Lives up to its Legacy

Rating: 9/10 (8 May 2009)

As a lifelong fan who got hooked on reruns of the original series when I was a kid in the early 70's, I went in excepting to be disappointed. After all, what prequel hasn't been? Not only was it not disappointing, it rises to the highest level of Star Trek at its very best, and is a great science fiction film overall. It has a couple of weak spots and roll your eyes moments, and Winona Ryder looked like she was lost, but otherwise the story and script are surprising strongly, and the cast capably stays true to the originals while also stepping out and expanding the characters to make them their own. In fact, I thought the slowest scenes in the movie were the ones with Leonard Nimoy. Zach Quinto gave such a good performance that he was more believable as Spock than Nimoy was. The visuals are great and the musical score and sound effects (and effective use of silence) are superb. Gene Roddenberry would be proud; this Star Trek completely lives up to and adds to its legacy.