Rio Grande Herald Movie Critic:
Gerald S. Salinas

Earth date: 05-08-2009, the summer blockbuster movie season has officially begun. I didn't consider Star Trek my ideal summer movie, but I was sadly mistaken. The fast pace action, emotional ride, that is Star Trek proves it's not only for Trekkies, but also for the future fans of Star Trek.

Star Trek goes ages back(back to the future) to the beginning of the original series, known as: Star Trek. Setting the stage for the origins of Capt. James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto).

The opening sequence of the movie pretty much sets the pace for the entire movie, I couldn't help but be captured by it's fast pace, visually beautiful story telling (and that's just the first 5 minutes of the movie), as we see the birth of young James T. Kirk. "Your father was captain of the ship for 12 minutes, he saved 800 lives including yours" one of my favorite lines in the film, had to throw it in there.

The movie also focuses-in on young Spock, a Vulcan, well... half Vulcan and half human. Spock rejects the offer to join the Vulcan academy and decides to join Star fleet. As we see in the early scenes of the movie, Spock had a conflicted childhood due to his father being Vulcan and mother being human, but he is also a brilliant young man, which means star fleet has no reluctance accepting him.

Of course it was just a matter of time, before Kirk and Spock bump heads, and of course both men being hard headed, brilliant, and cocky in their own right, despise each other. Hey, no complaints here cause it was fun to watch both guys go at it. After their captain is captured, both men slowly come to the realization that they cannot rescue him alone, and so the first mission for Capt. Kirk and Spock begins, in a wild and entertaining fashion.

Let me start off by giving credit to J.J. Abrams, the director of this film, who did an incredible job revamping the franchise. I think the only person I see fit and able to put together a well told Star Trek movie, was Josh Whedon, so I was excited to hear J.J. Abrams was taking helm over Star Trek, and he didn't disappoint. To see him take a giant scale like Star Trek, with everything needed to be in place due to it's origin on the story, he manages not only to make sense of everything but to also tell it in a fast pace, yet understandable. In other words the movie is easy to follow.

Also, I have to give credit to Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, for bringing back to life the young characters of Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock. The two play the characters to the core of the bone, they both fit the roles perfectly, which in my opinion makes a great movie. The film focuses on the story yes, but the true story of the movie is the relationship of both men, again due to great acting, both actors take control of this film, and demand the attention.

Like all the great movies I review, I can't say enough about this one as well. Some may argue the point that this film takes away from the true story of the original Star Trek series, some say Star Trek relies on the drama now instead of the sci-fi. I have to disagree with what people say, I mean this movie takes place in space, how more sci-fi can you get. This movie was intended to revamp the franchise, which it did because I see more Star Trek movies in the works.

Star Trek has emotion, drama, action, adventure, explosions, character driven performances, beautiful visuals, great story telling. Star Trek fan or no Star Trek fan, this movie is a great movie that shouldn't be missed. It sucks you in since the beginning and takes you for a wild ride all the way to the finish.

Note: for the true Star Trek fan who have watched the original series, there is a great surprise for you to enjoy. Also I didn't give away too much of the story like I often do, fearing I would give away a lot of fun things from the movie.