I almost didn’t see JJ Abrams’ reboot / re-imagining / prequel of Star Trek, and that would have been a crime. I may not be into sci-fi, or really even into the whole Star Trek universe, but the more I heard about this movie, the better it sounded. And all the praise is well deserved.

Abrams’ Star Trek is an extremely entertaining and at times touching movie. There are plenty of sci-fi visuals to thrill the genre’s fans, but it was the characters and their interactions that made the movie for me.

Chris Pine plays James T. Kirk, and this guy is really good. A star is born, and all of that. The character’s written very well, but Pine really shines through.

Zachary Pinto plays Spock, and I have to say, I had my doubts going in. But he nailed it. Great, great job.

Karl Urban plays Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy. I would say this interpretation was the closest to an homage to the classic character. Yeah, Spock looked and acted a lot like the Spock we all know, but Urban’s “Bones” really captured the spirit of DeForest Kelley’s classic character, in my opinion. Great job and a rather different role for Urban.

Zoe Saldana plays Uhura. I don’t remember much about the character, but I think Saldana did a nice job, and in one scene really showed some nice acting chops.

Simon Pegg plays Scotty, and he’s great. Very funny, kind of a dork….really, great job.

John Cho is Sulu, and he was very cool. Another departure for an actor best known for straight comedy. Nice job.

Anton Yelchin did the impossible. He made Chekov interesting. OK, that was probably very mean, but Yelchin was very entertaining as the young, extremely smart ensign. I’ve seen this actor before, and he’s always impressed me. This might be a break out role for him as well.

Star Trek movies have villains, and this one’s no different. This time it’s Romulans (again?) but they seemed a bit more badass than the ones I think I remember. Eric Bana plays Nero, a vengeful Romulan with a very powerful weapon at his didposal. It wasn’t a mind blowing performance, but definitely solid.

Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman wrote Star Trek and I applaud their version of this enduring series. There were obvious references to classic lines and catch-phrases, but everything was wrapped up in a fresh new take.
Abrams really put together a fun, entertaining movie. It already had a huge following, but it’s safe to say that now Star Trek will have a whole new army of fans.