Star Trek (2009)

J. J. Abrams is a humble genius. The creator of televisions Alias and Lost hopped into feature filmdom with his directorial debut on Mission Impossible: III, which is by far the best film in that series.

He followed up his MI:III success with the impossible task of rebooting the Star Trek franchise, a franchise which is embedded in the very social fabric of the world.

Such an effort would seem much like the kobayashi maru test (a no-win scenario).

But the fearless Abrams takes a stagnate franchise and re-energizes it with a top-notch sci-fi film.

First, the cast is perfect, top to bottom. Chris Pine, as Kirk, captures the charm and confidence of the Captain, Zachary Quinto, as Spock, relays a more subtle, human performance than his predecessor and Karl Urban embodies McCoy flawlessly. The other characters are filled out with excellent performances by John Cho as Sulu, Anton Yelchin as Checkov, Simon Pegg as Scotty and Zoe Saldana as Uhura. Completing the cast is the always-nobel Bruce Greenwood as Pike and Eric Bana as the Romulan threat called Nero.

However, the real credit to the success of this film should go to the Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. This duo combined with Abrams on MI:III (which is one of the best executed action screenplays I've seen) and, with Star Trek, uses a simple, yet effective plot device to shatter any preconceived ties back to the original series and subsequent movies, allowing the franchise to truly start over.

Absolutely brilliant.

For Trek fans, there are enough subtle inside homages to please them while the stories focus on friendship, family and sacrifice makes it truly universal and easily palatible for new visitors to the Star Trek universe.

When the film ended I simply wanted the next film in the series to begin. It's a smart, funny and enjoyable jaunt at the movies.

Bring the popcorn, sit back and enjoy the show!