Does Chris Pine Have the Star Power to be James T Kirk?

Posted by Matt Rosenberg on May 6, 2009 at 8:33 am

Does Chris Pine Have the Star Power to be James T Kirk?

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With the opening of Star Trek this Friday May 8th, the world of sci-fi captivated gurus and global Trekkies will flock to the theaters to see the new film.  Early Reviews on the film have nothing short of spectacular.  I believe it to be the MUST SEE MOVIE download Homegrown

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Reindeer Games full movie of the summer. The trailer looks great, JJ Abrams is behind it, and a cast of young stars look to transcend a new generation of Star Trek fans.  Perhaps Star Trek will no longer be synonymous with “nerd.” Perhaps it will finally be just cool.

Playing beloved Captain James T Kirk, Captain of the Star Ship Enterprise, Chris Pine takes on a larger than life role.  This is one of those roles that is so huge; it pretty much will define someone’s career.  Not quite as a big as say James Bond, but if you were to chat with a Trekkie, Kirk is in that conversation.  Shatner became a legend, Patrick Stewart’s career was catapulted to super stardom, but what will happen to Chris Pine.

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Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan ipod Let’s just take a quick look at his resume.  The guy had a small supporting role in “Smoking Aces” which is the biggest name film he has done to date.  In “Smoking Aces,” Pine played an insane maniacal killer, who brought chainsaw’s to a gunfight.  In fact, he pretty much had one starring role.  The role believe it or is in the Lindsay Lohan film, yep Lindsay Lohan, “Just My Luck.”  In “Just My Luck” he played a nerdy mid 20′s music manager, with not an ounce of game for the ladies.  Hence, the title “Just My Luck.”  But you know what, who really cares about your resume.

The casting of Pine for Kirk is actually a rather interesting selection, but I do see some promise.  Over the years, those casted for larger than life roles have been relatively unknown actors.  This is done often to prevent the star power of the actor from over shadowing the character.  We can see this in some recent comic book movies.   Hugh Jackman, an unknown at the time,  was cast as Wolverine in the original “X-Men” movie, Brandon Routh was cast as Superman in “Superman Returns,” even Bale was not an A-lister at the time he took “Batman Begins.”  Wolverine jump started Jackman’s career, Bale is now a top A-lister, and Routh is pretty recognizable.  Even Shatner was pretty unknown at the time he was cast for James T Kirk.

What Pine will need is just straight star power.  The term is used quite often in Hollywood, but never defined. I guess it’s that so called “it” factor.  Do you or do you not have “it.”  In watching the trailer, there is one particular scene that suggests Pine has “it.”  When crew seems to have lost hope there is a mention that they “have no captain.” Well Pine suggests otherwise as he claims the captain’s seat and says “yes we do.”  That moment will be the defining point of the film.  Is he believable or not? Will he have created the character that is trust worthy and tough enough to become  Kirk?

Pollyanna divx Well I think so.  I don’t know what “it” is, but like Turtle (from Entourage says) “you need a big head.”  It seems that Pine may have it and in doing so he might recreate the Kirk character to be a badass and just plain cool.  That’s what Abrams was going for, and that’s what we all expect.  Flock to the theaters on Friday and let us know what you think of the new “Star Trek.”


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7 Comments

  1. Chris Pine did great as Kirk; wreckless and big headed, yet charismatic and funny. Mind you, I never watched the original with Shatner.

  2. @Anders, I real excited for this movie. Word around town is that the theaters will be packed this weekend. I sense anticipation from a lot of people I would not expect. Will definitely let you know my thoughts on Pine when the movie premieres in the USA

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