Star Trek 星際爭霸戰

We thank thee for an origin story that, unlike such recent downers featuring the Incredible Hulk and Wolverine, pays affectionate respect to its source material but never falls into slavish worship or, worse, self-seriousness. Instead, viewers have been blessed with a movie that retains a warm and playful spirit, even when one of its chief protagonists is being chased by a lobster-red monster on an intergalactic tundra, or fending off tattooed, time-traveling space pirates aboard a huge, fire-spewing drill.

We thank thee for a cast of bright young actors who plunge headlong into the spirit of "Star Trek" at its most goofily straight-faced, not only saying some of the show's most familiar catchphrases as if for the very first time, but even capturing the unique gestures and physical rhythms of their characters. There's sky-blue-eyed Chris Pine, who plays James T. Kirk as a young motorcycle-driving daredevil tearing through the cornfields of Iowa, who after a bar fight is persuaded by Capt. Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) to join the Starfleet peacekeeping force. And Zoë Saldana and Karl Urban, who play Kirk's fellow newbies Nyota Uhura and Leonard "Bones" McCoy with the perfect combination of wit and utter commitment ("I'm a doctor, Jim!"). And young Anton Yelchin, master of Chekhov's impenetrable Russian accent, and Simon Pegg, who makes similarly neat and amusing work of Scotty's single-malt burr.

With luck, there's a special place in heaven (or some suitable corner of the galaxy) for Zachary Quinto, who plays the part-Vulcan, part-human Spock with surprising pathos, letting a touch of sweetness seep through the logician's otherwise flawlessly affectless demeanor. Lord, we are most heartily grateful for how Quinto tips his head and says "Fascinating," just as his predecessor, Leonard Nimoy, did. And for the way Pine hesitates just slightly before barking a command a la William Shatner, or rests his elbow on the arm of a starship's captain's chair when he takes the con.

Most of all, thanks and praise for that very starship itself: the USS Enterprise, the shiny, brand-new craft where these spiky, ambitious young Turks gather for their very first mission together, investigating trouble on planet Vulcan.

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