First off, the basics:

It is absolutely fantastic.  Mind you, this is the opinion of someone who is generally ruthless in his opinions regarding anything projected on a giant screen.  Better than Watchmen, it is.

I went in with expectations of a rather taller sort than I usually do, due just to the voluminous word of mouth ( but seriously, when Wesley Crusher says it rocks - your barometer gets skewed, alright? ) that has abounded in the last week.

For once, that word is the gospel truth.

I SHOULD MENTION NOW THAT MASSIVE SPOILERISHNESS - or close to it anyway - FOLLOWS IN GREAT QUANTITY.  YOU'VE BEEN WARNED, OKAY?  BALLS TO LJ CUTS - JUST SCROLL PAST IT IF YOU'RE NOT WILLING.  YES, I'M BOTH LAZY AND LAME TONIGHT.  IT'S BEEN A LONG, LOUSY WEEK AND IT SHOWS NO SIGNS OF LETTING UP SOON SO JUST FREAKIN' DEAL...

Did I mention that it was pretty fucking well brilliant?  I think I did.

Okay, really, I'm not going to spoil THAT much.  But you WERE warned, just in case.

The new movie OOZES style, grittiness, and humanity.  It really is the tightest thing to happen to Star Trek since...Star Wars, maybe.  It's like they took everything that made the original Star Wars movie such a smash, added a twist of manically genius reset button along with a generous ( yet conservative ) dash of tropes from the original beast, and reinvented the entire franchise in the best and most satisfying manner possible.

Yes, time travel is THE MAJOR facet of the new story, and for once it is executed perfectly.  None of the jumping back and forth and undoing shit that's been done crap.  NO.  It got done, and now it's all about dealing with the new reality that presents.  It is, simply, the best possible way to reboot a franchise of any kind - EVER.  EVER.

The pacing is brilliant - it never once slows down the entire movie.  All the character development and back story are dealt with in a lively and engaging fashion that simultaneously informs those new and yet still manages to titillate the old school fandom, while never once letting up at developing an entirely new vision of the whole cloth.  Never once are you allowed to be bored or overwhelmed with useless story.  Seriously, that a HARD stunt to pull with something as giant as Star Trek.

Actually, that's damned near IMPOSSIBLE.  Yet this made it look EASY!

The actors are entirely believeable and yet manage to remain unique.  Zachary Quinto is a completely convincing Spock, even when confronted ( directly or no ) by Nimoy himself reprising his role as Spock amidst it all.  Which makes PERFECT sense.  Trust me.
Simon Pegg ( brilliant! ) is an entirely entertaining Montgomery Scott. 
Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura all get their moments in the spotlight, in their own ways, each satisfyingly. McCoy aka 'Bones' is probably my favorite.  Really, he just nails the crochety, simple but yet still loyal - perhaps beyond common sense - nature of the beloved doctor.  Even a 'redshirt' gets his usual just desserts, and in the expectedly pitiful yet dashing fashion expected of the expendable cast members.  More so, perhaps.

Everyone hits their stride really, no complaints anywhere on those counts.  Really, wow.  WOW.

Did I mention the freaking WOW?  Because WOW.  And I don't hand out "wow" lightly.

This ain't your daddy's Star Trek, no doubt.  It might actually be BETTER.  If nothing else, it's not LESS.  NOT LESS!

I think it's rather pointless to mention simple mundanities like special effects and so forth - those are up to the usual modern standards.  If I had ANY complaints it would be to lighten up on the 'lens flare' stuff by about fifty percent - but that's really a minor quibble.  Really minor.  Stupid minor, actually.

And, for my money, the only weak spot plot wise is a complaint about one of the sci-fi tropes.  Unexpectedly for me, who usually HATES TIME TRAVEL TROPES WITH A FURIOUS PASSION, it wasn't that one.  NO.  My real fuzzy spot was the mysterious 'redmatter', the mysterious future substance that apparently reacts with normal matter to create singularities - aka black holes.
But whatever.  It's a futury weirdo substance that serves its purpose story wise, and really, does it NEED to be explained any more than, say, warp drive or phasers do?  NO.  You know what it does, and really, that's enough for this.  How far would X-men get if people needed dissertations in genetics/physics?  Right.  You get me on this then.


Yeah.  It really is that good, AND that satisfying.  Even now, I'm a little taken aback by just how...smart the whole is.  I didn't expect that at all.


Whilst the original is left intact entirely, this provides an entirely new Star Trek that not only doesn't detract from the original, but in subtle ways builds on it - makes it palpable and fresh for a new audience.  I keep going on about this, because I have NEVER, in 37 years of living, EVER seen such a seamless yet believeable and original way to renew a previously established continuity.

Finding a way to REALISTICALLY include 'Sabotage' by the Beastie Boys into the ouvre of the Trekverse is to boot hands down genius.

Yeah.  Trust me.


Aw, Hell.  Just go see it, for pity's sake.  You'll see.


You'll see.