Last weekend saw the release of the long-awaited reboot of the Star Trek franchise, and like most die-hard fans, I went in with skeptical excitement (although I didn’t put on the ears, jagged forehead or uniform).

While there were some things I would have changed, this was a good movie. I strongly suggest you go see it, whether you like Star Trek, or you have no idea what the ‘Kobyashi Maru’ is. I was really impressed with the special effects, most of the story and their casting choices. If you haven’t seen it yet, stop reading now and go see it, there’s going to be spoilers ahead.

Pine did a good job as Kirk; especially by the end of the movie he showed the same traits that made Shatner’s version ‘Kirk’, the confidence and just the right amount of arrogance. Thankfully he didn’t try to copy the voice or all of his gestures (minus sitting in the chair with his legs crossed in a way that must be uncomfortable..). And apparently Jim is a Beastie Boys fan, who knew?

Quinto’s Spock was definitely a younger version and while as clever not as in control as Nimoy’s Spock, which is what they were going for. One thing I didn’t like about him was that apparently the only emotion he has is anger (which he has with almost an evil look on his face most of the time).

Urban was the perfect choice for McCoy, best casting decision ever. There’s not really more I can say about that, everything you’d want in McCoy is there.

One good thing about this movie is it brought this classic trio together and laid the background that would bring make them the friends and colleagues that they were in the original series, without seeming forced or overly cheesy. The way these characters were written and written together was very well done.

Now, for the rest of the ensemble.

Pegg played a good Scotty, though we could have done without the scene with him stuck in the water tube, that was a bit too Willy Wonka for me. Saldana played an intelligent and sexy Uhura, but we’ll have to wait for a sequel to see if she’s really as proud and strong as Ms. Nichols Uhura. Cho’s Sulu was pretty well done, as cheesy as it was, it was kind of cool to see him sword fighting with a future switchblade type ninja sword (in a very non-fencing way). Yelchin’s Chekov was pretty funny, wery over exaggerated Russian accent and very young. Unfurtunately there wasn’t too much more for his character to do; hopefully there will be a sequel so we can see Yelchin do a bit more.

And now the part that every nerd loves: I get to tear the movie apart.

First off, the main story premise was a bit weaker (and weaker in science) than most Star Trek movies. Come on, a supernova that threatened the entire universe that could only be stopped with a black hole? A time travelling black hole? Now it’s a generic singularity? Now it’s back to being a black hole again? If this thing is such a huge threat also, why was an ancient Spock the only person working on this problem? At least the character moments (which made up the bulk of the movie thankfully) were very good and well written.

Next on the complaint list, Nero was a bit too two dimensional. Though that was the fault of the writing department, Eric Bana did a fine job acting. And really, what was up with his mining ship? I admit it looked cool, but that is the most complicated and involved design for a mining ship that I have ever seen. Luckily though, it had a drill that he had to extend out of his ship on a tether that looked like massive barbed wire. Because that makes sense…

Some of the decisions made by the crew were pretty questionable too. Uhura happens to overhear a distress call from Rura Penthe in a communications lab while studying, but only tells her nympho-Orion room mate and not her superior? Kirk pisses off Spock (while Spock is in command) so Spock has his ejected off of the Enterprise in an escape pod instead of being thrown in the brig? Luckily for him, he managed to be dumped on the planet that old Spock happened to be dumped on AND the planet that Scotty just happens to be stationed on. Kirk’s luck gets even better when his escape pod just happens to land within walking distance from both…

As for some of the small side stories, I don’t think I really like the whole Spock-Uhura love thing going on.

Now, for the Enterprise. She still looks classy and original, but a little ridiculous at the same time. This is going to be the favourite part for me to tear apart. The warp nacelles are massively oversized. Massively. And what is the point of those things on the end of it expanding when they go to warp? The engineering hull is too small and is mounted too far forward, it looks like they decided to build the bridge between the engineering and saucer section on the weakest part of the ship. While it was cool seeing the inside of the shuttle bay, it was waaaay too cluttered just like engineering. That section is my biggest complaint. The engines are the heart of the ship, they should be something cool and impressive, something singular that you can look at and think wow, that’s awesome. Engineering was a giant mess of tubes and grating and looked like it was shot in a steam room or present day nuclear power plant. That disappointed me. Another part of the Enterprise that I can’t decide if I like or not is the bridge’s view screen. It is quite literally a window; we even get to see it crack. That is kind of cool, but at the same time… strategically unsound (at least as strategically unsound as putting the nerve center of a ship at the very top and center, sticking out to make a nice target).

I do have to admit though; the new bridge (while cluttered and very busy) did look cool. This is one part of the Star Trek franchise that desperately needed updating. It was a little bright and white (and some people could have used some chairs), but there were work stations that looked useful and like they might actually be in the future. Their technology was update in a lot of places that needed it. There were also some stupid modifications to their technology as well. For example; the phasers. They looked cool, until you saw someone switch from the stun setting to kill, and realize that instead of changing a power level or something, the tip of it flips around and changes from the ‘blue’ side to the ‘red’ side. What the hell is the point of that?

I’m sure I could find other things to nit-pick about, but I’d rather talk about the future of the franchise.

After watching the movie and having enough of my doubts eased enough to want a sequel, I hope it does well enough in the box office to prove to Paramount that this is a franchise that can still be explored. The ‘alternate timeline/universe’ cop out (which was a little too bluntly pointed out incase we couldn’t figure it out on our own) should be sufficient for fans to be able to let go of the past (well, I guess the series’ future) and look forward to seeing how the events of this movie are going to effect the rest of the history as it used to be known. How does the destruction of Vulcan alter the progress and future of the Federation? Oh man, I hope the people that haven’t watched the movie yet took my spoiler warning. I also want to see if they fix any of the complaints that were brought up by any of the critics (new engineering section please!!!).

Overall, I think this was a well done movie and definitely worth a watch. I rate this movie as ‘awesome’.