Star Trek

Rated PG13 for sci-fi action and violence, mild language

Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, John Cho, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin

In the year 2387, the galaxy is threatened by an unusually volatile supernova. Ambassador Spock (Nimoy) pilots a ship carrying "red matter", which will create an artificial black hole to consume the supernova. Before not before it destroys the planet Romulus. Captain Nero (Bana) blames Spock for the destruction of his planet and chases him through a black hole's event horizon, putting them both in the past.

Nero's ship arrives first, 154 years earlier, and since his arrival appears in the form of a space lightning storm, the Federation sends out the ship Kelvin to investigate, which ends up getting attacked by Nero. Acting Captain George Kirk orders an evacuation, which includes his wife and unborn son, saving over 800 lives in a matter of minutes while he stays behind on the ship and acts as a cover for the departing shuttlecraft. Spock arrives 25 years later, where he is captured by Nero and marooned on the planet Delta Vega so that he can witness the destruction of Vulcan, as retribution for Spock's failure to save Romulus.

James T. Kirk (Pine), now born without a father, grows up to be an intelligent young man, despite his reckless rebel behavior. After an encounter with some Starfleet Academy students, Captain Pike realizes who Kirk is and encourages him to enlist in Starfleet and do better than his father did, in order to get Kirk to realize his full potential. We also see a younger Spock, mocked by the other kids because of his half human, half Vulcan heritage.

The rest of the film takes place during Kirk's third year at Starfleet, and follows how Kirk became Captain of the USS Enterprise and together with Spock (Quinto) and the rest of the crew, they overcame Nero and the Romulans.

Personally, I've never really been into Star Trek, but I did find myself enjoying this movie. The characters were likeable and had depth to them, and the plot was easy enough to follow for a non-Trekkie with little to no previous knowledge of Star Trek. This was a good film to kick off the summer season.