How does Star Trek 2009 hold up 15 years later?

It's been 15 years since Star Trek 2009 first came out in theaters. A continuation of Prime Spock's story and the start of a universe now known as the Kelvin Timeline, it was meant to reboot the franchise. Taking it back to the roots, roots that featured the original crew of the USS Enterprise.

Save for Leonard Nimoy, the film featured a new group of actors taking up the mantle of past stars. The film featured these new actors playing slightly more nuanced versions of the iconic characters from the 1960s. For the most part, fans loved the new additions to the franchise, and many applauded how spot-on most of their performances were from what fans expected.

Now, 15 years later, how does the film stack up?

Well, that's a solid question and we'd say it holds up pretty well all things being equal. The Star Trek franchise has gone back to its roots and has stayed primarily in the Prime Timeline ever since the 2016 film, Beyond wrapped up. Beyond of course was the last film so far in the Kelvin Timeline. While many believe Beyond to be a good film, it still doesn't hold up as well as the 2009 progenitor.

It's flawed, make no mistake, but it is the film that most fans seem to enjoy the most. Every performance was fantastic and the overall plot was just Star Trek-y enough to keep the old fans engaged and allow new fans to enjoy it, without feeling overwhelmed.

Eric Bana is underrated as the film's primary villain Nero, and the plot is surprisingly deep, though it doesn't really utilize the Star Trek style of storytelling. The events of the film are pretty cut and dry, we know who's good, we know who's bad, but there is still some of that classic Star Trek storytelling this time around. Only it focuses more on the decisions of the characters as opposed to the complexity of the overall plot.

While things like the lens flare, the sterile Enterprise look, and the incessant need to fit "modern" music into the franchise tend to annoy fans to some degree, it's widely seen as one of the better films in the entire franchise, and for a good reason.

The film gets a solid B or even B+ rating overall, as while it's not your father's Star Trek, it's still a good story that focuses on the growth and development of the characters at hand.