The new Star Trek “reboot” has made me a believer. Does this mean I’m turning into a Trekkie? Now “Wrath of Kahn” and the original series are on my list of things to watch. The last episode that I remembered watching of the series was when Captain Kirk and Spock goes back in time and gets captured by the Italian mafia since their phasers were no match for the mob’s Tommy gun. Cheese to the max!

The new Star Trek by J.J. Abrams has it all, action, suspense, comedy, adventure, and character driven plots. You won’t find long dull dialogues on a cheap set. The story’s plot is very basic, but it’s the characters that drive the movie forward. The movie finds a nice balance of characters you care about with comedic and emotional elements.

The story revolves around a Romulan named Nero (Eric Bana) who’s hell-bent on destroying the Federation. James Kirk’s father saves hundreds of lives, including James and his mother, before perishing by the hands of Nero. James, later on, grows up to be a punk who would always get into trouble until Captain Pike offers him a chance to enlist in Starfleet by making him feel guilty that he’s half the man his father is. Burn.

James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is refreshing, quite rebellious, and a horn dog. All the supporting characters have a good amount of screen time, enough for you to get a feel for who they are. Spock (Zachary Quinto) acts logical with conflicting human emotions, Uhura (Thandie Newton…err, Zoe Saldana) is very delicious, Scotty (Simon Pegg) is always “excited,” Sulu (John Cho) surprised me with his ass kicking ability. Of all the cast, Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy stood out the most and was very funny and zany, considering he played a serious role in Lord of the Rings and was a pimp in Xena: Warrior Princess.

The movie has many nods to fans and even pop-culture fans in general. You don’t have to be a Trekkie to get all the inside jokes and nods like “Live long and prosper,” “Captain’s log,” and “I’m a doctor, not a physicist!”

I have minor gripe with the comedic portion of the movie because it felt like I was watching a comedy. This is a minor quibble since I did enjoy the cheesiness in this film. The other problem I have with the movie is the score, or lack thereof. Michael Giacchino is an accomplished composer, but his Star Trek theme is really overbearing and doesn’t feel epic. Near the end credits, I would hear a glimpse of the original theme, but it quickly faded away into oblivion. In fact, I hardly noticed any themes at all.

The movie sets up all the principle characters nicely and they’re all likable with each having their own unique personality. The action scenes are abundant and visually awesome. Certain action scenes reminded me of The Empire Strikes Back mixed with Cloverfield. There’s a revelation in the middle of the movie that is simply epic and should create a whole new sequel without fear of ruining the original series. This is the first highly recommended summer blockbuster of 2009.

What a perfect way to the end the movie with the closing dialogue, “Space, the final frontier…”

Grade: A

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