Yup... I went to see the very first showing of Star Trek at the local theatre (yes, the Showcase Enemas to those who know it).

Short version: not bad. Not even close to bad. Pretty good, even.

The long version, with spoilers...

***

THE GOOD:

The casting of the movie ranged from good to perfection. The absolute highlights had to be Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy -- couldn't have been a better choice if they'd gotten a rejuvenated De Kelley to do it -- and Anton Yelchin as Chekov -- who somehow managed to carry off Walter Koenig's Russian pronunciation and make it sound almost natural. The rest of the Big Seven were excellent choices as well, and every bit of doubt I had about Chris Pine as Kirk is long since evaporated.

Sidebar to last: Bruce Greenwood was a great choice for Pike... and how many favors did the filmmakers have to cash in to get Winona Ryder as Amanda Grayson?!?

I gotta say... Eric Bana's cheeky line, "Hi, Christopher. I'm Nero." I should've hated it. I didn't. It was great.

Leonard Nimoy. Yes, the theatre was a little dusty around the time he showed up.

The Enterprise. Goosebumps the first time we see her completed and in space.

We see Kirk take the Kobayashi Maru. Great scene.

"Sabotage". Nuff said.

The running gag with Bones nailing Kirk in the neck with a hypospray every five seconds. Very nice.

The scenes with Spock before he enters the Academy, both the ones of him as a small boy and his (near-)admission to the Vulcan Science Academy. How odd is it that, even after 40-plus years, they found a new little niche of his psyche to explore.

Speaking of which... Spock and Uhura as a couple. Surprisingly awesome, I gotta say. The previews made it look like Kirk and Uhura got it on... was that intentional, or just a happy accident?

They made no attempt to make this movie's events turn out to resemble the universe we already know. That was a brave move. I mean, watching "Dark Knight," when it looked like Jim Gordon was toast, I started quietly freaking out, thinking "They just killed Commissioner Gordon! They couldn't have! Could they?" Star Trek... did. Balls to the wall, assume nothing and no one is safe... well done.

I had to suppress a laugh at the basically unnamed guy in the red shirt... dying. Yup. Anyone surprised? Anyone?

A LITTLE BAD:

The coincidence factor just got a little high in places. I can understand a few of these people being in the Academy together, and a few being on the Big E already. But Young Spock shoves Kirk into an escape pod and ditches him, and he lands on a planet with both Old Spock and Scotty? That's treading in "oh, come on" territory.

It got a little heavy-handed with the "history has changed" stuff. Alternate universe, Spock? Really? I never would've guessed! No clue why I wasn't tipped off when VULCAN FUCKING IMPLODES!!!

Refresh my memory... why in the world would Captain Pike tap a cadet on academic suspension as the first officer of the new flagship, even temporarily? And even if said cadet saved Earth, how in the world would Starfleet justify leap-frogging him straight from cadet to captain? I mean, I know he's Jim Kirk, but like a wise man said, "Jim Kirk was a great man... but that was another life." He's a troublemaker.

Whatever the hell that neural parasite thingy was that Nero put inside Pike? Shoulda been a Ceti Eel. All I'm sayin'.

SUMMARY:

Solid entry, worthy of the name. 8.5/10 at least, maybe to be increased on repeated viewing... which there will be, I assure you. More? Please? Wanna see what happens next.

live long and prosper,
ls