Four weeks late, but here's my Star Trek review.

Synopsis:

Figured we all know the story after four weeks, if not before the movie came out, but here's the story.

In the first contiuum, Spock promised to save Romulus from a supernova, but fails, and Nero, one of the last Romulans, gets sent back in time by the black hole created to stop the supernova. When he is sent back, he destroys the ship carrying James T. Kirk's parents, killing Kirk's father. Because of this, Kirk grows up a troubled youth, stealing his step-father's car, getting drunk and hitting on Uhura. After getting in a fight with Starfleet Academy cadets, Captain Pike takes Kirk aside and convinces him to join Starfleet. Meanwhile, Spock deals with growing up half-human, half-Vulcan, and how he chooses to join Starfleet instead of the Vulcan Science Academy.

During his time at Starfleet, Kirk makes friends with Leonard "Bones" McCoy, and manages to pass Spock's "Kobayashi Maru" test (which he was unable to do in the first continuum), albeit by reprogramming the test himself. At the hearing for his actions, Starfleet recieves a distress signal from Vulcan, and the entire fleet is sent out for aid. Bones, before the Enterprise takes off, smuggles Kirk aboard as his "patient."

When they arrive at Vulcan, the rest of the ships have been destroyed by Nero, who summons Pike aboard his ship. Pike, before he takes off, makes Kirk First Officer, and sends him, Hikaru Sulu, and Chief Engineer Olson (red shirt) to disarm the drill. Like the token red shirts of the original series, Olson dies, and Kirk and Sulu disarm the drill without the charges Olson was carrying. However, the drill has dug deep enough for Nero to launch Old Spock's red matter (the substance used to create the black hole) into Vulcan's core. Knowing what will happen, Spock goes to the planet's surface to save the elders, his parents, and the best hope for his culture's survival. Unfortunately, his mother falls to her death before she can be beamed aboard the Enterprise.

With Pike taken captive aboard Nero's ship, Spock is promoted to captain, and sends the Enterprise to regroup, while Kirk wishes to ambush Nero and rescue Pike and the Earth, Nero's next target. After their argument, Spock disables Kirk and deserts him on the ice planet Hoth...I mean, Delta Vega. There Kirk meets Old Spock, who explains the situation to Kirk, and takes him to the Starfleet outpost. There, we meet Montgomery Scott, and Spock reveals Scotty's formula to teleport to a ship in warp speed. Spock beams Kirk and Scotty aboard the Enterprise, where Kirk sends Young Spock into a rage over his deceased mother, making Kirk active captain of the Enterprise.

The crew devises a plan to sneak Kirk and Spock aboard Nero's ship while the Enterprise waits behind Saturn to take out the ship. On the ship, Kirk locates Pike, rescues him, and tussles (it's not much of a fight) with Nero, while Spock comandeers Old Spock's ship, depriving Nero of the red matter, destroys the drill, and sends the ship on a collision course with Nero's. Just before the two ships collide, the Enterprise beams Kirk, Spock, and Pike aboard.

The red matter, ignited by the collision, causes a black hole to form in the middle of Nero's ship. Before the ship is destroyed, Kirk offers to rescue the Romulans, who decline his offer, leaving them all doomed by the black hole. As the black hole sucks in the Enterprise, Scotty manages to save the ship and the crew from being sucked in. Back on Earth, Kirk is made the official captain of the Enterprise, Spock decides to stay in Starfleet rather than help rebuild his society, The film ends with an homage to Wrath of Khan, provided by the one and only Mr. Leonard Nemoy.

Whew, quite a story, isn't it? That's not even the half of it.


Review:

So, with the four weeks between opening weekend and when I saw it on Wednesday night, I have heard plenty about the film from all sides. Basically, the reason I waited four weeks was a very dear friend of mine wanted to see it with me, and it took four weeks to finally get together and see it.

Anyways, I simply have to say I FUCKING LOVED THIS MOVIE! Everything I expected out of it I got and then some. The cast was phenomenal, not reenacting the original series, but providing their own spin on it, making it unique from the original series. At the same time, the subtle nuances of the original series ("live long and prosper," vulcan nerve pinch, "dammit, I'm a doctor") are thrown in to show you that this is the same universe, but Nero's and Ambassador Spock's (Nemoy) presence has altered the events.

The portrayals of the characters were done to a T, especially Zachary Quinto's Spock, Karl Urban's Bones, and Simon Pegg's Scotty. The character I enjoyed most of all was the most original character, Nero. Eric Bana, not having the same problem as the rest of the cast, still brought his A-game with this character. With the cult following that the original series has, J. J. Abrams made a movie that everyone, Trek fan or not, can enjoy. This is the best way to reimagine a series as popular as Star Trek and make it simply verbatim, like Zack Snyder's "Watchmen," but not deviate too far from the source material, like Insert Film Adaptation Here.

The only problem I had with the whole film is little bits of dialogue. The best example is the way Kirk is named by his parents. That last talk between his parents just didn't feel right to me. The delivery was phenomenal, but the writing could have been tighter. There are plenty of other spots where the dialogue felt too loose, but the opening with Kirk's parents stuck out the most in my mind.

That being said, I have to agree with Carlyle and give this movie an enthusiastic

I would also love to see more done with this cast in "the continuing voyages of the starship Enterprise."
Honestly, I'm worried about the rest of the year. J. J. has set the bar pretty damn high for quality of film this year, and I don't think anybody else wants to jump that high.