The future begins.

Rating: 9/10 (10 May 2009)

The film explores the back stories of James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto), before they unite aboard the USS Enterprise to combat Nero (Eric Bana), a Romulan from the future who threatens to destroy the United Federation of Planets.
Let me start off by saying that I'm not a Trekkie (is that how you spell it?) in any way nor have I seen a single second of the Star Trek universe in my entire life. In fact, I never really wanted to watch the films in the first place because they never interested me. However, since the fantastic J.J. Abrams was on board, I knew I should see this film. To my relief, the film was great. In fact, it's the best movie I've seen this year thus far!
If you find yourself almost teary in the first few minutes of this film, you know it'll be good. The film is character driven. There's a lot of action sequences, yes, but the film is really character driven. In fact, the high point of the film was its characters and the casting made it possible. From a glance, Chris Pine doesn't seem like the "right" person to be in the movie. After all, he doesn't have a good track record for the movies he has starred in so far. However, he really does a great job playing the charismatic, smart talk guy. Zachary Quinto does an equally exceptional job as Spock, a name I've heard so many times without knowing who he really was. Eric Bana plays an almost unrecognizable performance as the "villain." Simon Pegg and Karl Urban play the comedic relief characters. And to wrap the diverse ensemble up, Zoe Saldana, Ben Cross, John Cho, and Winona Ryder give us each a unique performance.
Apart from the cast, the action sequences were amazing, along with the special effects. The score by the underrated Michael Giacchino is great, especially hearing the theme song for the first time. However, the story is also really great. I didn't realize this was a time movie at first. I found it mentally stimulating. The laid back feel and the slapstick humor adds to the immense satisfaction when the credits roll.
The film is really good because there's almost nothing bad to say about it. Yes, maybe you can find one small detail here and there that doesn't make the film perfect, but no movies are perfect. This movie is human, with sharp dialogue, and fantastic characters, a complex story, with action sequences to fill on top. If you haven't seen a summer movie yet, make this your first one. As you can see, the film is very accessible for non-Trekkies. However, I'm sure the die-hard Trekkies will appreciate the new, fresh zest Abrams have brought into the film.