It took a while to warm up to it, but...

Rating: 8/10 (5 August 2013)

It's official. I like it. I'll give it an A- or 8/10 stars. I was proper mad when I found out they were going to rearrange the time-honored timeline...destroy planet Vulcan?! Kill off Spock's beloved human mother?! Have Uhura be Spock's girlfriend?!
BEWARE: MAJOR SPOILERS!!!!!
Now I know what to do. Whenever I decide to have a Trek-a-thon of movies and shows, I'll watch the old stuff first, chronologically...Enterprise, TOS, TAS, and the first 6 films with the TOS cast. From there, I'll choose to either watch the Next Gen and its films, followed by DS9 and Voyager, or I'll insert these 2 JJ Abrams movies in right after THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY. Either way, all it is is an alternate timeline, alternate reality. In the future, Spock gets on the bad side of a "very disturbed Romulan" named Nero. Older Spock (Leonard Nimoy yay! :D ) ends up going back to the date of Kirk's birth where he witnesses Nero completely rearrange the original reality. Kirk's Dad is supposed to have lived to see his son's accomplishments in StarFleet, but instead he is killed just moments after baby Jim is born. In the new reality, Spock is the designer of the Kobayashi Maru test. (In THE WRATH OF KHAN, the dying Spock declares, "I never took the KM...what do you think of my solution?") In the new reality, we have a troubled, immature Kirk whose Dad was never in his life instead of the Kirk we're accustomed to. A little "Tom Cruise-ism" has been liberally applied. How many times has the Tomster played arrogant, childish twirps who have to overcome something and live up to Daddy's legacy? Even the APPLE during the simulation of the Kobayashi Maru...remember A FEW GOOD MEN????!!! LOL
Sure, I gripe. But I'm not a purist. I ended up really liking this new film in spite of being sure I'd hate it. Chris Pine's Kirk grows up fast, thank God, and becomes much more likable as the film progresses. Zachary Quinto (Is it KEEN-TO? Or QUINN-TO? Sorry if I've butchered it before!) makes a wonderful Spock, and has great chemistry with Pine. Both of them pay great homage to Shatner and Nimoy, and even though I didn't see it before, Pine has been able to channel Shatner's vibe. I'm on the Spirk bandwagon too. Now whenever I look at pictures of Pine and Quinto or the young Shatner and Nimoy, one word comes to mind: T'hy'la...Soul Mate :) Surely I'm not alone in believing that by the 23rd century, the New Civil Rights battle will have been resolved, and people will be evolved enough to accept same-sex relationships. One can hope!
I adore the new Bones (Karl Urban) and the new Sulu (John Cho) is very cool. The new Chekov is wonderful too...Anton Yelchin is one of the best actors out there...perfect choice! I'm sorry...I have no issue with Zoe Saldana, but the new Uhura was really dull compared with the original, and I'm not just saying that because a pairing between her and Spock is not only illogical but BORING! And speaking of boring, they really have gall when they say Nero was a better villain than Kruge, or Shinzon, or Ruafo, or Tolian Soran. Nero is BORING. The only thing that kept him afloat as a villain were the horrifying special effects (black hole eating Vulcan) and that huge, ugly ship of his! "It did happen! Don't tell me it didn't happen! I saw it happen! Don't tell me it didn't happen!" Oh puh-leeze! Nero is THE most forgettable villain.
Still sounds like I hated it? Nope, not even with the terribly borrowed concept of "parasitic creature who will make you talk!" Ripped right from WRATH OF KHAN. The story overall is very engaging (even when Kirk is ejected from the Enterprise and ends up on "Hoth" with the same crab creature who terrorized Anakin and Padme in ATTACK OF THE CLONES! LOL) and most of the cast are really great and give enthusiastic performances, including Bruce Greenwood as Capt. Pike. At the conclusion of this first foray into a new timeline, Kirk and Spock will begin their long friendship (and t'hy'la-ship too, if only in my imagination!) aboard the Enterprise. I am already 99.9999% sure I'll love Benedict Cumberbatch in the sequel to this film. Whether or not I love the film INTO DARKNESS remains to be seen. But I probably will. In spite of the dozens of complaints I've made about this prequel, I enjoy the crap out of it!!!