OK, now I really can't wait to see it!

"Star Trek Premieres in Austin, Texas and Film.com is There!
C. Robert Cargill, Apr 07, 2009
There's no way to prepare yourself for something like last night's now infamous hoax screening of Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. I mean, many of us certainly tried. Walking into the Alamo Drafthouse something seemed amiss. I mean, everyone was thrilled to be seeing a restored print of Wrath of Khan, so much so that people were going to be turned away. And that excitement was tempered by the promise of 10 minutes of J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek movie.

But something was wrong. Security was really heavy for just that 10 minutes of a sneak peak. But hey, studios are paranoid, right? Especially since that whole Wolverine thing. So we took our seats. Wait ... then I thought to myself, Why does Paramount have a whole row reserved? They really sent down all three writers to introduce 10 minutes of footage? And ... is that the president of Paramount?

Oh crap! I said to my wife, We're seeing Star Trek! "I know," she smiled. "The second one, right?" No. Like the new Star Trek! The lights went dark, the intros pumped us up for Wrath of Kahn, and James Horner's familiar score came to life with those giant blue space-age letters announcing that we were in fact in for Wrath of Khan. I smiled like a little boy. I LOVE Khan. It's one of my 10 favorite films. But then, just as the Kobeyashi Maru was starting up, a green scratch ran down the screen .... Wait, this is a restored print .... OH CRAP! More scratches, fuzzy sounds ... The frame split with top on the bottom and the bottom on the top, and then it burned, melting with the fuzzy pop of heartbreak.

Tim League, local film-god and owner of the Alamo Drafthouse, ran to the stage promising to kick some tail up in the booth. He asked the writers to entertain the crowd. They stood up, unsure what to do, and pretended to start taking questions. One of the writers did his impression of the original theme song. And then the unthinkable happened. This.

Disguised in a trench coat and hat, Leonard Nimoy slowly made his way to the stage, at which point I yell out an expletive I cannot repeat here. The crowd went nuts. You can watch the whole exchange in the link above, but sadly the camera doesn't capture the un-distilled excitement of the crowd. We were pumped. But did the film live up to the expectations after an intro like that?

Yes. Yes it did. In short: The film is incredible. A loving, riveting return to a series long crippled by spinoffs, studio meddling, budget restraints, and a slavish adherence to continuity. This is a reboot of the series, complete with a huge budget, some big-name actors and special effect sequences that dwarf anything you've seen before in a Trek film. But this is a lot more than a summer blockbuster remake. It has heart, a lot of heart. This movie loves the series and its character so much that it strives at every turn to ensure that the characters are represented as they were intended to be.

Everyone is great here, from the Bruce Greenwood-acted Captain Pike to Eric Bana's menacing Nero. But it is the new, young cast that steals the show. Heroes' Zachary Quinto simply IS Spock. There's no question. He nails it. Chris Pine embodies everything that was great about Shatner's Kirk without trying to imitate it. Simon Pegg is hilarious and captures Doohan's Scotty. And Karl Urban proves to be the biggest surprise of all, after putting us to sleep with films like Pathfinder and Doom. He turns in a masterful performance as Dr. "Bones" McCoy. I gave this cast a LOT of flack in a jokey piece titled "Who the Hell is Casting Star Trek?" in which I opined that it was actually two squealing 14-year-old girls. Well, give those girls a promotion. They rocked it.

This film has presented itself as the film to beat this summer. It's fun, it played just as well to Trek fans as it did to first-timers, and it never for a moment slows down to take a breather. Get yourself excited for the very first A+ movie of the summer. You are now free to get very, very excited.

As the credits rolled and the crowd stood to its feet, a visibly choked up Leonard Nimoy came to the stage and gave a wonderful thank you, making the lives of a roomful of geeks who all felt 8 years old again as he said, "I can't leave without saying it: Live long and prosper." We traded gestures (you know which one) and there were men reduced to sobbing, having just shared an incredible experience with a lifelong hero. I mean, really. Does it get any better than ending with a salute from Spock himself?"