Long live and prosper! Star Trek is boldly going where no previous Star Trek movie has gone before.

Rating: 8/10 (6 February 2014)

The Original TV Series of Star Trek change post 1960's Sci-Fi forever. The show replace the tiresome hokey nonsense 1950s Sci-Fi with an intelligent view of the future, where human and aliens are trying to co-exist in peace, while also discovering the universe. It was indeed a new concept at the time; but overtime, Star Trek became view as an old relic of the past. While the film and TV Show franchise survive over the years, reaching out to each new generation of people. There hasn't been this huge support of the Star Trek brand, until this movie by JJ Abrams came out. How did JJ Abram gain main stream success? It was because he did three main things to make Star Trek, seem new. One is mixing the concept of Sci-Fiction with that of the more popular genre Sci-Fantasy. The movie feels more like a new Star Wars movie, then a Star Trek movie. Two: JJ Abrams replace the old actors with new ones, and change the Star Trek canon just enough to appeal new viewers, while not angering too much of the original fan base. Three: JJ Abrams and writer, Robert Orci hypercharge each original character's traits to the extreme. This brings on, a bit of a problem for me, as I found each character, one dimensional stereotypes of their former selves. Indeed, when I first heard who was starting in it, I thought this was a failure from the start. While, I was deeply misguide, I still think the acting is still mediocre at best. I do like Chris Pine playing as a mirror of himself rather than a cheap bad impersonator of William Shatner's James T. Kirk, but Kirk was more than a boyish horn dog which he is mostly portray in the film. Zackary Quinto wasn't bad as Spock, but he look and act like a cheap impersonator. I like how the film put conflict and tense moment between the crew members. I always found Kirk and Spock, a bit too calm when facing danger in the original. I like how they are bumping heads on decision making, here. I found myself, hating that Bones McCoy (Karl Urban) was put more in the back burning in this film, but Uhura (Zoe Saldana) was given more of a role than the previous films. The other crew members are bit cartoony for my taste. From the original cast, only Leonard Nimoy and Majel Barrett (The voice of the ship's computer) return, but they did play a big part. The film plot is that a Romulan name Nero (Eric Bana) from the future, has come back to the past to threatens the Federation because Old Spock (Leonard Nimoy) has cause his home planet to get destroy. Aim with a new weapon call Red Matter, he seeks to destroy every planet that the Federation control. Only James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) and the rest of the crew of USS Enterprise stand in his way. Some people call this a reboot, which in truth is a yes or no answer. The movie's premise doesn't allow that word to be used as it use both the Original Show timeline and a new timeline. I think the alternate timeline works, because it doesn't erase or ignored the previous films. It frees the new film and the franchise from established continuity constraints while simultaneously preserving original story elements and help pass the torch. The creators have also taken this opportunity to update the look of ships and technology to modern expectations. Still, it looks like a Budweiser brewery than an engine room. The special effects and CGI are wonderful in this film and action pack. Most of the violence is not graphic, rather it is suggestive and intense. Unlike the original movies, there isn't much Science gibberish that comes with this film. The movie doesn't really explain the whole black hole plot line very well, but who cares. I don't think, it was lazy writing. For entertaining reasons, it wasn't needed. The movie does have a comic book Star Trek: Countdown, that explain more of the loose ends like the why the Romulans have a new look, and others. I like how Nero is an amalgamation of the same-named emperor from Roman Empire and Jules Verne's Captain Nemo from '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'. Hints why the Narada looks like a giant octopus. There is a few delete scenes that need to be explore about Nero. The pacing is pretty good, but there is a few scenes that I didn't like, such as the events of Delta Vega. That's incredibly unlikely that all those events happen there. Kirk's promotion from cadet to first officer strained the suspension of disbelief for many. In order for it to happen, everyone above him in the chain of command had to die or be captured. I'm willing justified in that it's the crew's origin story, but it does stretch. One thing, missing from this movie is the very cerebral sense of the previous films about difficult situations and facing the unknown. I doubt it does follow any of Gene Roddenberry's original ideals, but it was indeed misguided popcorn fun. There was some funny moments such as James T. Kirk embarrassing reactions to vaccines. I like the nods to the original show such as the red suit dying, the Kobayshi Maru test, Centaurian slugs, the Green Female Alien, and the classic one liners. There's also a few references to other Star Trek shows. Lots of Easter eggs worth noting from other Sci-Fi movies. Look out for R2-D2 from Star Wars & Slusho drink from 2008's Cloverfield. The music is great, but I can do without the silly puns for songs in the soundtrack. I do like the camera shots, but the Len flare is used too much. Overall: Indeed the future has come and it does look good.