That's what J.J. Abrams could have called it. This was the first Star Trek film I haven't been embarrassed to say I've seen. I look on my facebook page and see people who HATE Star Trek say they loved it. What a huge accomplishment for the franchise.

Lets review it like this: (spoilers in italics)

My Likes:

1. The Excitement
   Something Star Trek has lost over the years is the build up and release of tension. Take a look at the past few movies and there aren't many moments where you feel a character is in a situation of certain peril. You can typically see how the character is going to get out of a predicament, and it subconsciously makes the movies really dull. But even when they do build up that peril you know there's someone down in the engine room with some "We can re-configure the sub positronic blah blah blah.." solution. However: Tension is the name of the game in this film. J.J. Abrams and his team did nothing BUT build up tension the entire movie. Most of the time the story is moving so fast you don't have a second to think "WAIT! You can do this!! DO THIS!!"
   
   
2. The Special Effects (of course)
   Star Trek does a fantastic job using CG as a story telling tool rather than using CG as a crutch for an awful boring broken story line. When I saw the fleet going into warp with loud CRACK I thought to myself "Holy crap..! Star Trek grew a pair!" Also the special effects allow us nice intimate close ups of the ships to see the intricacies of how they are operating, like seeing little turrets rotating, being able to see inside windows, etc. Just awesome.
   
   
3. The Characters...
   My cousin said it best for me "It looks like they got the cast from High School Musical." That's how the trailers made it look anyway. BUT the main characters in this movie are BALLSY. The bar fight with Kirk at the beginning captures the essence of what made the character so compelling and likable to begin with, and the actor did a great job at bringing that to the screen. The chemistry between 'Bones' and Kirk is set up comfortably early on, and you find out why he's called 'Bones' to begin with. In all the movie was made to cultivate the Spock/Kirk relationship, and it did a decent job. I feel a sequel will do the story well.
   
   
4. The Story
   This is a double edged sword for me. I really like what the story set out to do which is to tell the story of where these characters came from while still maintaining the threat level without you thinking "Well.. They're alive in the future.. We know they live." MILD SPOILER: I've heard a few critics complain a little about the time travel aspect but honestly creating an alternate 'universe' for Star Trek was really the best way to build tension in this prequel. This totally presses the reset button on the Star Trek franchise, and lets be honest IT WAS MUCH NEEDED! The Next Generation characters have no where else to go, all the spin off Star Trek series suck/have no where to go either. I really can't complain.

My Dislikes:

1. The Story
   MINOR SPOILER CONTINUED: There are minor plot holes. I.E.: So in theory if this is an alternate universe then how did Scotty end up on the Enterprise in the old universe? There are probably a dozen small holes like that which most fans are going to be more than happy to overlook to get on with the story. They really just needed scenarios to bring all the classic characters together regardless of plot holes, so I guess the bottom line is it really doesn't matter. Also the movie opening was a bit stale for me. I didn't feel the emotion was built up as strongly as it could have been. It wasn't terrible, I just feel it could have felt a little more "cinematic" and less "TV". And I'm still undecided if I liked them bringing old Spock into this. SPOILER END.
   
   
2. Dutch Camera Angles
   In all I think the funky camera work added to the dramatic feel of the movie, but at times it was a little too awkward. The space battles could have been well served by zooming out and holding the camera still for a second so we could have a better feel for what was happening. Also LENS FLARES! Someone at Industrial Light and Magic loves loves loves lens flares.. It seems any and all light sources has an overpowering glow or lens flare. But whatever, it looks cool, I just think it's a little bit too bold of a style for a movie of this caliber.
   
   
3. The Acting
   No the acting wasn't bad - there were just a few moments where I felt like some of the characters were trying a bit too hard to be like the other actors, especially when Kirk walks aboard the bridge and attempts the trademark William Shatner swagger trot. I'll get over it though - because 98% of the time they pulled it off.
   
   
4. The Trailer Showed Too Much
   I felt like we didn't go 10 minutes without seeing a clip that was in the trailer, and it was a little distracting. I felt like I knew what dialogue to expect, and it took some of the mystery out of the movie for me as my mind pieced together conversations before they finished. I think a good general rule of thumb for movie trailers is to only take clips from the first half hour of the movie so as to preserve the mystery of the story.

In all I give Star Trek 4 stars. The New York times dubbed it "This Years Iron Man!" It's a totally different ball game, but as far as enjoyment goes I'll totally agree with that, and will go as far to say that Terminator:Salvation will be this years Dark Knight. And that's my review.

Neil Tolman
Production Manager/Artist