In Continuum.

First and foremost, this review of the latest Star Trek movie is going to come from a guy who has never really watched an episode of Star Trek ever before. I've grown up watching advertisements about the show and glimpses of it every now and then, sure. But Star Trek has never registered in my system as being something I really wanted to follow when I was much younger. I mean, I was at the age when I confused Star Wars and Star Trek, and I really thought it was just a serious misunderstanding on the part of the studios, that they were the same thing with different names. Perhaps a sequel or something like that - yes, I was very confused. I mean, both had spaceships, but had space battles, and both existed in around the same time period. Of course, I was always a little more familiar with the version of Star Trek with Patrick Stewart as the captain of the ship, and the version with William Shatner was too old for me to even know about. I was ill-informed, but it's not like I cared too much about it anyway. Star Trek, to me, has always been a lesser cousin of sorts to Star Wars because of the prejudice I had about a television show versus a movie. Well, that prejudice about Star Trek got blown out of the waters when I first saw the trailer of this latest reboot of the franchise.

Let's admit it, the trailer for Star Trek is awesome. A trailer doesn't say a lot about the film, but let's just say I was hooked to this particular one for a while. When I first heard about the franchise being rebooted, I wasn't exactly excited about things. I mean, sure I like J. J. Abrams, and I happen to think that Mission Impossible 3 is a nice popcorn movie with a lot of explosions - not complaining about that. Yet, it's just a franchise that hasn't interested me before, and I didn't foresee myself to be particularly excited about this reboot. I remember my uncle teaching me how to do the famous hand sign by Spock, the hand sign that Trekkies identifies themselves with. I didn't know the significance of the hand sign, despite the fact that I have been doing it all these years. So Star Trek got a grand release in the theaters, and the first sight of the trailer told me that I had to watch the movie. Of course, having not been a Trekkie in my life, I had my doubts about being immersed in the whole Star Trek universe. I mean, this is a movie with a whole history behind it, and you don't expect to jump into the story without knowing anything at hand. But, I jumped for it anyway, and here's what I think about the film.

We are seeing, and are going to see, a lot of reboot in the coming months. A lot of franchises and movies are going to get a reboot from the studios, probably because they are running out of ideas. However, some of these reboots may not necessarily be a bad thing, as Star Trek has proven to be. Like any other reboot you'd expect, the conventional introduction of familiar characters from their beginning is inevitable. You get introduced to familiar characters all over again, and you gather them before setting them out into their adventures. That is how the Wolverine movie was, and that is how the Star Trek movie is. I am sure, however, that a Trekkie would appreciate the film a lot more than I have, considering the little things that the director threw into the story itself to make it relate more to the original series. I, on the other hand, just joined in the ride for the fun of it all - and it is a fun ride indeed. To put it out there, you don't need to be a fan of the original series to enjoy this Star Trek, because J. J. Abrams has very skillfully crafted a film that'd appeal to the masses. Yet, he has inserted enough cues to give a nod to the original fans, and I feel that is a really good effort on his part.

The story begins with the U.S.S. Kelvin being attacked by a giant spaceship, whose captain is a mysterious man named Captain Nero. With the captain killed, the young father of James T. Kirk rose up to the occasion and sacrificed himself in an effort to rescue to crew of the ship. Amidst the crisis, James T. Kirk was born, and he grows up to be a rebellious adolescent with a bad attitude. Brilliant as he was, he was always involved in bar fights and troubles with the law. He was then convinced to join the Star Fleet, and that was where he met Spock, a half Vulcan and half human alien who belongs to a race that does not register human emotions. Then there is Captain Nero, the main antagonist of our story, flying around in his giant spaceship and blowing up planets because he has a personal vendetta against future-Spock. Yes, Captain Nero is from the future, and he came back in time to avenge his people, who were supposedly destroyed by Spock. So yeah, the story is more or less like that.

Like I mentioned before, you don't need to have watched Star Trek to enjoy this film. J. J. Abrams' style of moving his plot forward at warp speed is evident even in this film, and there is little time left, for the most part, for expository plot. A lot of fans on the internet are complaining about it, saying that Star Trek should be more than just about explosions and loud noises. Still, I feel that if you want to appeal to audiences who never saw the original Star Trek, if you want to appeal to a new generation of audience, you'd have to find a balance between the two. I feel that the bridge between the new Star Trek and the classic Star Trek has been well connected, considering how the original Spock makes an appearance in this film and how the story line acts as both a sequel and a prequel. You'd get it when you watch the film, but let's just say that the time traveling aspect of the film works out relatively well for the most part, though it isn't fully explained.

The sweeping battles that are signature to the Star Trek movies are not lacking at all in this film. In fact, this film probably has even more of such action sequences than the original series combined. With that said, I feel that there could have been more to the space battles, and that is where Star Wars really shines, even if you are comparing this to the disappointing prequels. A part of what makes Star Wars enjoyable is the space battle sequences, but I feel that while the intensity of the battle is certainly there in this film, something felt missing at some points. Though, that is not going to diminish the level of enjoyment at all because you don't expect a casual ride through the park with a J. J. Abrams movie. You have characters being introduced back to back to back, something happening every one minute or so, and it's just a story that really fast forwards itself very quickly. You kind of get the feeling that you want everything to slow down for a while, but I feel that it has been masterfully executed for the most part, and the film makers did a great job.

I suppose ultimately, this film represents less of a sequel to the Star Trek series, but more as a new beginning for a franchise that has garnered quite a following over the years. Compared to the other origins story we have at hand - the one with the big bad wolf - this one is definitely better. It is the better way to kick of the summer movies, and let's just say that the film does not let up on its grip on your attention until the very end, however predictable it may be. Here's the thing, when you have a bunch of origin story, you pretty much know who is going to die and who is going to live. That was the problem with the Star Wars prequel, because you knew that neither Obiwan Kenobi nor Anakin Skywalker was going to die in that final fight. That takes the emotional punch out of things, I feel, knowing who is going to stick around and who isn't. What makes an origins story good is how they handle the journey, and I feel that this film has handled the journey well, albeit a little rushed.

8/10