Well, after hanging with my friends tonight I decided to just go see Star Trek and hope that I'd at least like it half as much as everyone else seems to be. Now, I only feel it's necessary I let you all know that I've never been a Star Trek fan, I've never been interested in it and, until seeing a preview for it before seeing Slumdog Millionaire (yet another film that's drastically overrated), didn't expect to ever become even a light Trekkie. So, after seeing the film and getting out a quarter to 1 AM EST, what are my thoughts on the film as a Star Trek noob?

Pretty damn good.

I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy the film as much as I did, and it has so far managed to be the only film released this year in theaters that hasn't disappointed me (unless you count Gran Torino). While I did still feel like I was at a disadvantage of knowledge for the film's backstory and plot, it didn't really affect my enjoyment of the film since it didn't try to make the storyline a huge priority. So the plot was mostly easy for me to keep up with. The characters were mostly fleshed out very well, and I was surprised to like the actor playing Kirk as much as I did, let alone liking him at all. Unless I'm misinformed, Spock has become one of the most celebrated characters in Star Trek, and I'm sure no one can fill in the original actor's shoes, but I think the one they got for this film did a very admirable and perfectly adequate job filling in the shoes.

Really the only problem I had with the film was the pacing, the first act felt too quick and streamlined (which did affect my first impressions of some of the characters)while some scenes during the second act dragged on a little bit but not nearly as bad as some other films I've seen recently. Fortunately, by the film's final act everything felt pretty sufficient and I was able to enjoy and feel for the characters we're supposed to be rooting for. While the film's attempts at stronger, more emotion scenes did admittedly fall flat, it didn't detract from overall great experience. Also, Simon Pegg was absolutely genius and hysterical as always.

So despite its flaws I thought Star Trek was a great time, and it has gotten me slightly curious of checking Star Trek as a franchise out and it gave me a good hint as to why many hold it in a high regard. For all this and other reasons, I'd probably give the film 4.25 stars out of 5.