The New Star Trek Movie Captures the Essence of Our Favorite Characters

From the opening scene of the fierce Romulan attack to the final scenes of the cruise of the Enterprise back to the final frontier, the new Star Trek movie is full of action and smart dialog. The story is sharp and gives a grand nod to the Star Trek that we grew up on without insulting the original series.

The actors in the new movie give spot-on performances, channeling the characters and creating interesting backstories that actually make sense. The CGI and action scenes are on-the-edge-of-your-seat good, making me squirm when it looked like our heroes just weren't going to make it.

Star Trek opens as tattooed bad-boy Romulan Captain Nero (Eric Bana) carries a murderous grudge from the future against Spock, whom he believes destroyed his planet. Newly-captained George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) finds himself alone on the bridge of the Starfleet Starship Kelvin facing Nero's rage, sacrifices himself and the ship to save the crew which escaped just in the nick of time.

Kirk's wife Winona (Jennifer Morrison) gives birth to baby James T. Kirk just as his father dies a hero. Young James grows up to be a hell-raiser in the Iowa countryside, where he is recruited by Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) to join Starfleet shortly after meeting lovely Uhura (Zoë Saldana) and getting his attitude adjusted in a barroom brawl.

On the recruit ship to Starfleet Academy, Kirk runs into Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban) and it just feels right that the eternally-worried Bones has been that way forever. Urban does a fantastic job in the role and we soon forget that he never played Bones in the original series.

Meanwhile, on Vulcan a youngster named Spock (Zachary Quinto) is harassed by his classmates because his of human mother, Amanda Grayson (Winona Ryder). We find out that Spock was troubled by his lineage dichotomy even as a child; Spock always had to choose if he were human or Vulcan. After receiving an honor and a remark about his "disadvantage" of being partly human, Spock chooses to attend Starfleet Academy where he develops the Kobayashi Maru, the impassable test.

Of course, from Star Trek lore we know that Kirk beats the test, albeit by "cheating" when he changed a subroutine. Kirk and Spock face off during an official inquiry but a distress call from Vulcan stops the proceedings. All our favorites, Kirk, Spock, Bones, Sulu (John Cho), and Chekov (Anton Yelchin) wind up on the brand-new Starship Enterprise with Captain Pike at the helm.

They soon discover time-traveling Romulan Captain Nero is attacking the planet Vulcan and will use highly combustible red matter to blow it inward to become a black hole in space. Red matter looks a little like blood suspended in a liquid; could this be a symbol of humanity compared to the green blood of a Vulcan? Captain Pike is taken hostage aboard the Romulan vessel and Spock is made captain of the Enterprise.

The action pace picks up and the rest of the movie hurtles toward Nero's ultimate defeat. Captain Spock kicks trouble-maker and stowaway Kirk off the Enterprise and sends him to icy-cold Delta Vega. There, we discover the original Mr. Spock from the future (Leonard Nimoy) has some advice for Kirk, including how to become captain of the Enterprise and destroy Nero. On Delta Vega, we also stumble into Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (Simon Pegg), who was left to fiddle with engines and parts until something better came along.

Kirk and Scotty transport back to the Enterprise with Future Spock's assistance. On the bridge, Captain Spock is pushed by Kirk to an very-human emotional breaking point. Shamed of his humanity, Spock relieves himself from duty and James T. Kirk becomes Captain of the Enterprise.

By now, the Romulan ship has turned Vulcan into a black hole and heads to destroy Earth, the ultimate vendetta against dual-blooded Spock. Spock and Kirk beam onto Nero's ship and Kirk stumbles upon and rescues Captain Pike.

Spock finds the Jellyfish, a starship last piloted by the future Spock. Nero's plans are foiled as Spock destroys the drill he was using to penetrate earth's crust to inject red matter. Spock becomes a hero as he heads the Jellyfish to crash into Nero's ship, which contains the remaining mass of deadly red matter. Scotty beams Spock back to the Enterprise just before the Jellyfish slams into Nero's ship. Nero refuses any help from the Enterprise and he and his ship explode and become a black hole in space.

On Earth, a grateful Starfleet Command assigns Kirk as Captain of the Enterprise. Spock and future Spock meet by chance, and we see the actors mirror one another perfectly. Future Spock decides to help his Vulcan race by becoming part of a new colony, and Spock joins Captain Kirk as First Officer on the Enterprise. The closing scene finds all our heroes on the bridge, with the actors eerily transforming into the colorful Star Trek characters we love, complete with mannerisms and nuanced voices.

If you are a fan of Star Trek or action/adventure films in general, the new Star Trek movie prequel directed by J.J. Abrams of LOST fame is a must-see. To Trekkies, geeks or none of the above, Star Trek is a summer film that is pure entertainment. From the beginning to the end, this feature film does more than extend the original Star Trek story; it truly captures the essence of the heroic and complex characters we love to see in action in space, the final frontier.

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See the trailer and learn more at:
Official Movie Site: Star Trek