Very good movie. One of the best in awhile now.

Rating: 8/10 (18 May 2009)

Star Trek was a fun movie. THe casting was well done, and the adventure and special effects just as well. Like with his popular TV series Lost, J.J. Abrams uses the time travel gimmick to start the new Star Trek series from scratch by using a time loop that changes all the events that occurred in the earlier TV show and films. In this way, he doesn't have to follow the older Star Trek which was becoming long in tooth anyway, but of course all of the same characters from the series and movies do indeed return. It's a clever idea that works.
After an extended and well done prologue which gives the new series reboot its own beginning, the main characters are introduced and the action quickly begins. You see an angry ROmulan (Eric Bana) from the future, whose ship was forced through a black hole which brought him back in time, is seeking vengeance on Starfleet and Spock for not being able to help save his planet from being destroyed. He is hell bent on destroying all of Starfleet and Vulcan because of this, and so it is up to the USS Enterprise and its much younger crew to stop this from happening. On top of this, SPock and Kirk do not see eye to eye this time because the the future has been changed from what it should've been.
THe cast was perfectly selected. CHris Pine as Kirk is funny, witty, and a rebel of a sort. He also looks a little bit like a young William Shatner. Zachary Quinto as Spock was right on target as well. I sort of like him more in this role then as the evil Syler from the TV series Heroes. Karl Urban was perfectly cast as Doctor McCoy and has a lot of fun dialoque which showed that he enjoyed this role. Simon Pegg plays Scotty, and he has the voice and mannerisms down to a T. ROunding out the cast of the USS Enterprise is Zoe Saldana as Nyota Uhura, John CHo (from Harold and Kumar) who plays Zulu, and ANton Yelchin who plays Pavel Chekov. THe last three don't get much time, but Yelchin uses his Russian accent to the extreme to make his scenes funny and a riot. CHo gets and action scene where he gets to wield a nasty blade, and Saldana gets a little bit of dialoque to show what she has. All the characters are never overdone by the fantastic special effects, which is a very good thing. I only wish they could've done more with Eric Bana's part as the avenging Romulan because it really could've been a more interesting role.
Now lets talk about those special effects. They blew me away. THe Romulan ship was one nasty looking thing, and the Enterprise itself looked fantastic among many other things. Of course, like I said above, the special effects never out do the characters and story, and that always makes for a much better movie.
Other than not giving the Eric Bana character much to do but shout and be angry, Star Trek is a very intense experience. I enjoyed it immensely and would suggest you see it in IMAx now before it is gone because that is the best way to see it. I grade this movie as a B+ or a high 8 out of 10.