the money and effects available to bring some of the features of the Star Trek universe (no pun intended) to full spectacle.

And that's exactly what J.J. Abrams has done. He's successfully gauged the balance between honoring the original, with nods here, there, and everywhere, while at the same time making it over for a new age and a new audience. As a non-Star Trek fan (in fact, to be quite honest, I've never really watched any of it before) I didn't have the nostalgic feel for seeing the characters brought to life in new forms and such. But what I did feel was the beginning of a new series, with subsequent installments clearly in mind.

This newest, rebooted incarnation of Star Trek follows a young James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), who enlists in the Starfleet Academy after being convinced by the then captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Three years later, Kirk, along with the newly introduced Spock (Zachary Quinto), Uhura (Zoe Seldana), Dr Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho), Chekov (Anton Yelchin), and Scotty (Simon Pegg) face the attacking Romulans, headed by Nero (Eric Bana), who are seeking vengeance for the destruction of their home planet.

If you aren't at all familiar with the whole Star Trek world, then logic would lead you to think that this movie is going to be a hard sell. And I think it is, in principle. But Abrams has done a great job of making this an introduction to a new Star Trek, one which sets up the characters just about perfectly, and gives us, more importantly, a damn entertaining movie.

When it comes to rebooting franchises like this, which had to be done if the series is to have a future (another straight sequel would've been a laughable idea), you can't just have the original fans in mind. Yes, you throw in some nods to things they're fanatical about - a mannerism, a name check, a plot point - but for the most part you have to make it for a new audience who may not be familiar with and perhaps even doesn't care about what has come before. And it's great to see that Abrams, as well as screenwriters Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, understands this concept. They've made a Star Trek film for non-Star Trek fans, and they may just spawn new fans with their take on it.

Filmmakers now have the technology available to bring some of those amazing gadgets and technologies in the Star Trek universe to full life. The effects are pretty spectacular here, from the simple view of the Enterprise firing into "warp speed" to the full-on space battles between it and the enemy Romulan ship. With a budget of $150 million you expect something pretty damn spectacular to look at, and Star Trek is most certainly that.

The differences between this incarnation and the previous ones (particularly the original series) continue on through the portrayals of the characters (which are household names even to those who are not fans). With the exception of a wildly miscast Winona Ryder as Spock's mother (why they just didn't get an older actress I don't know), every member of the cast play their parts brilliantly. Pine is charismatic, charming, and enjoyably rebellious as Captain Kirk (an iffy casting choice at first but he proves himself), Seldana is sweet yet tough as Uhura, Cho is a focused and "get the job done" type of guy as Sulu, Yelchin is surprisingly effective as the heavily-accented Chekov, and the same goes for Pegg as Scotty, whose comic relief in the film is wholly welcome. But the highlight of the film is without a doubt Quinto as the new Spock. He plays the role to absolute perfection -- not only does he look the part, even before the make-up effect of the pointy ears and shaped eyebrows, but he nails the mannerisms and the emotionally distant nature that the character needs to have. His role as Sylar on the TV show Heroes leads you to think that he would be typecast as that type of villainous character, but he proves with his portrayal of Spock that he is anything but prime for that sort of typecasting.

A very important thing in a film like this is a great villain. Bana is the one to fill that spot here, and he's one of the film's highlights along with Quinto. Similar to Cillian Murphy as The Scarecrow in Batman Begins, Bana's Romulan Nero is prominent and effective enough but at the same time he doesn't take the limelight away from other things, particularly the characters aboard the Enterprise. Bana is almost unrecognisable in the Romulan get-up, which is all the more important for us to invest ourselves in him as the character instead of the just seeing the actor. He's not going to be remembered as one of the all-time cinematic villains, but he's effective and then some.

Perhaps because of the emphasis on the characters and the whole mythology of Star Trek, Abrams slips up a few times when it comes to the action, particularly the hand-to-hand combat stuff. The fighting is still great, and the special effects cover up a lot of this kind of thing, but there are moments when the camera is zoomed in too closely to what's going on, thus you can't see exactly who's hitting who and so forth. It's an irritating trend in modern action movies; however there's not nearly enough of it in here for it to be considered one of the worst perpetrators of this cinematic crime.

The developing friendship between Kirk and Spock is very much included here, embraced even, with it being a pivotal point to the story. Even to someone who's not a Trekkie (you'd have to have been living under a rock for the past 40 years not to know that refers to fans of Star Trek), the friendship between those two characters is well known. Not giving anything away, but there's an extended cameo appearance from a certain character that sets up the friendship that's inevitably to come between Kirk and Spock, and it's one of the things which gives it that bit more weight than a lot of other films of similar type. That has to be appreciated.

Above all, Star Trek is simply an entertaining motion picture. There is a lot in there to sink your teeth into as far as getting to know the new incarnations of these characters and the various mythology features (such as the eye-popping transportation technique, shown in a similar style as you would see in old cartoons when a character has just been knocked on the head), but for those not interested in all that, it's prime for just sitting back and relaxing with a fun movie for a couple of hours. With a few cheesy moments aside, and some faults with the action camera-work, Star Trek is a solid piece of sci-fi, one that sets up everything as the beginning of what's to come.

==Written by Ross Miller==

==From: Movie World (www.movie-world.moonfruit.com)==

Freely adapted from Robert Ludlum's 1980 bestseller, The Bourne Identity starts fast and never slows down. The twisting plot revs up in Zurich, where amnesiac CIA assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), with no memory of his name, profession, or recent activities, recruits a penniless German traveler (Run Lola Run's Franka Potente) to assist in solving the puzzle of his missing identity. While his CIA superior (Chris Cooper) dispatches assassins to kill Bourne and thus cover up his failed mission, Bourne exercises his lethal training to leave a trail of bodies from Switzerland to Paris. Director Doug Liman (Go) infuses Ludlum's intricate plotting with a maverick's eye for character detail, matching breathtaking action with the humorous, thrill-seeking chemistry of Damon and Potente. Previously made as a 1988 TV movie starring Richard Chamberlain, The Bourne Identity benefits from the sharp talent of rising stars, offering intelligent, crowd-pleasing excitement from start to finish. --Jeff Shannon