Amazing!

Rating: 10/10 (8 May 2009)

Saw this last night. Went in pretty skeptical. It's been a long, long time since I've been excited about a Star Trek movie. But wow, this was a great piece of entertainment! It was suspenseful, awe-inspiring, clever, and funny all at the same time...and overall just a joy to watch. "Fun" is probably the best word to describe it. It was like spending time with some old friends and being reminded of what you loved about them in the first place. Plus, it illuminates a chapter of Star Trek lore that we've never seen and never really heard much about. There were no cringe-worthy moments, and I'd really struggle to find anything negative to say about this movie.
As far as the performances, the standouts to me were Anton Yelchin as Chekov (had the accent down perfectly), Karl Urban as McCoy (really worked hard to pay homage to DeForest Kelly's version), and Zoe Saldana (I never realized Uhura was hot...did you?) Simon Pegg's Scotty was hilarious and shows up at the perfect time in the story. He just nailed it. I look forward to seeing more of him in the inevitable sequels.
Chris Pine makes a great debut here and includes extremely subtle Shatner-isms in his performance. From his chest-puffed walk, to little, barely discernible facial expressions and eye movements will remind you of Shatner from time to time, without the stilted delivery of a cliché Jim Carrey-style impersonation, thank God. He makes a great young Kirk who you can easily imagine growing into the Captain we know from the original series and especially the later movies.
Zachary Quinto probably had the hardest job in this movie, considering his classic counterpart (Leonard Nimoy) is actually in the film for real-time comparison. I've never seen Heroes, so I wasn't sure what to expect from him, but I thought he did a pretty good job considering the challenges of the role. He didn't remind me of Leonard Nimoy at all, but I could see him fit as a younger, slightly more emotional Spock than we've ever seen on screen. Let's face it, those are big shoes to fill, especially when he's in the movie.
All in all, I was very pleasantly surprised and had a great night at the movies. I'd recommend this to any former fan who has since given up on Star Trek. It's a whole new experience of the franchise. And for those who have never been a fan, but know all the pop-culture references of all the characters...I think those are the people who are really going to love it. Highly recommended for anyone and everyone really.
I'll definitely be seeing this again this weekend.
Go see it!