I don't consider myself a Trekkie, not by far. I watched an episode of Star Trek once - in an anthropology class, of all places. It was enjoyable, I suppose, but not by any means addicting. So when the new Star Trek movie started showing its trailers, I wasn't too excited. After all, I had Wolverine and 17 Again to look forward to. Well, Wolverine was fairly unexceptional, and although I've heard good things about 17, I haven't had to courage to actually walk into a movie theater and pay full price for a Zac Efron movie. So. That brings me back to Star Trek. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 100. Out of 100. Dark Knight, which I have considered to be the best movie since V for Vendetta, got only a 98. How could a movie possibly be better than Dark Knight? Well, for me, it wasn't. And yet...it was. It was better in some ways, but in one very important feature, Star Trek was lacking.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Ok, so, I had a desire to see Star Trek if only because it was so well recieved. Everyone I'd talked to said they liked it. But I live in Idaho. It's a good 45 minute drive to the nearest theater. And then, an opportunity arose. My good friend and Sci-Fi junkie was headed that way and wanted to see the movie as well. How could I pass up the chance to see Star Trek with a bonafide Trekkie? As the lights dimmed and the credits rolled, I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about Star Trek, besides what has leaked into colloquial use ('Beam me up, Scottie!', 'Set lasers to "stun"' Captain Kirk, Mr. Spok, and so forth). But the film makers did an excellent job mixing the background information necessary for people like me to understand and enjoy the movie while putting enough references to other Star Trek productions to please long-time fans (i.e. Kirk cheating on the Kobayashi Moreau).
The movie had an epic-feel without becoming drawn out, similar to Dark Knight, but was much more light-hearted - a fact that I appreciated because there was room to have comedy as well as a focus on the relationships that made the Star Trek productions so famous. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto were so likable, and for completely different reasons. They were almost perfectly enjoyable to watch. Truly, entertainment at its finest. And bringing in the origninal Spok actor, Leonard Nimoy, was a wonderful treat and fit the story perfectly.
The story was a little weak, but the film more than made up for it in character development. The only thing that I did not like about it was that unlike Dark Knight (and V for Vendetta for that matter), it had no serious moral implications - no applicable dilemas that would make one think about the world in a different way. But what can I say? Sometimes it's nice to escape the real world and just watch a thoroughly entertaining film, and that is what Star Trek did for me.