Beware of minor spoilers for Star Trek.

My whole life I grew up as an uber-Star Trek fan. I remember as a little kid watching Star Trek: The Next Generation with my father and during that time, the days of VHS, my dad had every episode of Star Trek The Original Series on video tape. Since I enjoyed TNG so much, I would watch those video tapes for the adventures of James T. Kirk and crew, growing to love those characters more than any other television series characters in entertainment. For years and years I would rewatch episodes of TOS over and over again, all the way up till DVDs were invented and TOS was released onto that format. To this day, I still watch TOS as much as I can.

When a new Star Trek film was announced, nearly three years ago I believe, I was easily excited for the simple reason that I love all Trek from TOS to Enterprise, but when we learned that the new film would go back to the beginning, to the fundamentals of Trek, returning to the characters of Kirk, Spock and McCoy my excitement level jumped through the roof. However, like most people, I was skeptical on how it was going to be portrayed. As a brief history; I was afraid established canon would not be respected, it would not be taken seriously and the film would just overall disappoint as the last few Trek films were (I still like those movies honestly). All of that skepticism was put to the test this past Friday as Star Trek makes in premiere - I should be clear, however; Once the first trailers made their way online my skepticism pretty much disappeared because of how incredible the film looked, but you never know until the movie hits theaters and we were able to see it. The prediction of an amazing movie was still there.

During the past few years, people have been saying that Star Trek is dead, some people acting like they were happy about that, but although I would go as far to say that Star Trek needed a change I never felt that the franchise was "dead". If that was the case, this film would have never been made. Paramount saw that this franchise still had plenty of life but also needed a change creatively - that's what we got when JJ Abrams was hired to produce before accepting to direct. The former show runners, although provided great entertainment for many years, honestly beat the franchise for everything they could think of but in the end simply ran out of steam. Many people berated those executive producers for the lackluster films and television shows towards the end of its 18 year run starting with TNG, but when you think about it, these guys gave us 18 years of material - that's a lot for godsake. Now the up and coming team from Bad Robot bring their creative personalities and abilities to try and give us the best film possible. The crew from Bad Robot is starting to prove to audiences with shows like Lost and Fringe, movies like Cloverfield and Star Trek that they're not just becoming great filmmakers - I believe they're showing us that they're the next generation of Steven Spielberg's and George Lucas'. These television shows and movies are just the beginning of what they'll be able to create during the next couple of decades. Although they're so far successful, Star Trek was the big question mark; Could they take on a beloved franchise and not screw it up by making it awful and insulting to the past 40 plus years because they want to try something totally different? Could they take Gene Roddenberry's vision and tell it to today's audiences?

The short answer: Star Trek revisits beloved characters in a new yet familiar way honoring the past performances of cherish fandom actors backed up by state-of-the-art top notch visual effects structured around a story that's smart, exciting, action packed and fun. Just as Gene Roddenberry did, JJ Abrams takes us on "a wagon train to the stars".

"One grew up in the cornfields of Iowa, fighting for his independence, for a way out of a life that promised only indifference, aimlessness, and obscurity The other grew up on the jagged cliffs of the harsh Vulcan desert, fighting for acceptance, for a way to reconcile the logic he was taught with the emotions he felt. In the far reaches of the galaxy, a machine of war bursts into existence in a place and time it was never meant to be. On a mission of retribution of the destruction of his planet, its half-mad captain seeks the death of every intelligent being, and the annihilation of every civilized world. Kirk and Spock, two completely different and unyielding personalities, must find a way to lead the only crew, aboard the only ship, that can stop him." [Paramount] From a script written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, JJ Abrams directs Star Trek starring Chris Pine as James T. Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Karl Urban as Leonard McCoy, Simon Pegg as Scotty, John Cho as Sulu, Anton Yelchin as Chekov Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Eric Bana as Nero and Leonard Nimoy as Ambassador Spock. Also filling out the cast is Bruce Greenwood as Captain Christopher Pike, Ben Cross as Sarek, Winona Ryder as Amanda, Clifton Collins Jr. as Ayel, Chris Hemsworth as George Kirk, Jennifer Morrison as Winona Kirk and Faran Tahir as Captain Robau.

More after the image:

Besides the issue of canon, my biggest concern was if the core cast, which includes the Enterprise since the ship is a character itself, would stay true to their spirit. I understood from the beginning that many things in this new film HAD to be different, for example; if they built the bridge from the 1960s, it simply would have looked ridiculous especially when the goal was to bring in a new batch of fans. Since I understood that changes were necessary, the spirit of the characters needed to be the same because Star Trek is more than just space ships, action and in some cases story - it's about the characters. I loved these characters because of their personalities and their abilities as heroes. I loved the Enterprise because she was the chariot of these heroes. It was never about the perfect film story or the best special effects, at least for me - it was about the evolution of these characters. I, as a long time Trek fan, have been very fortunate to see these characters grow from TOS to the final TOS film and now we've been given a chance to see that evolution all over again but in a modern way. Things may be different on screen but the destiny's of these characters hasn't changed.

Picking the right cast must have been one of the hardest things to do during this production but now after seeing their performances, there is no doubt that these actors took the characters I love so much, treated them with respect making them familiar to Trek fans and new to new fans. Chris Pine takes on James Kirk, a task that isn't easy. How do you take a character made famous and is still associated as it always will be to William Shatner? However he prepared for this role, there is no doubt that Pine took this character and shined throughout the film. Whatever doubts people have had with Pine must now be satisfied because of the wonderful performance he gave us. Although a young Kirk, the bravado and the hero mentality is still there. Zachary Quinto on the other hand at least had Leonard Nimoy working next to him if he needed some advice. The best thing Quinto did with the Spock character is gave it more depth than Nimoy did during the series run, however, the Spock that I knew was more experienced. Quinto's Spock is still young but is also on the verge of what we know he becomes. Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard McCoy might have been the biggest surprise in casting but also turns out to be the best performance in the film. He totally channeled Deforest Kelly when delivering lines - gruff, borderline angry, but very human. He's what grounds the Kirk and Spock characters. During the series and film run of Star Trek, Uhura always seemed to take a backseat although never ignored. Here in this film Zoe Saldana is given great material and totally capitalized on her part. I loved that her role was more forward in the picture than ever before especially now that in this timeline, she has a romantic relationship with Spock - it is unexpected but very touching that provides such depth for both characters. As for the other three characters - Sulu is a bad ass, Chekov is younger than ever, and Scotty is still Scotty. John Cho, Anton Yelchin and Simon Pegg may have not had as much material as the others but their introductions will bring a smile to any Trek fans face.

I remember when Eric Bana was cast in this film, which at the time we didn't know who he'd be playing. Bana is a generally great actor who've I really enjoyed seeing in a lot of films that he's done. When it was announced he'd be playing the Romulan villain, I was easily excited. Nero is a tragic character that is totally misguided and angry because of certain events that caused the destruction of a once powerful empire. A lot of people, after reading a lot of fan reviews, weren't to hot on Nero even though they still liked him. Although I agree Nero is no Khan, I still understand the character. The destruction of Romulus,along with the death of his family sent him over the edge. Reviewers would say that him wanting to kill Kirk and destroy the Federation makes no sense but I disagree - Nero's heart is totally empty and there's no amount of killing and destruction that will ever fill it. Along with killing a young Spock who's future self is unable to save his home, killing Kirk and destroying the Federation would simply fill the need for continued blood. He wants the entire galaxy to feel his pain. Think about it - if you watch your world be destroyed and the love of your life went with it, what would you do? Some would become an instrument to help others avoid the same fate, but unfortunately some would fall from grace and do things they never would have done before. With all that said, the bottom line is that this film was Kirk, Spock and our favorite Enterprise crew, not Nero. Perhaps the next film can build on a villain that could be equal to the passion of Khan.

It's without a doubt that the rest of the cast deserves praise. Ben Cross was a spitting image of Mark Leonard and really came off as an excellent Sarek. Winona Ryder was a gorgeous Amanda and really broke my heart with her fate. Bruce Greenwood rocked as Captain Pike and the list can go on.

When it comes to visual effects, there is no better company than George Lucas' ILM, Industrial Light and Magic. Lucas himself must be jealous on how perfect these visual effects looked in Star Trek especially since the visual effects in the Star Wars prequels are sort of dated considering technology gets better and more powerful day by day. The concept designs of ships, planets and the overall action looked completely incredible and is some of the best that I've seen ever. I expect that will only get better with time but I don't know how much more real these things can look - I'm sure we'll find out as the years go on. Speaking of ship designs, we all know that people have had mixed feelings on the design of the Enterprise and although it's not exactly what I would have done, all I really wanted from the design is that its silhouette remained the same. It did and it looks great. Watching the Enterprise in action again was such a satisfying feeling.

Everything else about Star Trek is fantastic - I love the story; the origin story is so much fun and as a Trek fan, visually seeing for the first time The Kobyashi Maru was a joy. In fact, it was done in a way I never expected. I always pictured Kirk doing the test in sort of a heroic way, even though he cheated. Nope! He's cocky, arrogant and pretty funny with his reactions - something that totally fits the character that Pine created. The plot devices that got the crew of the Enterprise together again worked and was also able to very much entertain me. The action is pretty incredible and at times doesn't let you breath which is a major change for this franchise. All of this is thanks to the fantastic direction of JJ Abrams and the respectable and excellent writing from Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.

The most bitter sweet moments in this film are of course seeing Leonard Nimoy as Spock again. I think every true Trek fan will feel themselves choke up when Spock lays eyes on a young James T. Kirk and utters those words - "I have been and always shall be your friend." Nimoy steps back into the role he created like he's never left it even though it's been 18 years since he put on the ears. It's also very sad watching the final evolution for Nimoy's Spock even if he could appear in another film but I don't know if the production team would even consider that for a sequel. After spending the weekend thinking about it, we've seen every evolution Spock has made - from being a child and a young Starfleet officer in this film, to a season vet in the original series, to a nearly retired Captain, to a Federation Ambassador, to an old Vulcan who still fights to save worlds. He went from being "a child of two worlds" confused about his Vulcan and human side, to being a emotionless Vulcan as he chose that way of life, to finally coming in touch with his human side and learning to accept that.

There are so many more things I can praise this film about but I think I've gone on long enough about Star Trek. Although I have a few very small issues which includes negative reactions to the ridiculous lens flares and a score that is totally disappointing - the good attributes easily out way the negative. Star Trek is obviously my favorite film so far this year and because I'm so bias and in love with this franchise it will probably stay as my favorite film of the year. It's very difficult for me to be critical towards this film but I think it's safe to say that Star Trek is action packed, with a great script, characters and visual effects that it's a must see for Trek fans and general movie going audiences, especially if your a fan of summer blockbusters.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Star Trek easily scores a solid 9.5 out of 10 and misses out on a perfect 10 because of a few creative gripes that aren't even worth mentioning and a disappointing score that doesn't add to the legendary scores of this franchise.

Thanks to JJ Abrams, no matter how different this film looks from the past incarnations he stays true to the destiny that a man named James T. Kirk commands the most famous Starship in science fiction making me believe once again that maybe one day our human race will "boldly go where no one has gone before."

-Phil

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