Not Just a Great Star Trek Movie--But a Superb Film, Period!!!

Rating: 10/10 (6 August 2016)

I really can't say enough good things about this movie. It's not just a great Star Trek movie--perhaps even the best of the whole lot--but it's also just a wonderful film, period.
The movie is a reboot of the original Star Trek series featuring the characters from the 1960's TV show turned successful film franchise. Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Bones, Scottie--the gang's all here in this new start for a familiar series of tales. And yet while the characters and theme is rooted in fifty years of film history, it's also a fresh take on the characters and their stories.
Two things make that the case. First, the plot revolves around a time-traveling space opera story in which the original Spock (Leonard Nimoy reprises the role) and some antagonists from Star Trek: The Next Generation (a group of Romulans) emerge into the past to cause trouble for the parents of Captain Kirk. This sets up the main narrative of the entire film, and in doing so it also alters the course of history such that all the characters get a fresh start. Basically the idea is that the original Star Trek series is still canon, but that events just prior to the lives of the main cast has now shifted history so that they can go off and create their own new history together. Translation: everything has changed, but in a way that we can now have lots more great movies and the like starring the original characters.
That being the case, this movie provides us with origin stories the likes of which had never been revealed in such depth for several different characters (full disclosure: I'm a fan, but not a "Trekkie", so there may be similar origin stories out there that I'm not aware of). Specifically, Spock and Kirk both receive robust origin accounts--and ones that both help explain their respective histories, and also provide for a dynamic film.
All that having been said, the movie is crafted in a way such that it brings these two elements--the origin of the young crew and their first journey together on the Starship Enterprise, and the drama concerning the original Spock and the Romulans--together in a wonderful film. It's really an absolutely fantastic movie. The effects are out of this world (cheesy pun intended), with the space ships and the extra-terrestrial planets done extraordinarily well, along with a cast that nails the roles of every single Star Fleet member.
Again, I simply cannot recommend this movie enough. It's one of my all time favorites! 10/10 stars!