To Boldy Go Where A Few Has Gone Before: Star Trek Zero

Warning! Spoilers!

First, let me establish that I am a trekker. Not the all-out geek who knows all the sciences and can speak fluent Klingon, but I have always appreciated the TV shows and the movies. Particularly, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Picard, Riker, Data, Troi, Worf, La Forge, Crusher, etc..). I used to watch that show every week (Voyager and Deep Space Nine did not have the same intellectual appeal as TNG).

So with that in mind, I went to this movie with no expectations at all. I was thinking this is just sort of a run-of-the-mill prequel to the Star Trek Movies, and that the producers and writers just wanted to establish the history between Spock and Kirk. I was mistaken. This might very well be the best Star Trek movie ever made - everything was extremely well done. With my affinity for TNG - it is hard for me to say that. However, I was overwhelmed by how much thought was put into the plot and the scale that was placed in this production.

A few notes: James Kirk - great acting by Chris Pine, he portrayed the brash, young, Kirk masterfully and with great writing, his persona almost transcended the screen. Spock - one of the things I looked out for was if he remotely reminded me of Sylar, this movie will fail. Zachary Quinto made an extremely believable Vulcan and not once did Sylar cross my mind. Leonard Nimoy was here as well - for a good part of the movie.

There were a few references to Star Wars I noticed like: Luke Skywalker's adventure in Hoth and Qui-Gonn Jinn's "there's always a bigger fish" theory. I don't know, maybe its just me.

They now have the freedom to rewrite Star Trek's entire history (or historical events for that matter, characters did not change) because of the alternate reality they have created from Spock and Nero travelling to the past.

Overall, an entirely entertaining movie. Action-packed. Well-thought of plot. Sci-fi on a grand scale. Great acting and writing. Hopefully, they start bringing in TNG's mythology to the next movies.

4 out 5 DREIs

1 - Drei: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)

2 - Dreis: "Shite" No need to see these movies unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)

3 - Dreis: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)

4 - Dreis: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)

5 - Dreis: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)