Amusing, engaging, and populated with wonderfully witty dialogue, but simply not as thrilling as the first installment in this particular "Star Trek" trilogy. While adorned with some impressive action sequences and quality snark, the story itself leaves a considerable amount of oxygen leaks unplugged. To enumerate them here would be to spoil. So instead, I'll tangent into the fashion of technology. Locked in the future tech of the past, this forward-looking project is starting to show its age. Back in the 60's audiences watched in awe as Kirk flicked open his slick communicator and chatted with Spock thousands of miles away; however, as of this writing, flip-phones have come and gone leaving the Star Trek crew embarrassingly behind the times. And that reminds me, it's about time I upgrade my phone as well. As for the film, fairly entertaining while it lasts, really fun and funny dialogue delivered well (kudos especially to Simon Pegg, while all are quite funny); but at the end of the day, this is simply not a very memorable film excursion.

-- Books by Ross Anthony, Author/Illustrator --