Oh silly me, I shouldn't be reviwing this. It's a major film that's going to be covered by... well, everyone. How is my perspective on Star Trek going to be significant? By being both a Star Trek and JJ Abrams expert, that's how. There are spoilers, but mostly as descriptive support to my review. Stay away from the plot summary at the bottom if you haven't seen it.

First of all, this film redefines in medias res. By the first ten minutes, you're already palipating, on the edge of your seat and crying like a baby. Billy Mayes couldn't sell something this fast. There is no slow moment, the dialogue is always active and you understand the timeframe.

I really have to tip my hat to the sound team. Every sound effect is spot on, whether it be a revamp of something older or completely new (warp BOOM). The score by Michael Giacchino is full of the brass horn fanfare we've come to love from TOS, but also the breadth and depth of John Williams, although the score has awfully named tracks ("Nailin' the Kelvin", "Does It Still McFly?"). Then, we mix in a soundtrack with the Beastie Boys and other punk tunes. Overall, the mix of legacy and variety complemented the film well.

One thing that stood out to me the entire film was the lighting techniques. I guess it just makes sense that when your starship interior is designed by Apple, you're going to have a lot of light flares from all those shiny surfaces. Regardless, as cool as the bridge looks with its clean white design and giant red buttons, it falls into the same design trap as Enterprise and the new Star Wars films. Modern audiences expect more technologically advanced designs, but it breaks continuity when it should be followed by flashing, colored buttons and swirly graphics. If they delayed the release of the movie this long, I think the designers could have found a way to bridge the gap in design continuity. One thing that you will notice (hopefully) is the computer system. With its voice interface that puts the first usage of the Star Trek computer earlier in canon, the voice of the computer, at least early in the film, was provided by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry two weeks before her passing. Other references to her are officers calling for Nurse Chapel. Well done, chaps.

The costumes are tough. You have to fit into Enterprise and TOS, somewhere between a military jumpsuit and shiny cotton pajamas. In the two different time frames we see, the color scheme of the costumes changes. Early, we see command in blue, then we see command in gold. What happened between 2150 and 2228 that made command officers wear blue tunics? I guess we'll never know. The texture, however, was very impressive. It reminds me of a heavier fabric from Spider-Man's costume in the films. Again, we have to compensate for continuity, which will include Starfleet uniforms being reduced to thin unitards in the near future.

If I had to rank the quality of performance related to execution of former actors' roles from highest to lowest, it would be: Urban (McCoy), Quinto (Spock), Yelchin (Checkov), Pegg (Scott), Pine (Kirk), Saldana (Uhura), Cho (Sulu). Some of the performances were just spot on, while adding original charisma to make it something completely new. Karl Urban's shuttle diatribe with his eyes bulging out is the most hilarious part of the movie. Kelley would be proud. Would Shatner be proud of Pine? Probably not, since Shatner didn't get to have Kirk's role all to himself. But let's give it up to Anton Yelchin and Simon Pegg for making secondary characters memorable.

Aside from cinematic qualities that hint at Abrams, you could watch the entire film and not know he was behind it. For once, he refrains from putting that JJ Abrams stamp of mystery on the box, but still throws in tiny hints. At the academy bar, while ordering Bud "Classic" and Jack Daniels (thank God they'll still be around in 250 years), Uhura orders a Slusho. Slusho is an ice drink (think Icee or Squishee) that was common in Alias. In Abrams-verse, the company that produces Slusho had a satellite in orbit that fell into the Atlantic, stirring the creature featured in Cloverfield. You may notice many tertiary actors as being from Alias and other Abrams shows, a few of which never made it to screen.

I'm from Iowa and as such, it disappointed me to hear snickering in the theater when Iowa was mentioned as Kirk's home. People, from Iowa, that went to see Star Trek at the early screening, did not know that Kirk will be born in Riverside, Iowa on March 22, 2228. How dare they call themselves both Iowans and Trekkies. If you have not yet gone, visit Kirk's (future) birthplace sometime before you die. On another note, Iowa has yet to have a giant, desert canyon in it. Maybe one day, next to the Mississipi river (or is it the Mississipi?).

We've got time travel, paradoxes, relationships, even out of place curly hair. Is this really Star Trek? Does it still leave room for everything that has happened after it? It's too bad that the Temporal Prime Directive didn't prevent the events of this movie from happening, but I guess it hadn't been written yet. So, Christopher Pike is the original captain of the Enterprise and Kirk inherits it from him? That's a new one. And I thought Pike was just some half-canonized character that appears in "The Cage" and "The Menagerie". I will say this: seeing him in a wheelchair at the end sold it for me that the Bad Robot team at least respects the legacy.

Christopher Pike

More questions arise from me while watching this: Why are all the Romulans bald? Most, if not all, Romulans we've seen have hair very similar to Vulcans. And the tribal tattoos. I guess it comes with the career of being a simple mining laborer. Ah, Captain Nero. A well chosen name. For anyone that doesn't make the connection: Romulans are from Romulus. Romulus and Remus are twin planets. Romulus and Remus are mythological fraternal founders of Rome. Nero was a Roman emperor, although Rome burned duing his reign. It's a stretch, and the first on-the-nose nomal reference to Roman mythology when most Romulan names share Vulcan linguistic similarities. Captain Nero just sounds too much like Captain Nemo for me.

Lastly, hearing Nimoy provide the epilogue was one of the best things I could have hoped for. He still has that Spock voice and attitude. I don't even care that much that he was in the film the reasons that he was. He could have just done the voice over for the epilogue and I would have been blown away. It's good that someone in the Star Trek family was involved somehow (James Doohan's son was also an engineer).

In the end, this is just one big retcon of everything that we know. This is why I hate time travel (from personal experience). Sure, it's a fantastic movie. Hands down, the most well executed film of the year. The acting is phenomenal, the visual and sound effects ring true, nerd references are all there. What worried me was that this was supposed to be a Star Trek film for everyone. There's just too much pre-existing canon for it to be for everyone, how can they do that? I don't know, but they did. This isn't your father's Star Trek, because it has plot, acting, drama and alien sex... oh wait, scratch that last part.

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Plot (spoilers)

2370 - Star collapses, Spock attempts to neutralize shockwave, Romulus destroyed, Nero attacks Spock, both pulled into time vortex, Nero sent to 2228, Spock sent to 2250.

2228 - Nero destroys USS Kelvin and George Kirk, James T. Kirk born, Nero escapes.

2250 - Kirk joins Starfleet, assigned to USS Enterprise under Capt. Pike, Nero captures Pike, Spock assumes command and ejects Kirk, Kirk meets old Spock and rejoins Enterprise, Kirk releives young Spock and destroys Nero.