Director praises Abrams's 'Star Trek'

Clerks II director Kevin Smith has praised J.J. Abrams's new Star Trek movie.

Smith revealed to MTV that he has seen an early cut of the film and said Chris Pine delivered a "great performance" as Captain Kirk.

"It is a star-making performance," he said. "From his first scene forward, this dude is not doing an impression of [William] Shatner. He is doing young Kirk. He doesn't have the slow delivery mannerisms of Shatner but it's totally James T. Kirk, the bravado, the self-assuredness.

"It's such a great performance. You can't take your eyes off the guy. Anytime he's not on the screen you're waiting for him to get back. And Uhura (Zoe Saldana) is really great. They made Uhura really interesting."

Smith claimed that the film is "really strong", adding: "[Abrams] was rejiggering the opening few scenes. It's one of those things where you first heard about it and were like, 'no they're not going to redo Star Trek!'

"And then you see the movie and you think, 'Wow he did pull it off!' He turned it into a viable renewed franchise."

Star Trek is scheduled for release on May 8, 2009.