Star Trek is Back and Better than Ever

Rating: 10/10 (8 May 2009)

I have been a Star Trek fan since I caught the Original Series in reruns back in the early 70's. I am a huge fan of TOS and I was a bit concerned that JJ ABrams would turn this franchise into a 90120 in outer space and abandon the core values of Trek left to us by the Creator, Gene Roddenberry. After seeing the movie last night at our IMAX theater, my worries evaporated and morphed into uncontainable excitement and wonder. This new Trek was a mind-blowing experience, the stunning visuals and special effects, Abrams was able to communicate the spectacular feeling of being in space and truly showing how magnificent the USS Enterprise is in her element.
The actors were amazing and brought each of the icons they were playing to life. Chris Pine oozed cockiness and leadership, Zachacy Quinto made you feel Spock's inner turmoil and conflicted emotions and Karl Urban WAS "Bones" McCoy. The rest of the cast was, pardon the pun, stellar. Zoe Saldana brought a great charm and intelligence to Uhura, John Cho exhibited his swordsmanship and humor and the oh so young Alton Yelchin played Chckov's accent up in a believable manner yet got to show off his mad science skills. Special kudos to Bruce Greenwood for bringing Captain Christopher Pike to life and being a mentor to the rebellious young Kirk.
This is the best Star Trek since The Wrath of Khan. It has the depth of emotion we expect from Star Trek while still telling an amazing space opera story that takes you into the depths of outer space as well as the depths of human & Vulcan emotion. Eric Bana's Nero is the weakest element of the story. With a running time just over two hours, they just couldn't fit more of his back story in which leaves his character a bit unfinished in the movie. The writers of the film did do a prequel graphic novel that explains how the events of this movie were triggered and fills out the Nero back-story. If you love this film and want to know more, I highly recommend the Star Trek: Countdown graphic novel. Otherwise, this movie blew all of my expectations out of the water and more than thrilled me with the confidence that JJ Abrams and company know exactly how to make a Star Trek epic. This franchise will boldly go and live long and prosper with this cast and crew. A must see movie for Trekker and newcomer alike.