Star Trek, Live Geek and Prosper

The flowers are beginning to bloom, the weather is getting warmer, the clothes are getting more revealing, and that can mean only one thing, summer movies are soon to be upon us in full force. The first aside from the, previously aforementioned X-men, is the massively buzzed about J.J. Abrams take on the Star Trek series.

Geeks and fanboys alike in full Vulcan-eared regalia have been spewing over the possibities for this movie when there were rumors about it, and the only thing anyone saw was a teaser of a massive silver Starfleet insignia, followed by SUMMER 2009! This relly is one of the rare times that the amount of buzz and hype that has been pumped into a movie actually delivers. I figured right off the bat Star Trek = Hollywood cash cow so no matter what this thing was going to make massive number even if it was a heaping pile crap put in a microwave and served to a family of 4, and/or Leonard Nimoy standing there with pointy ears spouting gibberish for 2 hours. Thankfully neither of those things happened.

Instead what we are given is a chance for the non-fans, myself included (was never an appeal to me), to truly experience Star Trek for the first time. In ever previous movie there was almost the preculding thought of "Well I never saw any before... don't they all kinda go with each other I won't know hats going on." They do a remarkably good job at taking that stigma away from the seires, and bringing old and new fans together into a movie that I'm sure we will be seeing a number of sequels to come. The basic premise of the story is fairly simple, massive ship comes out of some space lightning storm into the path of a Federation ship, which very much proptly blown to bits, yet not before a officer by the name of Kirk manages to evacuate most of the surviving crew and, more importantly his wife who happens to be giving birth to a bouncing baby boy. We flash forward 25 years and slowly but surely are all introduced to the characters many of those geeks and fanboys know and love.

I think what is one of the best parts of this film aside from the stry and wonderfull effects and action, is the cast they put in to portray the old favorites. The cast seemed like each of them were made for the roles they were in. Zacary Quinto (aka Sylar from Heroes) is nearly the spitting image of a young Leonard Nimoy's Spock. i don't think they could have gotten anyone to portray him quite as well as he did. Simon Pegg, yet another amazing choice, for Scotty. A man who happens to be a massive geek like many of us, I can only assume was amased and proceded to dance around in his own living room when recieving the call to do it. Chris Pine comes in as our new James T. Kirk, who thankfully did not decide to pick up "pause-acting." Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Karl Urban (Bones), John Cho (Sulu) and Anton Yelchin (Chekov) round out the rest of the party. A hearty golf clap to whoever decided on that grouping because it proved to be most impressive.

This movie really is as good as it sounds, though I would suggest speding a few extra bucks to see it Imax if possible. If there isn't one available try to find a digital theater, I'm still uncertain if the one I was at was one but the clarity seemed far higher than normal, and its a very noticeble and pleasant difference to the entire experience. If you aren't a sci-fi fan then this obviously isn't a movie for you, but if you are even in the slightest make it on your list of things to see the next time you are heading out for a flick.
This one is a no brainer and easily takes in the high marks for me, see it however you can and don't be afraid to spend the dough to do it right.