Geek Movie: Star Trek

Okay, so I know this is kind of old news, but I finally got around to watching the most recent adaptation of Star Trek.  It.  Was.  Awesome!  I'm going to assume that everyone's seen the movie, so be advised, there are spoilers here!

Bear in mind that I haven't seen the original Star Trek series, so I hope you won't fault me for that.  I have every intention of watching it now, though.  I do know the basis: Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Bones, Scotty, all that stuff.

Cast

I really loved Chris Pine as Kirk.  He was charming(ish) and certainly a ladies man, if only in his own mind.  He came off stupidly daring and pretty full of himself, just as I thought Kirk should.  But by the end of the movie, he'd evolved just enough where you'd believe he could make a good captain.

Zachary Quinto's Spock was, well, Spock.  He did a great job portraying the (relatively) emotionless Vulcan, but he rocked it even harder when Spock got emotional!  I loved seeing a softer side of Spock with Uhura.

Other Cast Highlights: Simon Pegg as Scotty.  Honestly, what can I say about Simon Pegg?  He's just awesome!  He garnered plenty of laughs from me and my family.  Also, Anton Yelchin as Chekov.  I spent most of the movie alternately trying to figure out if that was his real accent (I decided it was) and cracking up at his pronunciation. (Sidenote: can't wait to see him in Fright Night!  I will be blogging about that too!)

Story

Again, I don't know much about Star Trek, but I assumed that was okay because this was a prequel.  I liked the insight into the characters, especially Spock.  From what I know of the original series, he just seemed really cold, but now I get it a little more.  I loved seeing the camaraderie among the crew evolve as the movie progressed.

Visual Effects

Oh my God.  I was hypnotized for about half the movie because it was just so stunning!  The space scenes were awesome, not to say that anything else wasn't awesome.  It was all completely and totally awesome.  The parts that really stuck out were the red matter and the black holes, the ice cave on what my dad and I jokingly called "Hoth", and the "beaming".  I liked the beaming.

Stand-Out Moments

1. Young Kirk tearing down the road in the Corvette, listening to "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys.  I just screamed "YES!" when that song came on.  Fantastic!

2. Chekov running down the halls of the Enterprise, shouting "I can do zat!"  Hilarious.

3. The Vulcan neck pinch.  I've always wanted to see that.

4. "I am Spock." "Bullshit."  I laughed so hard I almost cried!

5. Scotty in general.  Simon Pegg always keeps me in stitches!

Overall Thoughts

I loved it, honestly!  There were just so many great lines, especially the throwbacks to the original series.  It only helped that my equally-geeky dad was watching with me, so we could make joke references to Star Wars and the like.  Great movie with enough action to be interesting, but enough backstory to make sense.