I was against this movie from the start!

Rating: 10/10 (21 November 2009)

I even missed it in the Theatre. But thought about it, my mistake! Why deprive myself of something I grew up on, Something I have loved? To tell the truth I was curious, I wanted to see how JJ Abrams treated this "Sacred Cow". I had seen Fan reaction, Trek GEEKS stating that they WOULD NOT see this film. Well, I am a Trekker, but not a GEEK and I usually accept change, so, I bought this as soon as I had 25 bucks in my pocket.
TREK had Devolved especially in the last 15 years of the syndicated shows like Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. I had thought Enterprise was just going backward, why tell THAT story? WHY make another FEATURE Film telling the Kirk/Spock story AGAIN? But anyone thinking that immediately loses the point: That in fact, this is NOT that same TREK Universe - It is irrevocably CHANGED.
I was a huge fan if The Next Generation and the four films based in That Universe. I extremely enjoyed Star Trek: Nemesis: It was good writing, good acting, great story, and written by John Logan and directed by Stuart Baird. But as much as I liked that film, nobody else liked it. So, when I heard about this project - I thought, these guys have run out of road? No more new story to write, so they go backward? Feh! Until I saw the first scene of this film - Everything happens... Bad Guys come, Huge Space battle... And Kirk gets BORN- Effectively changing TREK History.
Now, we have had Trek episodes (City on the Edge of Forever from TOS and Time's Arrow from The Next Generation) where the past gets changed And guys from the future have to go back and change it back.
But the focus of THIS trek is NOT "The Guys in the Future who haplessly have to go into the past and change it back" - Those guys do not exist yet! We don't ever see those guys... Those guys no longer exist! And all of Trek History from TOS... NEVER HAPPENED.
And THAT fact gives this film great promise - As a NEW Beginning.
We have one, and only one Link with that TOS/NEXT GEN/DS9/VOYAGER universe with it's Cardassian War and Dominion War and BORG: That is Leonard Nimoy as Spock PRIME. But Spock is also played by Zachary Quinto who could be Leonard Nimoy's TWIN, Or Son. Or Clone! This film is an abundance of riches as far as talent: Bruce Greenwood is Captain Chris Pike. Eric Bana as "The Bad Guy" Captain Nero. I do not know Chris Pine who plays Kirk, but I DO Know Simon Pegg/Shaun of the Dead- Who Flawlessly plays Scotty (w/little alien pet).
Winona Ryder as Amanda Grayson/Spock's Mom - I did not know it was she! And if you look carefully at the Vulcan council Members: You see Writer Akiva Goldsman. A stand-out is when Spock is standing before the Vulcan Science Council, who is the minister but the great character actor W. Morgan Sheppard? He goes uncredited in the film.
My favourite piece of casting is Karl Urban as "Bones" - A LONG way from Rohan in Lord of the Rings. His Dr. McCoy is flawless - Including facial expressions and sardonic/sarcastic remarks "Are you out of your Vulcan Mind!" Clifton Collin's Jr (Traffic) as Bad Guy #2 - Rounds out a class cast. One other little Abramism of note: IN a scene where "Simon Pegg/Scotty" uses the Transporter Trick to retrieve Kirk, Pike and Spock from two different locations onto the same Transporter pad - Standing right next to Simon Pegg is none other than Chris Doohan - James Doohan's son: An Homage to Departed Members of the TOS Enterprise Crew.
Although "this is not your daddy's Trek" - There are HOMAGES to Trek and earlier episodes and the ten earlier films. Check Kirk eating an apple while he takes a certain "test" - Spock Prime saying "I have been and shall always be your friend" to a Kirk that had never gone back to Genesis to pick him up.
Now it is interesting to note, that NOT ONE member of Rick Berman's TREK Production crew are present. Not one script supervisor, not one AD, not one writer. This film is ALL JJ Abrams. Despite that apparent handicap, he SEAMLESSLY references that original Trek 'Verse.
There are NO slow spots in this film. There is one "Luke Skywalker on Tattoine" moment where Kirk is looking at the Unfinished Enterprise in Iowa. We can surmise that Because of Eric Bana's visit from the future, changing Kirk's Birth and everything else... The USS Enterprise is different.
With that as the premise... Then TREK gets a complete reboot with this film, and if Paramount wanted to, they could go BACK, and re-tell ALL of that story of Kirk/Spock... Which would mean, all of The Next Generation could be retold? All of Deep Space Nine? As much as I was against telling "Yet Another Kirk/Spock Story" - I cannot refute the LOGIC of this new "Parallel Trek Verse" - And in fact, THIS Trek is an unrelenting, fast moving Epic... It never lets up, not for a second. It is Trek handed to Abrams with Paramounts Blessing and Abrams doing AMAZING things.
I have to admit... As much as I hated this film when it came out... I LOVE this film, especially NOW, that I have it on DVD and I can watch scenes and scrutinize it frame by frame. I hated this film violently - And I LOVE this film just as violently! Everything about this Trek is a NEW Trek. A Fresh Trek... And I hope that Abrams gets to do it again! And NEXT time. I'll see it in the Theatre!