Every summer there is a movie to start the season off with a bang, and after last weekend's disappointing Wolverine, it's no question that this summer's opening firecracker is Star Trek. It may not be the filmic revolution that was Star Wars. It may not mine the depths and darkness necessary to be compared to The Dark Knight. But in a field where so many movies fail time and time again, Star Trek is a prequel that changes the game in its own way. And filled with characters you will love whether you are meeting them for the first time or the 500th, a fun mix of comedy and action, and a story that intrigues without becoming overly complex, I wouldn't be surprised if Star Trek is the most entertaining theater experience this summer.

As far as the story that brings Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), and the many other characters of the Starship Enterprise together, not only does it best last week's Wolverine, it also pretty much steals the fire right out from under May 21st's Terminator. Like the first meeting between the Terminator and Sarah Connor, Kirk, Spock, and their crew meet for the first time in the collision of their present and the future. Similar to the continuing war at the center of the Terminator franchise, the time-bending battle in which the Enterprise finds itself centers on the impending destruction of an entire civilization and the attempt to alter history to prevent it. While the Star Trek we all know is there, from the moment James Tiberius Kirk is born on a shuttle flying away from the father who is sacrificing his life so his crew might live, the reality that we have always known is altered. But as we see, while there are some things you can change when you introduce advanced physics, wormholes, and warp speed into the picture, there are some things that you simply cannot erase. And on the Starship Enterprise that which remains is its crew.

For central characters Spock and Kirk, as with many a rising hero, their place in the world, and thus their emerging identities, pretty much begin with their family. Born of a Vulcan father and a human mother, Spock is a man whose development is almost defined by his split identity. At the same time that he is a logical genius, he also has the capacity to feel. Although he resists the taunting of his classmates on 35 separate occasions, when they insult his mother, his disconnect shatters. Although he may put up an emotionless front in the face of even the greatest crisis, he also acknowledges the value of fear. And although his instinct may tell him that any feelings will guide him off course, as the story unfolds he cannot help but be affected by both the emotional impact of connections lost and connections shared.

On the opposite side of the coin is James Tiberius Kirk. Sure, he may have a captain's breeding and a genius IQ, but from youthful joyrides off the edges of cliffs to barroom brawls with Starfleet's newest recruits, his rebellion against authority and institution is pretty much a space-age version of Top Gun. But in the same way that Maverick had Viper to push him to be all that he can be, so does Kirk have Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) to spur him into action with a dare to remember all his father was and be better. And as Kirk continues to challenge logic, laws, and limits, he not only demonstrates his father's spirit in his refusal to believe in "no win scenarios" but rises up to the chance he is given to honor his father by finishing the battle his father gave his life to as he was born.

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